MikeyP58

My wife and I will be traveling from Chicago, and have never taken a trip where we are always moving around like this. Our objective is to see as much as we can, but at the same time enjoy the liesure feel of the country.
Would like to know from those who have been there am I trying to see to much ?, am I going to feeel like I'm always on the move ?

Day 1 Travel Chicago to Venice 14.5 hr with lay over ( no direct flights )
Day 2 Actually first day in Italy, we arrive at noon in Venice and will have the afterrnoon to walk around.
Day 3 Venice - spend the day visiting a few key sights.
Day 4 Train to Florence in am , viist Uffizi Gallery in the afternoon.
Day 5 Day trip to Siena & San Gimigano
Day 6 Full day in Florence , more shopping and Museums.
Day 7 Train to Naples, and car service to Pompeii for afternnon tour.,Then head to Sorrento, which will be our base for the next 3 nights.
Day 8 Explore Sorento, and take a drive ( via private driver ) Amalfi coast town of Positano.
Day 9 Take the Hydrofoil to Isle of Capri, and spend a portion of the day exploring the Isle.
Day 10 Travel to Rome in am via train from Naples, arrive in the afternnon for some sight seeing maybe the coliseum.
Day 11 Vatican City Museum and shopping
Day 12 Sistine Chapel& shopping
Day13 Fly home Rome to Chicago 9 hrs

WOW - Im tired typing this.. do i need more time any place ? , I maybe able to squeeze one more day someplace

Ruth

Coo! But reading it, I can imagine doing most parts - you've sensibly scheduled only one main activity per day. There will be time for some relaxing, but not much!

But by days 8 and 9 - I would need a day to recover from your very long day seeing Pompei and travelling to Sorrento on day 7. Do you really want to be heading off to the Amalfi coast on day 8? I guess for day 9 you can decide on the day whether you feel like doing the trip to Capri.

I would add a day to Venice and omit one of the side trips elsewhere, or even omit the Sorrento part altogether and increase the time spent in the other cities by a day each.

Dayle

Hi Mikey,

Honestly, you are going to be spending all your time traveling and not seeing. Forget even enjoying the leisure feel of Italia!

For only 11 days you really, really, need to pick just 3 destinations.
Venice - 3 nights
Florence 3 nights
Rome 5 nights

would make a lot more sense. As stated here many times, every time you move, you loose a 1/2 day.

Another option would be to do Venice, Florence and Tuscany, saving Rome and the Amalfi Coast for the next trip!

Buon viaggio!

MikeyP58

thanks, for the comments, so far,, maybe i will add another day in Rome , make it 4 nights. I have reviewd many of the structured tours , and many of them do these many locations in same amount of time.
I didn't want to do that because i like to move at my own pace, but don't want to feel i'm always moving either.

ira

Hi M,

>Our objective is to see as much as we can, but at the same time enjoy the liesure feel of the country.<

Those are, generally, mutually incompatible.

Re your specific itinerary. You are changing locations 3 times. That will be almost 2 days lost to travel

You have only 1 day and one night in Venice.
You have only 1.5 days in Florence.
You have only 2.5 days in Rome.
You will be on transportation almost your whole time on the AC.

This is in no way liesurly.

I would skip the AC and enjoy Venice, Florence and Rome.

Have a nice visit.

nytraveler

You're trying to do way too much and will spend much of your time in travel. Agree that for 11 days 3 cities in plenty. (My first trip to Rome was 5 days and we were SO frusrated at everything we had to miss.)

Plus you have given yourself very little time to enjoy one of the major parts of Italian life - sitting at a cafe with a drink and watching the world go by - or eating a gelaot and window shopping in the afternoon or a long walk home from dinner past the floodlit monuments.

Also - you have the Sistine chapel on a diffrent day from the Vatican Museums - it is IN the Vatican Museum - so you wouldn;t do them separately.

Yes - you're right - a lot of tours do this itinerary. That is one of the major things wrong with tours. Also - on a tour someone is doing all the arrangements for you - here you would be doing it all yourself - how much time will that take from your sightseeing/other activities?

As a rule of thumb tours try to cover way too much ground - very superficially and missing a lot of great stuff - you should allow at least double the time they do anywhere.

halsar

IRA

Looks like you are my type of travel planner. I always want to do everything and consider time traveling-traveling.

Shan333

I am currently living near Florence with my Italian fiance'. Two years ago I spent three weeks in Sorrento and found it a boring, inauthentic tourist trap. Trips to Positano, Amalfi, Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum, however, did not disappoint.

Don't waste time in Sorrento. It's resorty, relaxing, clean, and chraming, and about as real as Disneyland.

The only thing I would reconsider cutting out, is Pompeii. If you're a history buff, you might really enjoy it. Walking in the remains of a Roman city was an unforgettable experience for me, but I'm a geek. Consider a day-trip to Pompeii from Rome, although this requires a helluva lot of travelling on your part. Only consider it if you think this will be your only trip to Italy in your life. Pompeii/ Herculaneum are unique archealogical wonders, and I wouldn't let anyone in my family come visit me in Italy without trying to pursuade them to see it,

dcd

In my college days, I wouldn't hesitate to pull this off. Now at middle age and married, I'm not so sure although my wife and I also like to be on the move. At this point in our lives, we're not the type of travellers who like to sit in a cafe or park and people watch. Just not our style when travelling abroad. Plus, we can only do at most one international trip a year. Maybe once we have been to all the places we want to go we'll go back to the areas we really liked and spend a lot of time just hanging around with little or no plans.

