batasari

Hello,

We are 2 couples planning to travel to Italy in early September. Below is our itinerary...Please suggest if we need to make any changes.

Thursday, 9/3
Depart to Rome

Friday, 9/4
9am - Arrive in Rome
11am - Train to Florence
3pm - Florence Bike Tour
6pm - Gelato and Pizza Cooking Class

Saturday, 9/5
8am - Cinque Terre Hiking Day Trip

Sunday, 9/6
8am - Tuscany and Pisa in One Day

Monday, 9/7
9am - Train to Venice
2pm - Venice in One Day Including Boat Tour
6pm - Venice Gondola Ride and Serenade

Tuesday, 9/8
9am - Murano, Burano and Torcello Half-Day Sightseeing Tour
2pm - Train to Rome
5pm - Arrive in Rome
6pm - Rome by Night Walking Tour

Wednesday, 9/9
10am - Rome Food Walking Tour
2pm - Vatican Walking Tour

Thursday, 9/10 to Saturday, 9/12
3-Day Italy Trip: Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri

Sunday, 9/13
Flight back to US

Sassafrass

Have you been to Italy before and already seen a lot of these places so just want another quick look-see at things you missed before?

If you have not been before, then your current itinerary is kind of a race.

You are going from the middle of Italy to the NE and back to the middle, then South, then back to the middle.

Can you possibly fly into Venice? It would save you most of a day of travel once you are there.

First, are you coming from SF? It is a long overnight slog followed by your train to Florence. You can expect jet-lag. IME, you will be too tired to do the bike tour. Plus Florence is very small. IMHO, it would also be much more enjoyable to stroll through cobblestone streets, walk across Ponte Vecchia, and enjoy the ambience.

It can be done, but CT from Florence is not a good day trip, plus you will be going to to the AC, so you will see one beautiful coast.

You are giving yourselves no time to meander in lovely Venice. One tightly planed afternoon and one very rushed morning trying to see all three islands. No time for a leisurely lunch or sit in a piazza and soak up the watery atmosphere of Venice. It can't be done racing around.

One day in Rome is so little, it is hard to even contemplate it.

You do not have three days in Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri.
Are you planning to see Pompeii either on the way from Rome to Sorrento or on the return from Sorrento to Rome? At any rate, just travel from Rome to Sorrento will take about 1/2 day. You will want to be back in Rome the night before departure, so another 1/2 day there.

It is better not to split time in places?

I have tried to come up with an itinerary that even came close to what you want to do, and could not come up with anything sensible. Hope someone else can.

Blueeyedcod

So you land at 9am and are taking a train to Florence at 11am? I presume it's one of the new services that depart from FCO straight to SMN? Have you booked a ticket for this? I can see plans falling over already if your flight is delayed - it will have a domino effect on the rest of your day.

Tuscany and Pisa in one day? Where exactly *in* Tuscany and how do you plan to get around?

It is logistically impossible to see Murano, Burano AND Torcello and make a train to Rome by 2pm unless you have hired a private taxi for a few hours.

What exactly is a Vatican walking tour?

bilboburgler

We do get the odd itin to review which is a little speedy so, as I drink my early morning cafe lungo, I was hoping for a gentle start, but I was choking by the 11am moment on day one.

1) Make sure you only have in-cabin luggage as the baggage system at Rome is normally pretty poor, eventual but often slow. I still think the 11am is too early but hey, only one way to find out. The worst that happens is you miss the bike tour (given the size and shape of Florence, probably not the best way of seeing Florence anyway, so as long as you have a guide book you can wander around the best bits before the cooking course)
2) the trip through to Thursday is as fast a sprint as I've ever seen, still it is in September so the air will be a little cooler, if you are going to do this crazy thing keep smiling and no recriminations and you'll be fine
3) Thursday onwards looks like the start of a great holiday
4) I suggest you just cut a day, any day before Thursday or travel a day earlier

bilboburgler

Just a point, you have not included Herculaneum or Ostia Antica. ;-)

Sassafrass

They also have not included any city in Tuscany like Siena or Lucca or any one of a half dozen others.

And, on the AC, they have not included Positano or Amalfi.

They have to cut more than just the one day in the CT.

isabel

There is nothing wrong with trying to see a lot and to have a fast paced trip. But you do have to understand the logistics of things or you are not going to get what you think you are. That first day is just not practical. Even if your flight is on time or early (and flights are an hour or two late ALL THE TIME) you have too many chances to get screwed up. Is that train time from the airport station (in other words, you don't need to change in Rome?) If it's from the airport station you could reasonable expect to make an 11 train IF your flight is on time, but no way if you need to take the train to Termini and then get an 11:00 train to Florence. So that's the first thing. But even if you make it to Florence when you think you will do you really think you'll want to do a bike tour and a cooking class on the same day? What's wrong with just walking around and SEEING stuff (and eating gelato and pizza). Just seems like a not very enjoyable first day. And I'm speaking as someone who doesn't really suffer from jetlag and does a lot on my first day.

