Italy
 

Please help!!! Planning this trip to Italy by myself. Arriving Rome Monday Aug. 3rd. Is it possible to do Rome in 3 days? Leave Thurs Aug 6th for Positano? In order to see Sorrento, Capri and Positano is 3 nights enough? leave the 10th for Florence. Now this is where I'm not sure if it gets crazy.. Florence Aug 10, 11 and 12. Leave Florence the 12th and stay on Montepulciano on our way down to Rome. Montepulciano Aug 12 and 13. leave 14th for Rome and fly home 15th out of Rome.. Anyone?????

Hi, lacyamy123, This is so weird. I just searched Grand European Travel and your 2000 post (which no one answered) came up. Did you ever use them?

Anyhow, if you arrive in Rome on the 3rd, will you be jet-lagged? You really only have 2 full days in Rome and 3 partials with arrival, leaving for Positano and leaving for home. For me only, I'd look for a tour on the 4th and see how much that would pack in with someone else <i>schlepping</i> for tickets and entries for you.

Otherwise, I'd say OK. You'll be moving a lot. As DH and I traveled more, we tried to have no more than 3 bases for our 2-week trips. As a rule of thumb, you lose 1/2 a day moving to another town/hotel. Take a long look at what you want to see in Florence--I think there is a loong one-day guided tour out of Rome.

that must be someone else...what do you think of this tues, wed, thurs Rome. Leave Rome Fri. Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon Sorrento, Leave Mon for Florence. Mon, tues, wed Florence. leave wed for Montepulciano wed, thurs Montepulciano, leave fri back for Rome. Sat fly home...?????

I counted 12 nights. Removing the arrival day and the last day as not useful "to do Rome" type of sight seeing, you have 11 nights.

Depending on how early you arrive in Rome, you could have thrown away almost one full day without anything in return.

Why?

Your current itinerary involves staying in Rome twice. If you reduce to one stay, you eliminate one check-in/out cycle, pack/unpack cycle, as well as trip to/from hotel. You probably lost nothing in eliminating this stay.

Rome at the end cannot be skipped because you are flying home from there. That means see if can move all Rome visits to the end. This means traveling straight to Positano upon landing in Rome.

Is it possible? It depends on when you are landing in Rome. If you are landing in Rome early, like 7am, even the slowest way would get you to your Rome hotel by 9am. Your room is unlikely to be ready. You need to "kill" time by wondering around until the hotel is ready. How about turning this "killed time" into "traveling time"?

I don't know how you were planning to get to Positano with your current itinerary.

If your Rome arrival is up to around 1-2pm, you can still make it to Positano, but it gets progressively more expensive.

If your Rome arrival is early like 7am, you can get to Positano using cheap all public transits and still be there well before the dinner time. This means taking train Airport-Rome-Salerno then bus/boat (last boat usually around 3:30pm http://www.travelmar.it/it/orari) to Positano, or train Airport-Rome-Napoli-Sorrento then bus to Positano.

If your arrival is later, you need to substitute a taxi. If you are arriving before noon, you can take train up to Sorrento, then taxi to Positano if you miss the last bus out of Sorrento. If you are arriving in Rome early afternoon, you might have to take a taxi straight from the Napoli or Salerno station to Positano. It would be much over €100.

If you have traveled to Positano on the day of arrival, that time, more than half day, you have set aside for that on day 4 suddenly becomes available.

Sorrento is more of a travel base than a destination. It is an excellent base to visit Capri, Pompeii, and Amalfi Coast. However, if you are staying in Positano, Sorrento is just a city to change transportation.

It seems that it'd be more efficient to fly into Florence and out of Naples, or vice versa.

lacymay - is this crazy? yes.

like TD says, you actually have very little time in each place.

Aug 3 - Arrive Rome. check in by ?noon. afternoon and evening in Rome
Aug 4 - Rome
Aug 5 - Rome
Aug 6 - travel to Positano [will take most of the day].
Aug 7 - Capri
Aug 8 - Sorrento
Aug 9 - travel to Florence. [via Naples? - again will take most of the day]
Aug 10-Florence
Aug 11 - Florence
Aug 12 - travel to Montepucliano. arrive by lunch [hire car?]
Aug 13 -Montepulciano
Aug 14 - Montepulciano am, pm travel to Rome
Aug 15 0fly home.
Aug 16 - need holiday.

ok - my suggestions to make this trip more fun.

