Beth49

This will be our first trip to Italy and I would like suggestions on how many days to plan for Florence, Tuscany, and Venice. My initial thought was 2 days for Florence, 3-4 for Tuscany and 2 for Venice. Should I plan more and are there other places we should add on? I had planned to stay a week in Italy and then a week in Austria, but after reading about Italy in travel books I am beginning to think I should spend the entire two weeks in Italy. Thanks for any suggestions.

Poppa

This is a personal opinion but I would counsel spending your entire two weeks in Italy in one spot or divide the visit up between Florence and Venice (still on the edge of being too hasty to get into the cities' rhythms).

However, you don't say when you'll be going. Northern Italy in May is a lot different from Northern Italy in March.

Rather than have unpacking and packing on my mind, I would rather plan future trips for various locations.

Degas

Assuming its May or later:

All 14 days in Italy. Buy an open jaw ticket flying into Venice and out of Rome.

Day 1 Arrive AM in Venice

Day 2 Venice

Day 3 Venice

Day 4 Venice

Day 5 Morning train to Florence

Day 6 Florence

Day 7 Florence - Daytrip via bus to Sienna

Day 8 Florence - Daytrip via train to Lucca

Day 9 Train to Orvieto

Day 10 Train to Rome

Day 11 Rome

Day 12 Rome

Day 13 Rome

Day 14 Daytrip to Ostia Antica

Fly Home

rhkkmk

while i agree that 2 weeks would give you a good foundation for future italy trips, i will add an alternative thought....italy is overwhelming....maybe it would be a good idea to take just the one week there and get a feel for it so that you can return in the future and spend more concentrated time viewing it section by section....
2 days in venice will give you a feel for the city but you will not know it in any way...i have been there several times for a few days each time...i am returning in march for an entire week when i expect to get to know the city quite well...this applies to most cities and areas....i spent a week in tuscany in 2001 and barely touched the surface and that was without setting foot into florence, its hub....there is so much to see and do that you could spend years and still not know italy well..

so my suggestion is to spend your first week there and then go to austria for the second and scout out possibilities in both places for return trips....

Degas

I did a trip once where we flew into Venice then took a train to Vienna, then went to Melk, Salzburg (and surrounding lake and mountain areas)and finally Munich.

e_roz

YOu can spend weeks in Italy easily. Weeks in just Tuscany! But you can do your one week too. I'd spend 2 nights in Venice and the rest in Tuscany, 1 night max FLorence. (or day trip in from another town in the CHianti region.).

If you aren't sold on Austria, then I suggest my honeymoon itinerary (with a day added to Venice) that worked well for us for 2 wks in Italy: FLy in and out of Milan: 2 nights Lake Como, 3 nights Venice, 1 night FLorence, rent a car-drive into Tusccany, stay near Montalcino for 4 nights, 1 night San Gimiganno, turn in Car in Pisa, train to Cinque Terre 2 nights, last afternoon/night in Milan.

We saved Rome/Amalfi for another trip.

Beth49

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I apprecite everyone's recommendation and will continue to research each area.

Weadles

I'd do the entire two weeks in Italy, and here's yet another recommendation:

Fly into NAPLES from London. Spend one week split either between Positano and Capri or Positano and Ravello. Daytrips to: Amalfi and Pompeii.

Train from NAPLES to FLORENCE. Spend one night in Florence, 3 in Tuscany, 3 in Rome.

FLY home from Rome.