Italy Itinerary Help
 

First, I understand, that ideally I should spend a month in each of the places I want to go to, unfortunately, my boss and my bank account disagree. Along these same lines, I know ther are places that will be left out, but c'est la vie.

My wife and I have both been to Europe prior to having met, but never together (an me, never to Italy), and after this trip, it will probably be a while before we make it back. As a result, we are struggling with trying to see as many things as we can, while also taking the time to enjoy the places and emmerse ourselves in our surroundings.

At this point we are planning a 3 week trip of which the first two weeks will be spent in Italy (the third will be spent in Switzerland, Salzburg and Munich). We will arrive in Rome at 7:30 AM, and are planning on spending three nights in Rome (the day we arrive and two other full days). The fourth day will take us to Florence where we will spend 2 nights (1 1/2 days). From Florence we will go to Venice for 2 nights (1 1/2 days) and from Venice to Cinque Terra for 3 nights (2 1/2 days). Finally we will spend our final afternoon and night in Italy in Milan.

As I said, I know we aren't spending enough time in any of these places, but given the time we have available, how would you reallocate nights? What places would you skip and what would you add. I would love to spend time in Tuscany, but part of me feels that to really enjoy the area, you need to spend time in it, not just a night or two... Any advice. Its possible that we might be able to exend the trip by another week, in which case we would allocate 4-5 more days to Italy.

Also, what time of the year would you recommend, late May or early September (I am leaning towards late May)

Thank you in advance.

anyone?

It's hard to find fault with what you have so far, except that your list does not appear to add up to 14 nights (two weeks). Your plan calls for some zigzagging (Florence-Venice-CT) which I'd modify. Also, I'd cut Milan.

To fulfill your desire to 'spend time in Tuscany', can't you extend your Florence stay so that you can take a few daytrips?

'late May or early September'? Either is fine IMO.

I also noticed the nights don't add up to 14 but rather 11. If only 11, I'd pick only two places or perhaps three. Keep in mind the general rule: Every time you switch hotels and move to another town, you lose a half day or more.

Are you locked into arriving in Rome and departing from Milan? How are you traveling around?

You need to decide which destinations make the cut based on your interests and not necessarily on the comments you get here.

If you only have the 11 days I would eliminate the Cinque Terre and either add one night to each location or 2 nights to Rome and 1 to Venice.

If you have 14 nights and still want to go to Cinque Terre I would go after Florence and before Venice, much more efficient travelling. However, personally I would stick with the big 3 and add some time to take a daytrip to Tuscany, perhaps Siena. Our first two week trip to Italy we did 6 nights Rome, 4 nights Florence and 4 nights Venice - it was ideal for us!

I would add a night to Florence ,to afford
more exploration of that region, perhaps
Lucca or Siena for the day.
Eliminate Milan and shorten Cinque Terre
to two nights.
Ciao

Agree with a lot of what's been said already. If you aren't able to add extra days to your trip, I would consider saving CT for another trip. At a minimum I would streamline the route to save time in the double-backing and do something like Rome-CT-Florence-Venice-Milan (assuming that you would have to spend your last night there to catch a plane in the morning). To maximize your time in each place, move on to the next city early in the morning so that you don't cut your days in half.

Rome, especially, is so dense with things to see and do that you will feel very rushed with only 3 nights - I would do a minimum of 4 nights. Agree w/ what others have said about adding an extra night to other places, depending on what you are most interested in. If you aren't able to add the extra week, I would save Tuscany for another trip since there is already so much to see in Rome, Florence, and Venice.

At this point we figure part of our trip will be via train and the other part will be via car. We are still trying to figure out which legs make sense using what... It sounds like we will probably be adding another week to thr trip!!!

Nihts 1 - 3: Rome
Nights 4 - 7: Florence
Nights 8 - 10: Cinque Terre
Night 11: Milan (we are still negotiating on this one. my wife really wants to see the last supper before it is gone - would it work to see it on the way to something?)
Nights 12 - 14: Berner Oberland (hopefully in the mountains)
Nights 15 - 19: Mosel Valley and Romantic Road
Nights 20 and 21: Munich
Night 22: Salzburg
Night 23: Halstatt
Nights 24 - 26: Venice
Night 27: Rome

So... At this point we can leave for our trip the beginning of next May, or anytime from mid-June to the last week of August. Would the last week of August and the first three weeks of September be better than May? Would it be too crowded?

How about the Mosel Valley and the Romantic Road? Is it seeing too much of the same stuff? Would it be better to squeeze in two days in prague or Vienna?

All right, I think thats it for now. I would love to hear your somments and suggestions.

Yikes. I count at least 11 hotels over 27 nights. This is way too much moving around for me, but this is your trip, so ... whatever.

Where is the Last Supper going?

The second half of your trip is way too much travelling for my taste.

Munich is 90 minutes from Salzburg and Salzburg about the same from Hallstadt. I would stay in Salzburg and do daytrips rather than burn so much time moving from place to place.

I would personally cancel the CT and add the nights to Rome and Florence.

Also, I have done trips to Milan from Florence. If you are going for just one thing, it is more trouble to move than to stay put.