If it was my trip I would drop Venice and add a day to Rome and Tuscany (you had mentioned Tuscany area before, so I’m assuming you want to see some towns in Umbria/Tuscany and not just stay in Florence). Or extend the trip.</p>
<p>You say you’ve been to Europe before, so I think you know from experience that “Rome 3 days” in your itinerary is really “Rome 2 days plus an afternoon”. Every time you change locations it takes about 1/2 a day. You’ll get up day 3, check out and go to the train station in time to board (1 hour already), take a 4+ hour trip from Venice to Rome, find your hotel, check in, lunch, etc. By then is at best early afternoon. 2.5 days might not be a lot of time to see Rome. Same with Florence & vicinity. And Florence to the Amalfi area is even longer since you spend almost 5 hours getting to Naples, then another 1-2 hours down to the Amalfi coast area.</p>
<p>People have different opinions, but I fall into the “less is more” camp; I’d rather have time to see more of a city, its museums, be able to stop on the spur of the moment for a coffee or glass of wine at an inviting cafe, wander the streets. 2.5 days is cutting it a bit tight IMHO. Others are happy seeing the main sites and squares and relish visiting as many different towns as they can. Depth vs breadth, a personal choice. </p>
<p>We have visited hilltowns in Tuscany by train and with a car. A car is more convenient, you can park near the town (watch out for ZTL areas which will give you expensive tickets, but not hard if you research in advance what they are). Florence is covered with ZTL areas so it would be better to base yourself somewhere else if visiting the area by car and go to Florence as a day trip by train. Visiting the area by train I’d stay in Florence and carefully research train times before going. It’s less flexible than a car; with the car if you’re not enamored you drive to visit another one, with the train you wait until the next one which might be a few hours away. </p>
<p>The Amalfi coast is beautiful! I’d recommend staying in Sorrento since from there you can easily go by train to Herculaneum (which we liked better than Pompeii), Pompeii, and Naples; by boat to Capri; and ferry or bus to Positano, Amalfi, etc. </p>
For those that have stayed in Rome, I’d love to hear which neighborhood and your thoughts on pros/cons of that location. We have started checking out VRBO listings for our trip in late May. We’ll be in Rome 4 nights.
@"Colorado Mom" , I have read that the Travestere neighborhood is a good one. You might want to visit Trioadvisors, also. Tond if great suggestions there.
Argh ! I am passing up a trip to Italy with my husband this winter. We went for a business trip last March and it was my first time there. It was a rather fast trip so I can’t say I got to see all that much. We drove from Frankfurt to an area outside of Innsbruck , then down to Venice and our destination was Rimini. I really likes San Marino, although I learned that winding , mountain roads make for car sickness
One regret we both had was not spending the night in the Milan area as we drove to Switzerland. We were there after dark and I think we missed out on a beautiful scenic ride.
We will have reason to go again since we will have an ongoing business relationship there !
Since this is your anniversary trip and you do not need to worry about school schedules, I would highly recommend that you plan the vacation during Low Season. People hate Rome (or other Italian areas) because they have only been there during summer when it is hot hot, and crowded beyond belief.
We visit Italy in November and there has never been a line for anything except entry to the Coliseum. We walked right into David and the Uffizi gallery in Florence, got tickets for the Borghese in Rome, you name it.
I have an incredible roof top apartment that we stay in Rome - I always like to stay in apartments if I can. Please send me a message if you would like a referral to the reasonable apartment in Rome
also stayed in an incredible villa in Amalfi Coast, but you need a car. I have no idea how anyone gets around the Amalfi Coast without a car, but the driving is definitely not for the faint of heart - driving through Sorrento is a nerve wracking experience. And we had to drive through that town a lot to get back/forth. Did a day trip to Pompeii from our little villa.
Dining options during off season in the Amalfi Coast are very limited. We spent a lot of time trying to find somewhere to eat.
