tuongvitran

Dear Fodor experts

We are from Vietnam and traveling to Italy and Croatia for our honeymoon in <2 months.

I know 20 days is barely enough for Italy but I would really really love to check out Croatia and all the Game of Thrones sites and Plitvice Lake. I just cannot pick one of them. Italy is my life long dream and Croatia is my recent obsession. We have a healthy budget for our honeymoon but if I don't need to spend an arm and a leg that would be even better, I'm more of a saver.

We will fly in Rome May 14 and out of Milan June 4th. So exactly 20 whole days to explore.

I don't want to plan the whole itinerary myself and then realize that it doesn't make sense - I'm wasting too much time with transportation, I'm being too greedy, there is no train/bus for where i wanna go, or going in the wrong directions etc.

Here is what I have in mind, please correct me if you think it's silly and better, tell me what i should do, please I just need a basic but feasible itinerary so I can start working on the details

14 May - arrive in Rome 6pm, rest and walk around
15 - 16 May - explore Rome
17 May - Take train to Salerno
17,18 May - Take boats/ferries to some Amalfi coast towns and Positano
19 May - Head to Bari (train or bus?)
in the evening take an overnight ferry to Dubrovnik
20,21 May - Explore Dubrovnik
22 May - Head to Split (train, bus?), possible overnight to save time?
23 May - Day trip to Plitvice Lake
24 May - Explore Split
25 May - Day trip to some islands (any recommendations?)
26 May - Ferry from Split to back to Ancona, train to Florence
27,28,29 May - Florence and a Tuscany farmhouse
30,31 May - Venice
1,2,3 June - Milan all 3 days

Does this make sense to you, should I drop Amalfi Coast and just head straight to Bari for Croatia and use that time to explore more of North Italy, spend more time in some farm houses of my dream?

Any inputs would be so much appreciated. I promise to do a trip report for anyone who cannot choose between Italy and Croatia

Vi

kja

OK, I’ll start by saying (sorry!) I would find this itinerary truly awful – WAY too much time in transit relative to the time you will have on the ground. BUT – it’s your trip, not mine. So all I can do is offer some comments. Do you actually have time to see any of the places that make you want to visit them? To be honest, I find it hard to believe that you would. JMO.

If you haven’t already done so, I strongly encourage you to mark up a calendar: Get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.) Then see how things fit together.

To be honest, with 3 weeks, I think you should consider
• Northern Italy (Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Venice, etc.) or
• Western Italy (Rome, Naples, the Amalfi Coast, Salerno, etc.) or
• Croatia (Dubrovnik, Split, the Plitvice Lakes, several islands, etc.) or
• Bits of northern Italy and northern Croatia (Milan, Florence, Venice, maybe the Plitvice Lakes, etc.)

I understand that, with limited time, there is an urge to cram as much in as possible. Rather than skimming the surface and spending time getting from place to place, I choose to skip some places entirely, even if I am sure I would enjoy them. I strongly prefer to actually see and experience the places that I choose to see, while minimizing the time spent traveling between places. But, of course, we all travel for different reasons and with different preferences!

If you haven’t already done so, please use the “Change Forum” button above to set it to “Europe” and then the “View by Country” button to look at the many threads here about traveling in Croatia. (You can do the same for threads on Italy, but it will be easier to start with Croatia, as there are far fewer threads.) if you take a look at some of those threads, you might learn a LOT about what is / is not feasible.

Again, I’m sorry, but I really think you need to reconsider your plans for this trip.

Good luck! And best wishes / congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

tuongvitran

Thank you so much Kja, I'm glad I asked the question. I guess I knew I was trying to do too much but just needed a confirmation. I think I will cut out Amalfi coast and Plitvice, spend a few more days in Northern Italy.
I just booked my flight tickets so haven' done enough research yet, working on it while figuring out a good itinerary Planning for some long nights reading on Fodor.

kja

Kudos for being willing to reconsider!

If you are flying into Rome and out of Milan, you have a dizzying wealth of options in Italy.

I strongly recommend the Rough Guide for Italy (and, for that matter, Croatia). The cost of purchasing a guidebook or two will be nugatory in comparison to the cost of your trip, and you will learn all sorts of things about what you can see and do, how to get around, local norms, basic phrases, money-saving tips, and all sorts of things you don't even know you need to ask!

I'm sure your trip will be MUCH more enjoyable if you trim it to a more manageable one.

Enjoy!

dreamon

I would choose either Italy or Croatia (my vote would go to Italy). However, if you really want to try and fit in both, then perhaps you could do something like this:

.Rome (3nights) - skip Amalfi coast because you've only allocated one full day there anyway
.fly to Dubrovnik and travel to Split via one of the islands (7nights for Dubrovnik, island and Split)
.overnight ferry to Ancona
.Tuscany (5nights)
.Venice (3nights)
.Milan (2nights)

For myself, I don't particularly like flying and don't enjoy long journeys so I'd stick to Italy but I think the above is entirely possible and would be enjoyable.

frencharmoire

What has made Italy your lifelong dream? The various parts of Italy are really, really different to the eye (and when it comes to food & wine) so you should make sure you get what you want. Your dream come true...

If you end up going to Bari to take a ferry, you can go by train from Rome.

If you end up thinking that seeing Rome is less important to you than seeing Florence, you can land in Rome and go directly by train to Florence.

I don't know if it is possible to take a ferry or train from Croatia to Venice, but if it is, suggest (if you are going to Croatia in the middle of your trip) doing your northern Italian itinerary as Venice, Florence, Milan.

Another possibility which I would highly recommend is to ferry (if possible) from Croatia to Ravenna, stop long enough to see the mosaics, and then rent a car to head to Tuscany.

There are lots of good reasons to visit Milan for 3 days if you have certain specific interests. If your interests in Italy are more generalized (lovely scenery, historic architecture, Renaissaince art) you might want to cut back on the # of days in Milan and spend them elsewhere.

Finally, a lot of people looking to spend time in a farmhouse in Tuscany have seen pictures of the landscape south of Siena. If that is really your "dream", then it would be better to go there directly after Rome. Either rent a car in Rome and drive there or take a train to Chiusi and rent a car there. That is very close to the places where all the camera bugs go. If you just want to experience a farmhouse/vineyard with lovely views of castles on hills, you can find many such farmhouse or castles stays close to Florence. Again, if Rome is not important to you, you could go to Florence first thing, sightsee, then rent a car, go to the countryside, and then drive over to the coast to catch a ferry. That would be a fun adventure.

huddoshols

No disrespect but I have travelled through beautiful Vietnam,3 weeks.I have also been several times to Italy and Croatia and still not seen everything. 20 days,your honeymoon, just pick a few places.

zigblue

Think 20 days: just enough for Italy.
If you want to combine Italy + Croatia, may you consider a portion of Italy + 1 to 2 cities of Croatia.
There is a direct flight b/w Rome and Dubrovnik.
And if you intend to take ferry from Bari to Dubrovnik, then may consider Rome + southern Italy (Puglia), rather than Milan/Venice in the North.