Saturday 23rd April Naples or Sorrento (Naples1)
Sunday 24th April Naples or Sorrento (Naples2)
Monday 25th April Early Ferry to Isle of Capri (1 hour)(Capri1)
Tuesday 26th April Capri (Capri2)
Wednesday 27th April Capri (Capri3)
Thursday 28th April Ferry to Naples, train to Rome(4 hours)(Rome1)

Make sure you watch your national holidays. April 25th is Liberation Day and it could affect your plans. Ferries to Capri will still run but some sights may be closed.

You say Naples OR Sorrento. One is a city of one million people with powerhouse museums and incredible food. The other is a town mostly full of tourists. If you want authentic, stay in Naples.

Three nights on Capri is too many IMHO - have you thought of just seeing it as a day trip and maybe spending some time at the other, lesser known islands - Ischia and Procida or even some time on the Amalfi Coast.

Another thing - May 1st is also a national holiday (Labor Day/May Day). There will be many closures in Rome but on the other hand, there are usually lots of activities like concerts planned. Check websites like

http://www.timeout.com/rome/

Looks way better, June is good weather for the UK, while April in Italy should be ok and perfect in Greece. Continental Europe warms up nicely for your timings but generally will be cooler than Auckland at high summer.

I'd check national holidays in the Southern European areas, generally that may mean that things close while in Northern Europe that means things stay open and get busy. Every country has its own holidays so you may need to dig a bit.

Just one thought, Brussels, some people like it but... its a bit meh. Not really in the same league as many of your other cities though the large park/forest is ok. I might pop over to Luxembourg city or Trier or even Rheims for a few days in preference.

Still once you get to understand the rail systems you'll get the idea. Check out seat61.com for all the clues you need.

Think you should consider a couple of nights away from Edinburgh to savour the Scottish countryside. A trip to Glencoe or Skye would be very do- able.

Alternatively, even closer is the Trossachs, just north of Stirling, for a taste of Scottish countryside. You could also consider the Lake District in the NW of England?

Unless you are meeting up with friends, I would re-order your Italian portion

Land Malpensa, transfer Como
Visit Milan, train to Venice
Venice to Florence
Florence to Naples>Capri
Capri to Naples
Naples to Rome
Rome to Athens

May 14th: Whatever you do, don't take the 7am ferry to Mykonos! That ferry is Superjet, a small passenger-only catamaran with no outer deck seating. At best you will be stuck inside the cramped cabin and won't see a thing. At worst the sea will be rough and passengers around you will be getting seasick.

Instead wait a half-hour and take the 7:30am Blue Star Paros. You can sit on the outside deck and watch the scenery as the ferry goes along the Attica coast and pulls into the harbours at Syros and Tinos on the way to Mykonos. It takes a little longer, but worth it! Blue Star Paros is a large car ferry, almost like a cruise liner, very stable, and comfortable. The bonus: it is cheaper than Superjet.

In my last post I wrote: "At worst the sea will be rough and passengers around you will be getting seasick."

Maybe not! This was even worse (different route, but same ferry you plan to take):
http://www.pacejmiller.com/2009/06/2...-to-santorini/

Thanks for all the feedback.

Yes will definitely take a weekend trip out of Edinburgh to the countryside.
Thanks for the thoughts on public holidays, I'll check those out when booking things.

@Sandralist I think your itinerary makes more sense. I will look at changing it. Would you recommend stopping/spending time at Bologna since the train makes a change there?

Thanks Heimdall, yes Blue Star Ferry had been recommended for getting to Mykonos and Hi 5 for between Mykonos and Santorini. I got sea sick recently on a smaller ship and definitely don't want to repeat that experience.

Unfortunately a fire destroyed the passenger section on Highspeed 5 last month, so that ferry won't be available, even though it is still shown on the ferry websites. For Mykonos to Santorini look for a car-carrying catamaran, e.g. Sea Jets Consortium's Masterjet.

It's not yet clear which ferry Hellenic Seaways will choose to replace Highspeed 5, or even if it will still serve that route this season. I suspect it will, because it is part of the popular Heraklion > Santorini > Mykonos tourist route. The other two highspeeds in the Hellenic Seaways fleet are already committed to other routes. If HS5 is replaced by a flying cat, it will be of similar size to Superjet and SeaJet 2.

Think you should consider a couple of nights away from Edinburgh to savour the Scottish countryside. A trip to Glencoe or Skye would be very do- able.>

I did a fantastic loop by rail from Edinburgh - going first to Inverness then catchin the awesomely scenic Kyle of Lochlash rail line to Kyle of Lochlash and then by bus the short ride over the bridge to Skye - then when leaving Skye took a ferry from it to Maillaig to catch the even more awesome West Highland scenic rail line to Glasgow and the over to Edinburgh if you want to go back there or continue south from Glasgow to the fabled English Lake District - one of my favorite areas in Britain.

seg49,

You asked:

>>>"Would you recommend stopping/spending time at Bologna since the train makes a change there?"<<<<

It is easy and safe to store your luggage in the Bologna station. It takes about 15 minutes. It's about a 30 minute flat walk from the train station to the historic markets (or 10 minutes by taxi, less than 10 euros), and the markets are open until about 1pm, but not at all on Sundays. The markets are in the vicinity of a some other charming sights and some very good restaurants for sampling the local cuisine.

So I only recommend a stopover to people who would be taking a train early enough to make visiting the markets enjoyable. I would say you need to arrive in the station by 10.30-11am, go directly to the markets -- be sure to stick your head into the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie on via Claveture before it closes at noon to see the wowser terracotta statues -- and eventually go to lunch around one or 1.30pm. After lunch you can do some other sightseeing for however long as you please -- the church piazze, the fantastic anatomocial theater, the fountain, the civic building are all easy to see sights but impressive. It's only 45 minutes more to Florence from Bologna, so you can pick your own time to leave. You can always find taxis near the Neptune fountain. Or, if you are only interested in the food markets, you can just go to Bologna to buy up a picnic and head back to the train station by 2pm and eat lunch on the train to Florence.

But if you don't fancy an early train in Venice, just speed by Bologna. There really isn't a lot of point in arriving at noon, unless you could care less about the food markets and are more interested in a particular museum or sight in Bologna plus maybe a restaurant lunch. Bologna does have some very lovely sights of interest that have nothing to do with food, but you need to have that particular interest (medicine, terracotta sculpture, Morandi) to make the stop worthwhile.

I did the same loop as PalenQ only in the opposite direction. Very scenic, but be aware that bus service on Skye was pretty pathetic. (Maybe it's improved since I was there but suspect it's more likely to have gotten worse.)

Thanks PalenQ will look into that!
Heimdall - Shame about the ferry! good to know though!
Sandralist - Thanks for the info on Bologna that sounds like the perfect day, I think an early train and walk to the markets/lunch there sounds wonderful. Cheers!

If into Harry Potter parts of some films were filmed on the West Higland Line and last I knew they had special steam trains with a Harry Potter theme.