Will this itinerary work?
 

Planning a trip to Italy this summer and hoping to see Venice, Florence, Rome and end with Sorrento. there will be 6 of us ranging in age from 70 down to 10 ( three children 10,11,14, one 70 year old and two 42 year olds).

Will this work?

Fly into Venice with an overnight flight from JFK, hit the hotel and rest for a little. Take in the town and eat then early to bed. Spend the next full day in touring and the day after that touring and taking an evening train out of the city heading to Florence. This would give us a partial day when we arrive, a full day and a partial day when we depart. ( how late is it still safe on the train?)

Wake up in Florence. Tour for a full day, followed by another full day. The third day would be split with touring and heading to Rome on an evening train.

Wake up in Rome. Tour 3 full days and one half day, taking an evening train to Sorrento. Remain in Sorrento for 3 full days, flying home on the 4th day.

Should we take a longer time in Venice and shorten our time in Florence?

We have flexible work schedules but weren't really planning on a 2 week trip, more like 10 days, but there doesn't seem to be a reasonable way to shorten this trip without eliminating a stop.

Thank you everyone and anyone for your advice! PS we are not big travelers.

I am having a hard time following how many nights you have on the ground. If you are looking at 9-10 nights, my suggestion would be to focus on 2 destinations. To visit the 4 destinations you listed I would allocate at least 14 nights, 3-4 for each day, and this would not leave much time to get outside of the cities you're visiting.

Let's make a list of your itinerary to be clear about what you hope to do.

Day 0: dep JFK
Day 1: arrive Venice
Day 2: Venice
Day 3: Venice; early evening train to Florence
Day 4: Florence
Day 5: Florence; early evening train to Rome
Day 6: Rome
Day 7: Rome
Day 8: Rome; early evening train to Sorrento
Day 9: Sorrento
Day 10: Sorrento
Day 11: Sorrento
Day 12: fly home

I would not care to be relocating every other day as you plan to do for the first five days, but your family may like this pace.

Keep in mind that changes cities is not just the length of the train ride. You must allow for checking out of the hotel, traveling to the station, finding your departure track, waiting for the train to arrive, the actual ride, finding your way of of your arrival station, traveling to your new hotel, and checking in. If one is familiar with the city, this can go relatively quickly. For people new to the city, this will take more time. I would add 30-60 minutes to each end of a train ride to estimate the full length of the journey. Your 90-minute ride between Florence and Rome may really take 3-4 hours.

For this plan to work, you must choose your hotels carefully. Why? Because you will have to check out in the morning and then do something with your luggage for the rest of the day until it is time for your evening trains.

One option is to store it at your hotel, but then you will need to allow time to return to your hotel just before heading to the train station--therefore a hotel nearer the train station might be a good choice.

Another option is to check out of your hotel and take your luggage to the train station and check it in the Baggage Deposit Room. Depending on the location of your hotel, this could take you out of your way and waste some time. And you also need to allow enough time before your train to stand in line to retrieve your luggage.

Great suggestions about the luggage and the true length of time when taking the train. I also appreciate the suggestion in hotel locations.

We didn't plan to travel outside of the cities we were visiting. (Although everyone speaks highly of Siena. I don't feel an overwhelming need to see the leaning tower.)

I wish we could shorten the trip but I can't see where we can unless we chop off Sorrento which just looks beautiful and to be there and miss Pompeii doesn't seem right!

We will be spending one more day in Rome than is outlined above. (Sorry for the confusion)

I think your plans sound fine, although as said it's sometimes easier leave your hotel mid morning rather than have to return for your luggage.

However, if you are flying home from Rome, then I'd visit Sorrento before Rome.

Agree with the advice of staying within proximity of train stations <i>(so your hotel can hold bags for you after checkout, and its a short hop to your departing train)</i>. You will find plenty of good choices in the Cannaregio area in Venice <i>(close to the Venezia Santa Lucia train station)</i>, the area between Firenze Santa Maria Novella Station and Duomo in Florence and the Monti/Esquilino area in Rome <i>(close to Roma Termini)</i>. All your train journeys can be booked online in advance to avail discounted fares, once your dates are frozen. Your Rome-Sorrento leg will involve a change in Naples to the Circumvesuviana line, which is the only one you will need to buy locally (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g...icalities.html).

Don't underestimate the amount of time it will take to get everyone moving every day, especially when changing locations. I would personally keep the same amount of time but cut locations. We moved 3 times in 3 weeks with our family of 7 (no children or 65+, all adults) and that was so stressful that I will never plan another trip with a group. The simpler the plan the better IMO.

Your plan sounds fine under 1 condition: book hotels close to the railway stations. You will find good and affordable hotels in silent side streets close to Venice, Rome and Florence railway station. Load down the maps of www.booking.com and read some reviews (of tripadvisor too).

