ssore633

Do you think the itinerary below is too much to see given the timeframe? Any comments or suggestions are welcome!

Plan: 15 days

Day 1-4: Land in Rome at 8:30 am on day 1
Day 5: Morning train to Naples/Pompeii
Day in Pompeii
Overnight train to Venice
Day 6: Venice
Train to Florence
Day 7-8: Florence
Day 9-11: Train to Cinque Terra
Cinque Terra
Day 12: Morning train to Pisa
Pisa
Night flight to Barcelona/Genoa
Day 13: Morning train to Barcelona
Barcelona
Night train to Madrid
Day 14: Madrid
Day 15: Fly home out of Madrid at 13:00

Other info: First time in non-English speaking country, M/F in late 20’s, no real goals besides to see the major sights and eat authentic food. Want to do the trip as cheaply as possible, but not skimp on seeing things.

I will also have ~4 days before meeting my friend in Rome and will be starting in Zaragosa, Spain. Any awesome things I should see? I'm willing to go to other countries as well.

Thanks in advance!

kja

Unfortunately, I do think this itinerary is too full. Have you checked the times it will take to get from one place to another? It seems to me that much too much of your time will be spent in transit, leaving far too little time to enjoy the wonderful places you hope to visit. Good luck!

CasaDelCipresso

you want to arrive in Rome...get to Naples...get to Pompeii..and DO Pompeii in THE FIRST DAY...I've packed it in before...but that's too much (!) you will be too tired to enjoy yourself, IMHO...are you DYING to see the Cinque Terre?? I think it would make more sense to maybe head down to Sorrento the first day...putter around...take a swim...maybe take a boat to Positano or Capri...wander Sorrento in the evening...and THEN do Pompeii the next day...just a thought. (Pompeii is a big sight) maybe give yourself a night's sleep before jumping on a night train...if I remember correctly...it gets into Venice at something crazy like 5am?? so I'd want to be a BIT rested anyway...I'd probably cut Cinque Terre...and I'd probably just do Pisa as a day-trip from Florence since it's easy to do by train...I don't get the "Night flight to Barcelona/Genoa" - where aree you flying from? Pisa? To Genoa? that doesn't seem right. Anyway...do you NEED to know in advance? If not, i'd probably, hon estly, just wing it and see what you're feeling up for that day

davidjac

Why would you fly to Spain to spend only 2 days there. Your entire plan makes no sense.

annhig

hi, ssore,

assuming you are for real and not just having fun winding us all up, WHY are you going to Italy at all? [ok you're meeting your friend there - why don't they meet you in Spain?]

but if the italian trip is essential,
most people would stick to 3 or possible 4 places in 14 days -

say, Rome 4 nights [a miniumum, IMO]
Naples area 4 nights
then either another italian destination, or back to Spain, to see BCN, OR Madrid.

remember every time you move, you lose at least 1/2 day, probably more.

regards, ann

CasaDelCipresso

I'm assumming that the point is to use a eurail pass and spend as many nights on nihgt trians as possible (?) so they do not have to pay for hotels...this is probably just not the right message board for the backpacking crowd in general...many will take night trians almost every night..wake up and see a city and then move on wich is fine (been there, done that!) - but I just wouldn't do a MAJOR site the very first day...it's So tiring...even in youor 20's and 15 days is a lot to go with no sleep!

ssore633

CasaDelCipresso: Let me clarify... Days 1 through 4 are in Rome, then day 5 is Pompeii.

My bad on the flight... we are flying Pisa to Barcelona/Girona in Spain.

I will have been in Spain a week before my friend gets in and we decided that we would rather see Italy for most of the trip. Madrid is where both of are flights depart from and that is why the time in Spain will be short.

I'm more looking for what I should cut out... So far one response was to cut out Cinque Terre. Any others?

CasaDelCipresso

ahhh...my bad...I didn't see that (!) sorry! more do-able then with time to get over jet-lag in Rome have a great trip!

Aduchamp1

I would do one country well, rather than two countries poorly. We have spent considerable time in both and have not seen even the basics. One of the great pleasures of travel is savor a culture.

It took us the third trip to Italy to visit Sicily which is now of the favorite palces we have seen.

Since you are your 20's there is plenty of time to return to Europe.

pavfec

I'll let others comment on the Italy portion of your trip since I haven't been yet.

Are you flying into Girona because you got a good flight deal? Why not find a flight to Madrid from one of the cities you'll be visiting in Italy? You won't really be able to appreciate Barcelona in a day. It needs at least 4 days to visit and explore. To me, it's just extra travel and hassle for not a whole lot.

ssore633

As far as the flight goes we were able to find a super deal flying into Girona. It was less than 25% the cost of flying to Madrid and Pisa is a shorter distance on the train to get to instead of Rome (which is where the Madrid flights I considered were out of). I'm hoping we're not too burned out from Italy to enjoy Spain!

SBROWNELL

If you like hiking, beautiful coastline, quaint coastal villages, don't cut out Cinque Terra. We spent 11 days in Italy, and besides our stay in Tuscany, Cinque Terra was absolutely my favorite spot. The hiking was beautiful. We spent only one day, but 2 would have been perfect. We trained in from a town South of Genoa, and were able to hike 2 of the towns and trained to one.

brando

Skip Venice, it's really out of your way.

jodeenyc

I would cut Naples/Pompeii, CT and Pisa.

I'm not saying there aren't magnificent things to see there but you could always do those at a later date and work your way up the coastline.

I would do Rome, Florence, Venice and fly out of Venice with more days in each.

ssore633

So Pompeii has been officially cut.

I'm definitely keeping Cinque Terre after reading more about it however am still debating cutting Venice and adding those days to Rome and Florence. Thoughts?

As of now:
4 days Rome
2 days Venice
3 days Florence
3 days Cinque Terre (See the leaning tower on the way to the airport)
Then 1 day in each of Barcelona and Madrid.

I know the time in Spain is short, but that's all we have.

Travel time should only cost us day since we'll take the night train Rome to Venice then only have Venice to Florence and Florence to La Spezia. (Of course to the Pisa/Florence airport too).