Traveling to Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento areas end of September - besides the obvious reservations for air and hotel, what are the important ones to make to make our trip most enjoyable ? What are the best sources ?

Venice ?

Train travel - can I make them now ? Any tips ?

Florence - Uffizi and Accademia - is calling the best option ?

Rome - Vatican, underground Colisseum ?

Sorrento - using as a base to see Capri, Pompeii, Almafi Coast . Is there really anything I need to make reservations to see ?

Is there anything " big " I'm missing ?

I haven't started narrowing dinner options, but as I start searching, how far in advance can I make them ? We don't want to be overscheduled, but don't want to waste time waiting in lines if avoidable.

Grazie !

You don't need to make seat reservations in advance. You can do that the day before you travel at any train station. Some of your trains require reservations. See the German rail site http://tinyurl.com/c9jp54 for specifics.

Also see http://tinyurl.com/eym5b for an introduction to traveling by train in Europe.

You should get a reservation for the Galeria Borghese. If you intend to use the Roma pass to get into the gallery, call to make the reservation and do not pay for it.

Venice: Doge's Palace Secret Itineraries (in English)

Florence: Uffizi and Accademia reservations are near imperative. Calling one way or another is needed. I called them myself. There are some poster who got in without pre-booking, but it is risky.

Rome: Scavi Tour, Borghese Gallery

Amalfi Coast: I went back and forth on whether to pre-book a car with a driver to do the AC drive. It turned out negotiating directly with a taxi driver after I got there got me a much better price over internet booking or using the hotel recommended car service.

I have not have problem finding tables at restaurants in Italy. When I really wanted to go to a certain restaurant, I booked them several days ahead even for Michelin star rated restaurants. I was not sure if I needed even that much. There are probably super popular places in big cities, but I must not have been to such places. For trattoria type, I usually reserve dinner table in the afternoon. I usually get a good table by making some kind of reservation.

>>>Train travel - can I make them now ? Any tips ?<<<

You can get discounts by booking in advance (sometimes as much as 60%) on the Italian train website. This link is for the faster trains only and you must use the Italian spelling (it will start to autofill). All the faster trains require seat reservations, but will be included on this link. Only the slow R trains don't have mandatory seat requirements.
http://www.fsitaliane.it/cms/v/index...003f16f90aRCRD

lmont, I can't offer any help in particular, but I wanted to comment to say that I'm going to be in the exact same cities at the end of September as well. Most of the specific sights you mentioned are also things I plan to see! I've already booked advance tickets for the Colosseum underground tour, and I tried to get Scavi tour tickets, but they were already booked up for the date I wanted. I plan to contact my B&B in Florence to see if they can help me make Uffizi and Accademia reservations, but I think I'm going to wait until I get to Italy to book trains, because I don't want to be stuck with too rigid of a schedule. Good luck planning your trip! Maybe I'll see you somewhere along the way without even knowing it, ha ha.

Thanks everyone !

Greg - we are basing ourselves in Sorrento . Where did you get your taxi from ? I thought we'd take a bus - although part of me is a little anxious at the thought of the road travel. Did your taxi take you to different locations or did you get multiple taxi's ?

Erries - : ) maybe we'll pass each other ! Couldn't get into Scavi either. Where did you find the underground tour info. ? I had it at one time and now can't locate it. What are your highlights to see in Venice ?

Lmont, the bus along the Amalfi Coast was FANTASTIC!! Originally we did it as a cost cutting measure ( 7 eurs as opposed to...like 200 or more euros for a private driver? We took the bus from Sorrento to Amalfi, spend a few hours tehre, then back to Positano, some hours there, then caught an evening bus back to Sorrento. YOu get the bus right at the Circumvesuviana Station in Sorrento. VERY conveneniently located, assuming you are staying in Sorrento town or anywhere you can get a quick ride down the hill.

Just be sure, if you even remotely get carsick, to take a meclizine (bonine) before the trip.

What did we miss by NOT using a private driver? Well...maybe some of the driver's favorite coastal viewpoints and stories. But the entire area, starting with your home=base of Sorrento, has amazing view points!! We felt very, very safe with our bus drivers, and after seeing some of the car drivers, were glad we were high up in a bus.

I stayed in Sorrento. I liked the taxi driver that took me from the Circumvesuviana station to the hotel, so I negotiated a full day coastal trip for 200EU in late April. I was seeing numbers in ~400EU rnage for an online booking before the trip. You have more leverage during off seasons and probably more so now.

I wanted to visit Positano in the morning, lunch at Ravello, Amalfi in the afternoon. If you look at the bus schedule, this can be done by taking ~6am bus leaving Sorrento. I did not want to wake up that early. It was either drop Ravello or hire a car/driver. Positano is where one appreciates having a driver pick one up. There is really no parking anywhere near the interesting part of the town.

I also arranged the same taxi driver to take me to the Napoli station. Having taken Circumvesuniana from Napoli Centrale to Sorrento earlier, I did not want to go through the same agonizing 70 minutes trip on an uncomfortable hard plastic seat again.