You keep saying you want to shorten the trip but don't want to cut anything. I really think if it is at all possible you should lengthen the trip. A couple extra days will make a world of difference to the trip so if you can find the time I think in the long run you will be much happier.

I also think your plan of taking trains in the evening is not the best idea. If you do make sure the hotel you plan on staying in that nights know what time you will be arriving so they don't give away your rooms.


People above mentioned the hassles with what to do with the luggage during the day and getting to/from the hotel/train station multiple times.

I would do this:
Day/night 1-3 - arrive Venice, spend three nights

Day/nigh 4-5 - take train to Florence after breakfast, if it's still to early when you get there to check in the hotel can hold the luggage, you'll have a full day and a half


Day/night 6-8 - take early train to Sorrento (will probably need to change in Rome but no big deal). You'll have 2 and a half days there. One day do a day trip to Amalfi/Positano the other to Pompeii.

Day/night 7-10 - take early train to Rome. You want to be IN Rome the night before your flight home, not in Sorrento.

Day 11 - fly home.

Those are really absolute bare minimums. I would really try to add a few more days, one each to Florence, Sorrento and Rome. You're spending a lot of money and the 'agony' of getting over there. Make it a good trip with a higher ratio of time actually seeing stuff to time spent on trains/planes.

Our plan is to fly home from Naples. Does that work?

Naples is a fine place to fly home from, depending on the schedule and price.

Like Isabel, I like to make my move to the next city in the morning just after breakfast. Some people see it as wasting good daylight hours on the train. I enjoy a train ride and watching the passing scene. I'm in the next place in time for lunch, with the entire rest of the day and evening spread before me without worrying about retrieving luggage and making the connections to the station later in the day.

Depending on your family, the schedule of morning trains might be just the impetus they need to get up and out and not dawdle. Also remember as others have said: moving a group of people takes more time. Invariable, even though they were instructed to use the restroom before leaving the hotel, one person will want a restroom before boarding the train. The person goes off in search of a restroom and invariably someone else decides to go, too. In a moment your group is spread across the station instead of waiting together--just when the train is announced.

A morning train will also give you more time in Venice after the daytrippers have left and avoids traveling every other day at the beginning of the trip.

Day 0: dep JFK
Day 1: arrive Venice
Day 2: Venice
Day 3: Venice
Day 4: morning train to Florence
Day 5: Florence
Day 6: morning train to Rome
Day 7: Rome
Day 8: Rome
Day 9: Rome
Day 10: morning train to Sorrento
Day 11: Sorrento
Day 12: Sorrento
Day 13: fly home

I would reverse the route, but you need to keep the 2 weeks and not cut it to 10 days if you don't want to drop a location. There are no main airlines that fly non-stop from Naples to JFK, but there are from Venice. If you depart Naples, you would likely have a very early flight and need to be at the airport when it opens (around 5:30 am). That means you would need to depart Sorrento around 4 am.

I would fly into Naples, take the airport shuttle bus (Curreri - 10€) to Sorrento. Spend a couple of nights in Sorrento, then head to Rome, Florence, Venice. Fly home from Venice.

From your hotel in Sorrento to your hotel in Rome will likely take 1/2 a day (or more with a group). The actual time on the Circumvesuviana train from Sorrento to Naples is 75 minutes and from Naples to Rome is 1:10 on the fast train. It's a trek from the Circumvesuviana arrival to the departure trains for Rome.

Day 1 - Depart JFK
Day 2 - Arrive Naples, transfer to Sorrento
Day 3 - Pompeii/Sorrento
Day 4 - Sorrento - Amalfi coast - Positano/Amalfi
Day 5 - Transfer to Rome
Day 6 - Rome
Day 7 - Rome
Day 8 - Rome
Day 9 - Transfer to Florence
Day 10 - Florence
Day 11 - Florence
Day 12 - Transfer to Venice
Day 13 - Venice
Day 14 - Depart

You haven't stated your interests in these cities. If Venice has more things you want to see than Florence, you could take one of the Florence days and add to Venice.

Lots of good points given above and I have nothing to add to them. I think at this point, you just need to consider the advice given and make your decisions. More time or less, more days in places or drop a place off the list, night trains or morning trains and most importantly in my opinion, what makes most sense with a group to deal with.

thank you all! Now in search of hotels that can sleep 6 of us without purchasing too many rooms!

As for transportation - trains are the only viable way to see Venice (obviously), Florence and Rome - cars are banned now from most city centers and trains are so so fine and fast. But booking tickets early can yield nifty savings over just showing up - www.trenitalia.com is the site of Italian Railways and you can book your own-for general info on Italian trains check www.seat61.com -great advice on discounted trains; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Trains go to Sorrento too from Naples though with a group like that you may want to look into a private car transfer from Naples.