That said, you've got a whole lot of moving going on. You'd probably need a week to recover. If you're both up for a whirlwind trip that will let you see the basics in each area while you're living out of your suitcases for 2 weeks, then go for it. And your schedule is doable but I would definitely add a night in Rome. You really need at least 3 very full days there to see most of the A list things (and they are very much worth seeing) and that's being on the constant go. You will be able to capture the essence of Venice, Florence and the Tuscan hill towns in the time you have allocated. (BTW, I'd highly recommend Luca Garrapa of www.hillsandroads.com for tours of Siena and San Gimi.) I've never been to the AC so I can't comment on it. Pompeii is worth a visit.

On the other hand, if you plan to do a lot of travelling in the future and think you'll return to Italy, I'd slow it down a bit by focusing on 3 areas.

Dave

suze

<have reviewd many of the structured tours, and many of them do these many locations in same amount of time.>

Organized tours can move faster than an individual, it's a well-known fact

I would prioritize and cut half your list. Sure, we can say only Venice, Florence, and Rome... but maybe that's not where is most important to you.

One way to evaluate each day is write out the timeline. Here's a partial example:

Day 4

Get up, pack, have breakfast, check out of hotel -2 hrs

Walk from hotel to vaporetto stop, buy a ticket and wait for the next boat, take it to the train station, buy train tickets, wait for the train to arrive, board train -1.5 hrs.

Train ride -3.5 hrs

Go from train station to your hotel in Florence by taxi, check in, unpack, have lunch -2 hrs

You're already 9 hours into your day so is the museum even still open?

I'm only partly kidding(!) I just don't think what you described is possible.

MikeyP58

One of the things I am planning is having my Museum tickets , ad well as train tickets ahead of time , before I leave the States, also since I'm working with a Travel agent, I will have my day tours scheduled , as well as my private driver.
That said won't this save some time ??

nnolen

Mikey,

I completely understand the compulsion to try and do everything in one trip. However, I agree with most of the other posters that while your itinerary is humanly possible, it is not going to be particularly fun or relaxing. You're probably going to be pretty wiped out from all the travel.

I would suggest that you really look at the things that interest you. If art and architecture is more your thing, then focus on the big 3 (Venice, Rome, and Florence).

If you really want incredible views of plunging cliffs, breaking waves, and lemon trees, then keep your time in the Amalfi Coast and skip one of the other cities (I'd suggest skipping Venice if you do this, just because it is the farthest away geographically).

Pompei really is incredible, but Ostia Antica is also really neat, and it is just 30 minutes outside of Rome - much easier than a 2 hour train ride to Naples and then a private driver from Naples to Pompei. If you are going to do the Amalfi Coast, by all means do Pompei, but if not....rethink it. It's a lot of travel and hassle for what will only be a couple of hours in the ruins.

The poster who pointed out that you will do the Sistine Chapel at the same time as the Vatican museums is correct - the chapel is in the museums. Maybe you meant the museums one day and St. Peters the next?

Having your tours and drivers scheduled in advance will save you SOME time, but not enough to really make a dent in all the travel you are doing in your original itinerary.

Also, Sorrento is rather sterile and touristy, but it is a decent jumping point for the rest of the Amalfi Coast, Capri, and Pompei (via the Circumvesuviana), so if you are planning on traveling on the Amalfi Coast and Capri, it is pretty central though not really down-n-dirty.

Anyway, just my two cents worth. Sorry it was so long.

Neopolitan

I think it's a wonderful itinerary. I personally would ignore those who say it's too much traveling -- that's why I travel -- to travel! Although you've listed it day by day, if anyone takes the time to study it, they'll see you're actually staying in each place for several days and doing smallish day trips out.

I say go for it and ignore those who think a vacation has to be total immersion in each location or has to include lots of time to sit and do nothing. Meanwhile I'd agree with them if your itinerary were filled with 1 or two night stays, but it isn't. Go and enjoy!

I think some are totally misreading your itinerary. For example someone points out you only have one day and one night in Venice? Huh? I read it as arriving at noon, having all that day and evening, that night, all the next day and the next night, and then training to Florence which is only a couple of hours. I think that's great!

MikeyP58

thanks to all of your for your thoughtfull comments.

vagabondsoul

Mikey - I get your dilemna. I posted my long itinerary and got lots of feedback. And I did end up changing my trip significantly; not least of which was adding an add'l week to it!

I have some parts where I'm "rushing" from point A to point B [2 nights per town] and others where I'll be luxuriating with my cafe in the AMs.

So, how does it all work out? Dunno. I leave Apr. 29....

My only advise is to visualize the days and ask yourself "is this how I want to be spending my time?". If yes, go for it!