junk4rp, if you want to see Orvieto, you can avoid any hassles with parking by leaving your car in the free parking lot below the train station and taking the escalator and funicular up into town.

Sure, you can “do” Murano and Burano in half a day. That will give you about half an hour in each place.

Murano is about 20 minutes by ferry, Burano a further 30 minutes or so, so you have two hours taken up by travel. That leaves very little time on dry land (and you have to allow for the time to walk to Fond. Nuove which is where the Murano / Burano ferry departs from.

I think that two nights in Venice is not a lot of time – give it three nights. It takes a while to orient yourself in Venice, and you’ll be jet-lagged.

Where is your apartment in Venice? If it is in Dorsoduro, Santa Croce or San Polo, you are a ¾ hour walk from Fond. Nuove for the Murano ferry. I’ve walked it in ¾ hour, but that’s without getting lost, and with very few people around.

This Venetian treasure hunt might amuse your children: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-teenagers.cfm

Good luck, you are still trying to cram in way too much on each day IMHO, but obviously you think it will work for you. I will say that you leave precious little time for sitting down and enjoying a meal, and food & drink are so much a part of the beauty of Italy. Also do consider that most everything takes a siesta between 12 and 3, so you may find that things closed that you have madly dashed to see. And there are places, like tower in Pisa, David in Florence, that will require either reservations or will have long admission lines. Factor in summer heat too.

Updated the itinerary based on suggestions. Please provide Feedback.

12th July, Thursday - Reach Rome from US at 8:30am, get out of custom by 9:30am, and get to Roma Termini by 10:30am, Get out of Rome by 11:45am (some baggage may need to be left at Roma Termini). Reach Venice at around 4/5 pm – Walk around Venice a bit in the evening

13th July, Friday - Full day sightseeing in Venice

14th July, Saturday – Full day sightseeing in Venice

15th July, Sunday – Breakfast in Venice, Checkout of Apt, leave luggage at the train station and Visit Murano/Burano, Train to Florence in the afternoon/evening

16th July, Monday – Full day sightseeing in Florence

17th July, Tuesday – Full day sightseeing in Florence

18th July, Wednesday – Full day sightseeing in Florence

19th July, Thursday – Breakfast, Checkout of Apt, Leave Luggage at Train Station, Visit Lucca/Pisa, Train to Rome in the evening

20th July Friday – Full day sightseeing in Rome

21st July Saturday – Sightseeing in Rome and Ostia Antica

22nd July Sunday – Full day sightseeing in Rome

23rd July Monday – Day trip to Orvieto

24th July Tuesday – Fly out of Rome in the afternoon

Should I spend 3 days of sightseeing in Florence or reduce it 2 days and do a daytrip to Sienna? Is the time allocated to Rome enough or should I drop Orvieto? Can I do half day of Rome and half day of Ostia Antica in a day?

Thanks a lot for your review and comments.

Revised itinerary looks just fine.

There's NEVER enough time. If you had endless vacation time, I would suggest 8 nights in Rome and 4 nights in Florence, but you don't - so just focus on what you do have to work with. It looks pretty good and well balanced.

BTW, You absolutely can see Ostia Antica in half a day and see it all. No worries there.

As for 2 days in Florence and 1 in Sienna vs. 3 days in Florence: it's simply a matter of preference.

Which of the two is more important to YOU?

It is true, when you have jobs to attend with school going kids, there is not enough time to see thr world. So, I am trying to potimize the time we have in hand. That is why I really appreaciate the feedback fellow travellers provide.

About 2 days in Florence or 3 days, I am torn.

I am gathering feedback in another forum too. And based on the feedback I receive, I feel I should allocate a half day more to Rome (making it three full days), take a day out of Florence (making it two days) and using 1 day to go to Pompeii(this was my thought, not validated by others since afater reading about Pompeii vs. Ostia Antica, I feel Pompeii might be more interesting to kids). That kind of distributes 2 full days in Venice, 2 Full days in Florence, 3 Full days in Rome, 1 day trip to Orvieto, 1 day trip to Pompeii and 2 days in the middle for trip to Murano/Burano, Pisa/lucca and travel between cities. Of course, we are not going to see Siena and Ostia Antica, but I guess, we will be ok seeing Orvieto and Pompeii.

Please let me know what I am thinking is doable or not. I am reading each and every feedback and weiging it before making changes. Thanks a lot for your help.

Yes, it's doable. Relax.

That said, there ARE different ways to interpret the phrase <i>"optimize our time"</i>.

Some would argue the best way to "optimize" time is to maximize the the number of hours actually seeing and doing things - accomplished by reducing the number of stops and the time spent on trains and buses.

Others interpret "optimize" as seeing the maximum number of different towns and cities, regardless of time "lost".

There's no real answer, you need to determine what is a good balance for your particular situation and group.

I think your revised itinerary looks much better.

Again, let me point out that your weekend in Venice coincides with the Festa del Redentore and the city will be mad/crazy with people. Google it and you will get a better idea of what to expect. On the one hand, it will be cool to see the canal festivities/set-up for the regatta and fireworks (which you will miss if you leave Sunday afternoon); on the other not sure if getting to Murano/Burano will be difficult that afternoon, or more importantly, hard getting back to catch your train. Be aware that the vaporetto schedules could change. Do some research.

After you (socaltraveler) mentioned about it, I checked about the Redentore festival and learned that the fireworks happen on Saturday late night... not sure how late that would be. So, if we are not too tired we will probably enjoy. I also learned that the regatta is Monday afternoon. Not sure we can enoy that or not if we take a trip to Murano/Burano. Of course, our trip there will depend on transporation situation that day... is there a best way to check?

We were there for Redentore a few years ago, the fireworks were late, maybe 10 pm, if you can find a place to see them, it was amazing. Going to Murano/ Burano on Sunday, away from the Grand Canal, should be ok, just be prepared for the crowds. I don't know where else you are posting, but if you ask about possible vaporetto schedule changes in the Italy forum at slowtalk.com ( Slow Travel), there are Venice residents who might know the answer.