1. Pick the Amalfi or Montepulciano. you don't have time to do justice to both. In August both will be busy and hot, you'll need somewhere with AC and a pool.

2. Personally I would drop either Rome or Florence as well. you mat find that your sightseeing in curtailed by the heat and that you prefer to spend afternoons sleeping or sitting around a pool.

3. As you are flying out of Rome, re-arrange the trip so as to put your stay there last so you don't break up your time there.

4. You can't see everything in Italy in 2 weeks, so don't even try. once you've accepted you can't see it all, planning gets easier.

sooo expensive to fly into Naples. only choice is Rome.. Brilliant suggestion by greg to go straight to Positano as we arrive 8:30 am Rome. U are right hotel wont b ready. So we should travel straight south. Would you please tell me where is most efficient to stay in terms of location? We would luv to see Positiano, Sorrento and take a day trip to Capri.. Where would u recommend us staying. Positano or Sorrento? Thanks so much

Let's try your itinerary, taking Greg's suggestion to put all your Rome time at the end, but heading to Florence upon arrival—an easier connection, I think, than Positano upon arrival.

Aug 3 - Arrive Rome. travel to Florence.
Aug 4 - Florence
Aug 5 - Florence
Aug 6 - travel to Montepucliano
Aug 7 - Montepulciano
Aug 8 - travel to Positano
Aug 9 - Capri
Aug 10 - Sorrento
Aug 11 - travel to Rome
Aug 12 - Rome
Aug 13 - Rome
Aug 14 - Rome
Aug 15 - fly home

Yes, Florence first. Train ride from the Tibertina Station [or Termini] 1.5 hours.

Montepucliano I'd rent a car from Avis in Arezzo, which is a little more than an hour by train from Florence [the other option would be at the Florence airport]. The office on the Piazza de la Rebublica in Arezzo is right across from the train station.

Personally I'd scrap the Amalfi. Too much travel time. I'd use the car to explore Tuscany. Do a one-night in Cortona if good restaurants are an interest. Or dump the car in Orvieto and spend a night there on the way to Rome.

How about this? Fly into Milan and out of Rome? Scratch Amalfi coast for Italian Riviera. So Milan, Venice, Portofino, Florence, Montepulciano and Rome??? Possible or still too much?

Tues aug 4 arrive Milan 8:30 a.m. Jump a train straight to Venice.
Venice4
Venice 5
Venice 6
leave Venice Aug 6 for Portofino or Santa Margherita Ligure
SML arrive evening aug 6
SMl 7 8 leave for Florence 9
Flo 9
Flo 10
Leave for Montepulciano 11
Mont 11 and 12
leave for Rome 13
Rome 13and 14
Fly home Rome 15th

thoughts

Hmmmm. It is really hard to advise without knowing what it is you want to really do most while in Italy, and whether you understand that it probably will be very hot and crowded in the cities, and very hot and crowded at the seaside -- but at least you can swim. Also, were you thinking of staying in Montepuliciano all the time or having a car and driving on scenic roads?

Are you really very interested in art and historic sightseeing? Or would rather just be on vacation with all the Italians?

my husband has never been to Italy. So, I thnk he should c Venice, Florence and Rome. I want a gorgeous seaside and then Tuscano countyside. It's fine to run thru Florence. Not art people at all.. I gave up Positano and Amalfi coast for Italian Riviera to b up north.

Double hmmmm. Have u ask yr husband if he wants 2 c Venice, Florence & Rome -- especially if it means rushing -- even running -- through them? When it is steaming hot? Venice with mobs and mobs of people?

Maybe he wants to be with you happy at the gorgeous seaside and in Toscana. Are you thinking of renting a car in Toscana?

