Greetings travel sages!

My wife and I are renewing our vows and going on a second honeymoon this summer. We have never been to Italy, and may not get the chance to return for years. Thus, we would like to see as much as possible during the 16 nights we are there. Here is our tentative itinerary, and we would love any input on what we had obviously missed, or where we are devoting too much time.

Rome - 3 days/2 nights
Naples/Amalfi Coast - 3 nights
Siena - 1 night
Florence - 3 nights
Venice - 3 nights
Milan - 1 night
Liguria (haven't picked a town yet) - 2 nights
Near Rome Airport - 1 night

We understand this may be too arduous a schedule, due to the amount of travel time between these cities and the fact we are going during the summer, June 26 thru July 13. We submit this to your collective wisdom to help us with tweaks and or wholesale changes.

Kindest Regards,

Jason and Tina

It's a lot but doable. Since you've never been though, I think you should try to spend more time in Rome, the day you arrive, is not going to be all that productive. I think 4 nights min. for 1st trip to Rome. Maybe cut our Siena and make it a day trip from Florence. I haven't been to Milan or Liguria, but from what I hear (and read), Milan can be skipped. Have you already booked air? Can you leave from Milan (or somewhere else more convenient) instead of Rome?

I would suggest more time in Rome. Maybe another 2 nights. There is so much to see and do there. Not sure what I would suggest cutting out, since I haven't been to Siena, Milan, or Leguria but I'm sure someone else on here will have some thoughts. Would keep the 3 nights at least for Amalfi Coast - we had originally planned to be there 3 nights and ended up staying an extra night because we loved it so much. That cut our Florence stay down to 2 nights which I found to be fine. But it really depends on your interests.

I think this is way too much ground to cover in 16 days, and you will be backtracking like mad. I'd look for an open-jaw ticket into Venice and out of Naples. I'd also skip Milan and Liguria,so that you can have more time in Tuscany and Amalfi.

Here's my suggestion for your revised itinerary:


Venice- 3 nights
Florence- 2 nights
Tuscany- 3 nights ( Pick a town or city to base from and do day trips from there)
Rome- 4 nights
Amalfi Coast and Capri- 4 nights

Good luck and congratulations!

Off the top of my head, I would say try to get an "open jaw" air ticket that will allow you to fly into Rome and out of Milan (or even Genoa or Florence). The small difference in price may be more than made up for with travel time and costs getting back to Rome.

Depending on what your interests are, you might want more days in Rome as there is so much to do and see.

I wonder if you will find Amalfi Coast and Liguria too similar to justify going to both on the same trip, others may have a view on this one.

I like Milan a lot and there is certainly more than enough to see/do for one night; but as it will be summer you might want to skip Milan and go up to Como or another lake area. But maybe Liguria/CT and the Amalfi Coast will give you enough mountains-plunging-into-water for one trip.

You could also skip Milan and spend more days in Rome or elsewhere and fly home out of Genoa or Florence. You can fly between Venice and Genoa in 3-4 hours or take a train in 5-8 hours, and you don't necessarily need to transit through Milan.

dear ones, congratulations! I live in Florence, and know very well the surrounding countryside too (Chianti, Siena, etc). I would suggest you to leave highways during your tour in italy as much as possible and travel by secondary roads, chose agriturism or farmhouses instead of hotels, for any suggestions for accomodation you can contact me too. [email protected]

Hi
my 2 cents
I agree to fly into one city and go home from another, even if a layover in is required in order to get you home

I'd say, along with Weadles
3 nights Venice
don't want to drive
2 nights Florence
3 nights Tuscany, (perhaps base in Siena which has good bus connections if you don't want to drive,)
or, if Liguria is important to you, then 3 nights Florence and daytrip one day to Siena
4 nights Rome
4 nights Amalfi, including last night in Naples

The only other reversal might be Tuscany to Amalfi, and then back up to Rome for the last days of the trip and go home from there

Thank you everyone - we will be making some major adjustments to our itinerary and run it by all of you once we've figured it out! J and T

Congrats! We just spent our 14 day honeymoon in Italy June 23-July 8th! It is amazing. My travel report is at
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...xt=amazing+2+w

2 nights FLorence is enough for me. I highly recommend staying near Siena, getting a rental car and hitting the small hill towns. Skip the LIgurian coast since you are doing Amalfi. The Cinque Terre hike was amazing but the cities were overrun at this time of year with backpackers and tourists. COngrats!

You may want to consider buying an open jaw ticket (in to one city and out of another to save on travel time). We flew into Venice, went to Rome, Orvieto, Siena, Florence, Liguria and Milan - then flew home from Milan. I personally wouldn't spend much time in Milan (that was my least favorite city), but if you go, definately get advanced tickets to the Last Supper painting if you plan on going. They were sold out...we were very happy to have advanced tickets since we were only there one day. As far as Liguria... we stayed at a beautiful waterfront hotel in Camogli (right next to Portifino) called the Cenobio Dei Dogi. We loved Camogli so much...we never made it to Portifino! You can also take the train from there to Cinque Terre for the day. I highly recommend that too! Another suggestion...you could take an over nite train to save on travel time between venice and amalfi (I think...I looked into this a long time ago). They have sleeping cars you can book in advance. It may save time and make it easier to fit in more. Good luck! Maria

Hi Jan,

Another suggestion: We flew in/out of Rome and immediately took the train to Florence, from which you could start your trip, do Tuscan, Go on to Venice, see the AC and return to Rome.

I think you will find that there are fewer conveninet flights (ie not at 6:00 AM) out of Rome than Naples and Venice.

I, too, would leave out Milan and Liguria.

I'm a little confused by your 3 days and 2 nights in Rome. Let's say you arrive on a Monday morning. You have that day (day 1)spend that night, the next day and night (day 2 and night 2) and then all the next day which would be day 3? So that means you're leaving Rome at night for Naples/Amalfi, where you'll have two days to spend somewhere? Or are you really leaving for Naples/Amalfi in the morning meaning you only have two days in Rome, one of those the jet-lagged arrival day?

It will take the bulk of a day to get to Siena where you'll find your hotel, sleep, and then leave I assume in the morning. What is the point of going there? The same thing happens in Milan (although you can easily arrive by noon so you will at least have an afternoon there).

Sorry, to be so negative here, but I hope you're seeing how much time you have to actually see things.

we are also going for 16 days with the following itinerary and would like confirmation from others regarding itineray, basically still considering taking away one day from florence and adding it to siena.
Sunday 3-28 rome
monday rome
tuesday rome
wednesday rome
thurs departing am in rental car for locanda amorosa
friday afternoon leave for florence
sat florence
sun florence
monday depart venice by train
tues venice
wed venice
thurs depart by plane for sorrento, via naples
fri sorrento
sat sorrento
sun naples to paris
mon paris to san diego

Hi

My wife and I went to Milan and Venice in June last year and we had a good time. I think we stayed 3 days in Milan and 4 days in Venice. In Milan you can check out the Duomo, Last supper, Scala amongst other things. I have posted a trip report with lots of pictures on my personal homepage www.gardkarlsen.com Maybe you can find some useful information there. Have a great trip

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway