My husband and I are taking our 3 daughters to Italy in the spring. My family history is from Sicily (Polizzi Generosa). I feel obligated to go & see where my grandparents were from. I also want them to see Rome and venice...can it be done? so many say to go to Amalfi Coast (Positano)...then there's Florence, Tuscany. Never been to Italy. Not sure where to go. Help! Any suggestions? I want to see it all but know that booking too much is a mistake. The history in Rome makes it a must. Venice is far from Sicily and Rome. Should I do it? Are there other places I should go with them? Amalfi Coast? Florence? Naples? We are a family that likes to get up in the morn and go on sight seeing tours, walks, bike rides, hikes, boat....we are up for just about anything. Need to show them the sites in Rome. Am I making a mistake leaving out Venice?

From your previous post, you have 2 weeks.

You CAN NOT do everything. First realisation.

Sicily is in. And since it is of family importance, spend at least 4 days there? Is that about right would you say?

Rome requires about 5 days.

That makes 9 so far.

Why not go from Rome to the Amalfi Coast and then to Sicily. Or, leave the Amalfi Coast out, spent a week in Rome and a week in Sicily. Or start in Venice, 3 days, Rome, 5 days, and then Sicily.

Thousands of possibilities = )

Oh and I assume you are from the US, so you will be jet lagged the first day. So think of it as 13 days.

And I will reiterate - open jaw tickets will make your life much easier.

Yes we are from the US. What are open jaw tickets? I like the idea of Rome to Amalfi Coast and then Sicily. The town my family is from can be done in a day. Only 5000 people. Do I really need that much time in Sicily?

Agree that with 3 kids (the daughters are kids, yes - not adults?) you shouldn;t try to push too hard. Sicily takes a while to get to and to see anything of - so I would give it 6 days, give Rome 5 days and then decide on the other 4. You can pick one of the following: Venice, Amalfi Coast, Florence with a day trip to Tuscan Hill town.

for this you would do open jaws flights into the first city and back from the last. In the spring I would start in the south and head north for the best weather.

IMHO trying to do more places would mean too much time spend traveling of the total time you have.

Ahhhh ok, so you just want to see the town. I hadn't realised that.

Open jaw - Fly into Rome. Fly out of Sicily (if you can find a reasonable flight, I'm not sure about flights to or from Sicily). Or into Sicily and out of Rome. This prevents backtracking which is a waste of time and resources. Check on prices and times and dates now so you can get a good deal.

So, this can work out so:


Fly into Rome. 7 days

Amalfi Coast. 4 days

Sicily. 2 days

OR

Fly into Venice. Stay 3 days

Train to Rome. Stay 5 days

Amalfi Coast. 3 days

Sicily. 2 days

My gals are 16, 12 & 9. Polizzi Generosa is on the far eastern side of Palermo. I think. It's high in the mountains. My gals will want to shop too. This little town is to visit family and surrounding. 2 day (1 night here) The town is too small for anymore. Where else in Sicily should I go?

still...don't know what open jaw tickets are. I will have to google it. lol

Sorry. Let me explain again. An open jaw ticket is when you fly into one city and leave from another. For example, you take a flight from the US to Rome. To go home, you take a flight from Venice to the US. Does that help?

If you are interested in things to see and do in Rome, feel free to watch my draft online videos on Vimeo. These are do-it-yourself tours. You probably won't want to do it all, with kids along, but they'll give you some ideas.

With Vimeo, since it is HD, the best way is to first press the PLAY button then immediately press PAUSE. Wait several minutes for enough of the video to download to your computer so that it will play without stuttering or stopping. Then press PLAY again. Vimeo is like an HD version of Youtube

http://www.vimeo.com/user2049789/videos/sort:alphabetic

You can also check out my website for lots of free stuff and ideas, especially in the Library area.

www.passagetoroma.com

dave

What do you think? Fly from USA to Venice. Then Rome. Then Amalfi Coast. Finally Sicily. Or am i better to do that trip reversed? Sicily to Amalfi to Rome to Venice?

As nytraveler said, it would be better to go south to north as it starts to get very warm in the south. However, this might end up depending on your flights. What month are you looking at specifically?

Many people say that Venice as a city is really good for the jet lagged mind = )

Everyone is so helpful. I'm chatting with my husband and we love the idea of Venice to Rome to Amalfi Coast to Sicily or vice-versa. Don't want to do too much and feel we are missing the Italian experience. Thanks.....I am so excited! Any hints on sites to see or "MUST DO" places in the locations above? I love being Italian!

March or april is when we will be taveling sam86. I think we will check which way is more cost effective. Venice in then Sicily out or vice-versa.

For must do places, I will say it is best to browse through a proper guide book. Or you can look at the tons of posts on this forum on these areas.

There's a trip report by Isabel with photos -http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/amalfi-coast-rome-and-croatia-images-of-three-hot-but-wonderful-weeks.cfm

Can't wait to check out the sites.....thanks so much!!!!!

Happy to help! = )

Just one thing - Finalise your dates soon and look at your flights and places to stay now. Places in Italy get booked very fast. There is lots of information on these forums about places to stay and lots of people planning trips to Italy around the time you are.

Also, for Rome, consider getting an apartment rather than a hotel or B&B.

Has anyone ever stayed in convents...hear they are clean and simple. Here the hotels are expensive and simple. Not sure what to do...

BTW, Andrea, if you look at booking flights online, you may need to check a box that says "multi-city" in the place where you enter where you want to go. Then you can make a choice of flying into one and out of another.

how is the train ride from venice to rome...can i get off at the cities just outside of venice...the venice on land? venetto?

JMO, but Sicily is just wonderful and certainly no less of "the Italian experience". I found it far more diverse and interesting than the tourist overloaded Amalfi Coast and Venice. And March for the AC is less than ideal.

My paternal grandparents are from Catania and I have spent weeks in Sicily over the years. While not on the radar of the typical tourist (though more now than on my first visit in 1979), it is a shame to go all the way there for one day to cross it off your list. Lots of time and money wasted for a drive by.

JMO.