Your switch of Amalfi Coast to Italian Riviera has a usual issue many people find out too late. If you do this by train, the trip from Venice to Santa Margherita Ligure or any part of Italian Riviera is a long trip. The train trip itself is about 5.5 to 6.5 hours. Look at www.bahn.com or www.trenitalia.com (click Union Jack flag at right top for English). Compound this by how long it takes to get to the Venezia Santa Lucia station from the part of Venice many tourists stay, it makes this a very long trip. Keep this in mind if you want to pursue this route. Portofino is further down the peninsula and you cannot get there by train. You can take an hourly boat from SML with last boat around 16:15, a bus that runs twice or three times and hour. Either way, the trip is about 15 min. It is about 3 miles apart.
While looking at destinations, pay attention to accommodation availability and prices in August at coastal sites. The Europeans take vacations in August, and many head to the same places you are going.

Some of your calculations do not work well because listing long travel days as sightseeing days misleads you into feeling you have more time than you actually do.

One Example:
"Aug 4, arrive Milan, 8:30, jump on train to Venice."
If you have checked baggage, you need time to retrieve it and go through immigration, etc., 45 minutes to an hour plus. Depending on your arrival terminal, you will take either the bus or train to Milano Centrale, up to an hour. The train to Venice is just under 3 hours. Getting to your hotel and checked in - another 45 minutes. Altogether, 5 - 6 hours. It will be well afternoon, and you will, no doubt, be jet - lagged. Walking around, but little sightseeing.
Aug 5, Venice
Aug 6, Travel to Portofino - 6 to 8 & 1/2 hours of just travel time, plus getting from hotel to train in Venice and getting from train to hotel in Portofino.

So, you have less than a half day in Venice on the 4th, and pretty much none on the 6th. You have one full day in Venice and a few hours another day.

At that point, you have spent over half your first three days just traveling, pretty expensive vacation time not experiencing any special places in Italy.

Check times on the 9th. You will find you have only a 1/2 day, not a full day, in Florence.

You must account for travel time.
Look at how Ellenem lays out an itinerary to include travel days. BTW, it is a thoughtfully done itinerary, but will be super hot on the AC, and I would stay in Sorrento, but not spend a day visiting Sorrento. I would also, even with the heat, try to visit Pompeii if I were near.

Sometimes it pays to get a super flight deal and put up with the extra travel times and costs. Often, however, cheap flights cost more than you think because they are eating up costly vacation time traveling plus extra cost of getting to your first destination. Sometimes people would be just as well off cutting a day and night off their vacation and using that money saved, from extra transportation and hotel night, to fly directly to a destination they really want to see. Also, be sure you are looking at multi-city, not two, one-way tickets. It would be much better to fly into Venice and out of Rome with your last ideas.

Basically, you have to decide where you want to go. Then you will get advice on how best to do it.

hi everybody, a huge thanks.. How does every one like flying in to Rome? Immediatley leaving for Tuscany region. throw out Florence. Go south to Sorrento back to Rome spend last days tour Rome and leave for home?

OK, fly into FCO, take the train to Termini and buy tickets for Orvieto, a little over one hour away. Stay at the Hotel Duomo, pick up a car the next afternoon. Or Arezzo, but Orvieto is much more interesting town.

Throw out Florence? How do you think it helps your trip? Even though Florence is furthest away by <i>distance</i> of Tuscany destinations of interest, it takes the <i>least</i> time from Rome of the Tuscany destinations because of the highspeed rail link, and it takes 1.5 hrs to Firenze S.M.N. station. I think you are putting together things that seems geographically closer, but if you use trains, use the travel time instead of the distance. Plan by distance is a car travel concept.

For example, Rome to Montepulciano (about 120 miles)is closer by distance than to Florence (about 170 miles). But it takes 1 hour 40 minutes from Rome to Chiusi-Chianciano Terme. And on top of that, you still need to take a bus or taxi (30 min) from Chiusi-Chianciano Terme station to Montepulciano. Furthermore, Rome-Florence train runs about 4 times per hour while Rome-Chiusi runs only once an hour.

Does anyone have a hotel preference in Positano? I'm looking at Le Sirenuse or Puppeto.. Would luv to hear anybodys own experiences thanks much