We are planning to go to Venice, Rome, Florence, Naples and Sorrento next summer. What cities do you recommend we fly in and out of and what order do you recommend? We will likely take trains or hire drivers within Italy.

If you want the least backtracking, then fly into Venice and out of Naples, or reverse.

Where are you flying from?

And when in the summer? Late enough in the summer and you are looking at hot weather and big crowds.

IF NAples doesn't work well, Rome would be ok too. You can price the various combos and see which offers the best deal.

How long of a trip is this?

Thanks for the quick responses! We are looking at June 14-28, approximately. We would start the trip in Los Angeles. I was thinking LAX-VCE and then NAP-LAX, figuring the end of the trip would be a few days relaxing in Sorrento.

Lucky you! It sounds great.

Are those both direct flights? If so then it sounds like you've got it lined up. If not you may want to give some consideration as to whether any of your connections put in harm's way and consider alternates.

You might also consider starting in Naples or Rome and working your way north, such that you'll be following (marginally) cooler weather.

Going to Venice, we change planes either at JFK or in Paris. Returning from Naples, we would change in Milan. That's if we do Delta. If we do Air France, then the changes are in Paris both ways if we return from Rome. I'm trying to avoid going through Germany because I understand Lufthansa is awful.

With four of us, would we better off taking the train or hiring a driver between Naples/Sorrento and Rome?

I encourage you to use Delta to Venice and avoid the mess that is called an airport, CDG. It is the worst airport in Europe IME and I have yet to have a pleasant, on time departure or connection through there. I would make two stops to avoid it. 8-10 trips though and none were pleasant.

Lufthansa awful?

That's news to me...

So, first of all, Lufthansa is a perfectly fine airline, and connecting in Germany is generally not a bad thing (particularly if you could get all the way back to LAX without another connection). I would choose a connection in Frankfurt or Munich or Stuttgart over many other airports.

Flying Delta to Venice is likely to send you through Atlanta, a very good airport for this connection (though you'll have to deal with customs/immigration hassle on the return leg).

Quick search on Orbitz yields Lufthansa connecting in Munich or Swiss connecting through Zurich. Both offer the advantage of a single connection through an efficient airport, and you won't have to go through U.S. customs and immigration until you get back to LAX.

hi, pkdof,

one of the usual reasons for flying into Venice rather than out of it, is that most transatlantic flights supposedly leave in early morning, requiring a very early start and breakfast.

the same does not seem to apply to Rome.

you might like to check the flight times, if this is something that concerns you.

regards, ann

Travel durations are shorter with Air France than with Lufthansa. Is CDG really so bad?

If you fly through Paris, be very careful about the layover time, and do not accept a 45 minute layover to change planes - that is much too short. I have had great experiences with Lufthansa.

I can't believe some of the layovers are as short as 35 mins. How is an hour and a half layover at CDG? Air France just has the best schedule.

"Is CDG really so bad?"

YES!

Minimum connecting time should be 90 minutes IMO. It is a mess.

<i>avoid the mess that is called an airport, CDG</i>

My daughter just had a smooth transfer there from Air France to Alitalia. She flew LAX&gt;CDG&gt;MXP.

We flew SF into CDG and then on to Venice this May. We had 70 minutes to catch our flight. We had to hussle but me did make it.

P.S. Maybe you're trying to see too much in 13 days (two days for travel). Plus you have to factor in travel time between cities. If I were you I'd spend 4 days each in Venice and Florence and maybe 5 days in Rome. Save the more southern Italy till next time.