Two day trips, one to CT and one to Pisa (and one other town) are fine except you have no time to BE in Florence. It's the wording of your "Pisa and Tuscany in one day" that makes it sound like you don't know what you are talking about. Tuscany is a large region with many, many worthwhile sites and you are certainly not going to even pretend to experience it in one day. That being said, both Pisa and Florence are technically IN Tuscany so you can tell people back home that you've been there. Just know that by "Tuscany" most people mean the countryside and small hill towns and you aren't going to be doing that. Many people combine Lucca and Pisa and that's a doable day trip. Neither are small Tuscan hill towns but they are both worth seeing.

You have one and a half days in Venice, enough to walk around, take a vapparetto ride. Just see how you feel when you get there about trips to the outer islands, etc. (and drop the "Venice in one day" thing. Sounds like you are trying to write a description for a bad package tour).

The rest of the trip looks OK. I think you have too many scheduled tours and not enough time to just look around on your own. Why can't you just get a guide book and/or do some on line research to find out what you most want to see and also allow some time to just be there - and I don't mean 'schedule' time to 'cafe sit'. I just mean don't schedule every minute.

nytraveler

Acouple of notes:

You hace NO time ti actually see Florence (Pizza cooking course - how can you do at home without a pizza oven?)

Doing a day trip to CT is VERY long - have you look at the train schedules?

Tuscany is a province of which Florence is the capital - you can go to Pisa and possibly one other town (but again, you haven;t seen florence)

You have half of one day to see a little of Venice - how can you do it in one day if you have only half the day?

You cannot see all 3 island in 1.2 a day (have you found this as a tour - or do you think you can do with pubic boats - not possible) - plus no time to see anything

You are also seeing nothing of Rome - just a brief tour of the Vatican and a food walking tour. (Where is ancient Rome? Renaissance Rome? La Dolce Vita?)

Are you flying back to the US form Naples? If not - where from and how will yo get there? Wont this take away from the 3 days in which you are stuffing Naples, Pompeii Sorrento and Capri - and completely missing any of the Amalfi Coast)?

Sorry - you are trying to do WAY too much in so few days - and what little time you have seems to be entirely taken up with random tours and no time to actually see the major sights. You could not pay me to do this.

I would do either Rome and the AC - or visit Rome and Venice - with a brief stop in Florence on the day you train from one to the other to do very quick visits to the Uffizi and Accadmia (timed tickets bought in advance). This will be a very early start and a late arrival in venice but will give at least a tiny taste of Florence.

cruiseluv

I'm sorry, you lost me by the end of the first day. After reading that I feel I need a nap! I would say, take into consideration the very good comments from the posters above and go back to the drawing board.

MellowChef

looks great, certainly all that hiking will work up your appetite

PalenQ

Trains, Italian ones are some of the best in Europe now, are the best way to go between those cities and are easy to book in advance from home (well possible if not always easy!) - www.trenitalia.com is the official site of the Italian State Railways - book in advance for sweet discounts which however are sold in limited numbers and thus must be booked far in advance to guarantee but savings can be sweet! For lots of great info on Italian trains check these neat sites: www.seat61.com - especially attuned to discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com or www.ricksteves.com.

You are traveling enough on trains to warrant a look at the Italy Eurailpass - even though you must pay a 10 euro supplement for each fast train the more days you ride trains the cheaper the pass becomes so it may be economic for you and you can chose which trains to take once there and not have to book in stone on the fickle www.trenitalia.com site.

Travel_Nerd

I also think you're over-estimating how long it will take to do things.

For example, on 9/8 you indicate that you will arrive in Rome at 5pm and then slated a walking tour for 6pm. It takes time to get from the train station to your hotel to check in...likely more than an hour.

Also, keep in mind...you're traveling with another couple and your partner. Multiple people take longer. Trust me. What if one of them wants to change clothes, take a shower, etc.? That stuff takes time!

With your current plan, you need to consider making some major cuts or add some days to your trip. You only have 7 days--and your arrival day will not be a sightseeing day, so you only have essentially 6 days.

Travel_Nerd

*Added thoughts...Sorry, I misread the notation of when I added your days:
Thursday, 9/10 to Saturday, 9/12
3-Day Italy Trip: Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri

Still, consider making cuts overall.

annhig

I also think you're over-estimating how long it will take to do things.>>

respectfully, travelnerd, i think you mean "underestimating".

with which I wholeheartedly agree.

We've all done it of course - thought that if we are going all that way we don't want to miss anything, and then try to cram so much in we don't see anything at all. Really the trick is to convince yourself that you can't see everything, so there is no point in trying. That achieved, you can begin to concentrate on what you are really going to Italy to experience, which presumably is not the inside of numerous train carriages, but the atmosphere, the food, the architecture, sitting in a cafe watching the world go by, a gondola ride if you must, etc. etc.

It's also helpful to set out what each day entails including travel times, for example:

Day 1 - arrive Rome FCO 9am. Clear passport and customs by ?10am. [quite optimistic]. catch 11 am train to Florence, arrive 1pm [again, quite optimistic]. Taxi to hotel, check in, have lunch, nap, 3pm bike tour.

