Trip to Italy
 

Hi All,
I'm planning trip to Italy in July. I will have 11 days to spend there. I'm try to figure out the must see places/trip plan:
Here is what I have so far:
(Day 1 - morning arrive in Rome)
Day 1,2,3 Rome
Day 4,5 Florence
Day 6 Pisa/Lucca
Day 7,8 Cinque Terre
Day 9,10,11 Venice
(Day 11 leave from Bologna)
Please give me some advice if its doable, suggest changes, etc.. Its my first trip to Italy. I'll be riding trains.
Thanks All!
Daren

Cinque Terre is likely to be mobbed with tourists and unbearably hot in July. If you are not daunted by that thought, keep the CT in your itinerary. Otherwise, I would slow down a bit to enjoy Tuscany at a more leisurely pace and perhaps add a little time to Bologna.

Everyplace in Italy is a "must see" so you inevitably have to sacrifice something. Better to build in some time for sitting and wandering and admiring the beauty of the place.

Welcome to the forum. (it seems that this is your first post)

In short, you are trying to do too much in 11 days - actually 9 full days available in Italy and several of those in transit.

My suggestion is for you to use the search function and see what others try to do and have done for 1st trips. Enter search words such as first time or first trip to Italy.

Thanks fall06. I don't want rush too much, because everything you see turns into a blur after a while.
CT looks to magical to pass, plus we like hiking. I was thinking about a day trip to Pompei on Day 3 instead Rome.
Thanks!

Thanks hamlet, I'll read the posts!

It's too hot to go to Pompeii in July, and you could easily spend a week a Rome and still feel rushed. If you don't want to feel rushed, something in your itinerary has to give. I would skip Lucca, but that is because I am very partial to Pisa, and think it is easier to get to CT from Pisa than Lucca by train.

I second the opinion. Lucca is okay, but there are so many other train-accessible places more worthy of your limited time (Siena? Orvieto? Perugia? Assisi?)...and three days is the MINIMUM for Rome. You'll hike plenty, as Rome easily and best explored on foot.

Save anything south of Rome for another trip at another season, when you can enjoy it better. Oh yes, you WILL be back! Italy does that to you...

Daren, I think it's doable with just a few tweaks here and there.
I wouldn't try to go to Pompeii, especially in July and since you only have 2 1/2 days in Rome. Spend those days in Rome.

You might consider spending one night in Orvieto, just north of Rome, as it such a perfect example of a small hilltown, with gorgeous views and meandering little streets. Easily accessible by train on the way to Florence. I also would skip Pisa and Lucca and concentrate the next 2 nights in Florence. We did the cinque terre as a daytrip from the Florence area, but we didn't hike, so I think you'd benefit from the two nights there. And if it's someplace you've dreamed about, do it!

I say go for it - you'll have a fabulous time! And you can sleep when you get home.

Thanks fall06. That sound good.

Thanks cupid1, Hagan. I'll skip Pompei and Lucca. It was pushing it.