Tour of Italy
 

I am trying to arrange a 3 week trip for my boyfriend and I to see the sights of Italy. We are in our mid 20s and don’t really have a lavish budget and we will be using public transport. I’m trying to figure out our itinerary but I am finding it hard to figure out how long we should spend in each city to soak it all up. Here is what I am thinking so far:

Venice, 2 nights
Verona, 2 nights
Bologna, day trip on way to Florence
Florence, 4 nights (With a day trip to Pisa)
Naples 2 nights
Sorrento (Day trips to Capri, Amalfi and Pompei) 6 nights
Rome, 4 nights

Also, have I missed any must see places? Thanks in advance for any help.

What are your interests?

There are a zillion must-see places in Italy, but your itinerary covers a lot. I would consider a day trip from Venice to Verona instead of moving. Every move eats up at least half a day, so you have to factor that in to your plans. Take 1/2 day off of each place you move to and see what's left for sightseeing. The main attraction of Bologna, in addition to its arcaded streets, is the food, so a day trip allows you only two meals there. Not enough, IMO. Maybe you will want to eliminate it.

For Naples and all, I would also stay in on place.

Give more time to Venice and Rome.

@tenthumbs I want to do the typical must sees of each city but I am also content with just wandering the streets and exploring. I am interested in seeing ancient Roman ruins, castles, good views, parks, and in eating good food, checking out the nightlife and mingling with the Italians. Seeing churches aren't really my thing although I am looking forward to seeing some of the bigger ones.

@charnes thanks for this it has really given me food for thought. Is Sorrento a good base for this area? If so are day trips to Naples doable?

You've described what you want to see, but have you actually listed what you want to see in each city and then determined how much time it would take to see everything? You need to do that before you can figure out how many nights you need everywhere. And I agree with charnees about reducing the hotel changes.

After you've made your list and calculated the time needed, I think you may decide to take away 2-3 nights from the 8 nights you set aside for Naples/Sorrento and give them to Rome, Florence and Venice. In addition to Pisa (with perhaps a few hours in Lucca), you may want to make a day trip from Florence to Siena.

BTW, when is this trip?

IMHO you are spending a lot of time in Naples and Sorrento. Are you sure you want to spend a third of your trip there? If you're thinkng about beaches you should know that most are not goo (pebbles rather than sand, no waves, small and crowded - a beach resort area with very limited beaches). If it were me I would stay at least one more day in Venice and bag Naples - you can easily see the main sights from Sorrento.

Also, when will you be going Summer Fall - this can make a big difference in what you spend time doing.

@Jean we will be going from the start of September.
Well in Venice I have heard it is very expensive and I am conscious of spending too much time there because of this. Whilst there I want to take a gondola ride (athough may be too expensive), visit Piazza San Marco and Basilica San Marco and take a trip to Burano Island.
Verona I want to see Juliette’s house and catch an opera in the arena.
In Bologna I would like to see the university, Asinelli tower and try the food.
In Florence I want to see Galleria dell'Accademia, Piazza del Duomo, Santa Croce, Anfiteatro Romano and Forte di Belvedere.
In Pisa, I’m only really interested in seeing the tower.
Naples, I want to see the Historic Center, Tour Naples Underground, Try the food, Castel Nuovo and Castle dell'Ovo
Sorrento I was just using as a base to explore the Amalfi coast
RomeI want to see the Colosseum & Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Vatican City and Castel Sant’Angelo.
In each place though I would like to have enough time to get lost and explore.

@nytraveler so Do you think it would be OK to just stay in Sorennto and do a day trip to Naples? And just do 6 nights in Sorrento to cover Naples and the Amalfi Coast.

I think you should add at least a day to Venice and Rome. I would do that by taking a day trip to Verona from Venice and shortening my stay in Sorrento to 5 nights with day trips to Naples, Pompeii, Capri and the Amalfi Coast. Sorrento itself can be done in the evenings - it is a very pleasant and convenient base.

I love Naples and the Amalfi Coast - and think you have too much time there. :) Agree you should add a day each to Venice and Rome, too.

You have a good idea to use Sorrento as a base, since it's centrally located for what you want to see. It's very straightforward to take a day trip from Sorrento to Naples; the Circumvesuviana train runs from Naples to Sorrento and back, and takes a little over an hour. However, the one thing I would caution is that restaurants in Naples do not start serving dinner until 8pm (and even then it's usually more tourists than locals at that time), and it will be tight to have a leisurely meal and make the train. Since you mention being interested in nightlife, you'd want to take that into consideration too.

That said, it wouldn't be that big a deal to split your time in the area between lodging in Naples and in Sorrento. Or maybe Naples and somewhere on the Amalfi Coast? You could visit Pompeii and Capri from Naples as easily as from Sorrento... My own experience was that I really enjoyed staying in Amalfi, whereas Sorrento was better as a hub than a place to hang out. (We were more for relaxing over a long meal than nightlife in a club or anything, though, so I can't speak to that aspect.)

Naples is 70 minutes from Sorrento on the local commuter train (Circumvesuviana) and the cost is about 4€. I think you've allotted too much time to Naples/Amalfi.

If you want to save money for Naples/Amalfi, buy the Campania Artecard Tutta la Regione (good for 3 days 27€). It includes entrance to your first two sites (Pompeii and Herculaneum entries are 11€ each), 50% after your first two visits and three days transport in Naples (trams/metro/bus/funicular/local trains) and along the coast (local trains/buses) all the way to Pasteum. You can buy it in the Naples train station. There are other Campania Artecards, but they don't include the transport pass.
http://www.campaniartecard.it/index....634343f182fe4#

You seem to only have cities on your list. Perhaps a hill town or two would be a nice break at some point instead of so much city time.