That's if it all goes well. if it doesn't, the bike tour [and what it cost you] goes west. Better to reckon on getting there mid-afternoon, and if you have the energy, having a gentle wander around the centre of Florence, admiring the lovely buildings, having a nice cool glass of wine in a piazza, and planning dinner.

Day 2 - bike tour of Florence [if you must] or why not see the Duomo, go up the Campanile and/or the Dome of the cathedral, wander over to the central market and eat porchetta, explore the little lanes and shops of Oltrarno, then walk up to the Piazzale Michelangelo and admire the sunset?

Day 3 - tour of Tuscany [with whom? Hills and Roads gets good reviews here and would probably be quite economical for 4 of you]

Day 4 - Train to Venice.

Day 5 - etc. etc.

This should enable you to see if what you proposing is really realistic.

in fact, looking at your itinerary, if you decide to keep all 4 destinations, especially if you are flying into and out of Rome, it would be a better use of your time to go straight to Venice, then Florence, then Naples etc., then Rome, which puts you in the right place for flying home at the end of your trip.

Good luck!

Debs

You're in Florence, eating gelato (which will be yummy by the way) and in a cooking class on 9/4. How long will that last? When are you planning to leave Florence so you're on time for your 8am hike in CT on 9/5?

Looks like a very overstructured itinerary, but go for it if that's how you're used to when traveling. This isn't a relaxing vacation, at least by my standards. Maybe you're not looking to relax?

As others have said, you haven't allowed for any delays. It's always good to have a plan B in mind just in case something comes up to affect plan A.

If you stick to this schedule, you'll certainly sleep well on the flight back to the US!

Sassafrass

Can you add a few days to your trip? If not, pick the two places you most want to see. Allot time to really see them. Then see if you can logically and logistically fit in anything else. Something has to be cut or you will remember mostly trains and train stations. What to cut is up to you.

Have you looked to see if you can fly into one place and out of another?

Some of the things you have slated to do look as if they are recommendations of someone else or excursions listed in a brochure for tours. Do you have some good guide books so you can see what each destination has to offer - why people go there, etc?

Example: Florence by bike rather than walking is perplexing. The big draw to Florence is the great art and architecture, the duomo, the baptistery, Santa Croce, Ponte Vecchio. You have so little time, and could make pizza anywhere. I am not trying to tell you what to see, but to choose carefully so you do not entirely miss the richness of Florence. This applies to all the other destinations.

Very, very rushed possible itineraries
This only works if you can fly into Rome and home from Venice

Friday, arrive Rome, head directly to Sorrento
Saturday, The AC by boat (or Capri)
Sunday, back to Rome, stopping in Pompeii
Monday, Rome
Tuesday, Rome
Wednesday, travel to Florence, check into hotel and head on out to Pisa and possibility Luca
Thursday, Florence (whole day)
Friday, travel to Venice (half day)
Saturday, Venice
Sunday, home

Another possibility
This works only if you can fly into Venice and out of Rome.
hate two stays in the same city, but this at least gives whole days to Rome.
Florence is so small that small chunks of time can work. Rome is so large it takes more time to get from place to place. With whole days, you can plan that better.

Friday, arrive in Venice (possibly a half day)
Saturday, Venice (whole day)
Sunday, travel to Florence (possibly a half day)
Monday, day trip, Pisa and Lucca by train
Tuesday, Florence (most of the day) very late afternoon or early evening train to Rome.
Wednesday, Rome (whole day)
Thursday, travel to Sorrento, see Pompeii on the way
Friday, boat trip down the AC to Positano and Amalfi or to Capri, late train back to Rome.
Saturday, Rome (whole day)
Sunday, home.

If you have to do a return to Rome, than you really must cut one place.

My advice. Don't book too many activities. A couple of tours of places like Pompeii is good, but you can get a guide right at the entrance.

PalenQ

There are ALWAYS guides at places like Pompeii and the Colosseum - official ones and unofficial ones IME - I generally eschew guided tours but do bone up on the history of a place so I can do my own tour - along with the guidebooks sold in the site's shops or an audio tour - actually a guided tour is a great thing too but do your own homework first - salacious things are often brought out by guides - like on the Colosseum tour about there being no WCs for women who were relegated to the highest rows and had to just hand over the top railing to relieve themselves!

sandralist

Sorry to pile on but:

It could be brutally hot at the end of summer in Florence. Is that tour booked yet? I wouldn't want to commit to that, arriving jet lagged.

Pizza is not something people in Florence normally know how to cook well. It would be like taking a barbecue cooking class in Minnesota. Pizza is from Naples and Rome (and Sicily). Gelato is from Sicily, and although Florence has many fine gelaterie (several of the best run by Sicilians), you might as well just go to them. Gelato is really not a do-it-yourself item. Most Italians never make their own gelato. They leave it to the pros. Ditto pizza, actually.

Have you consulted your friends about this plan?

batasari

Thanks for the responses guys...Again, this is a rough itinerary...we will make changes based on your suggestions/critique