Italy - Help!!!

[HappyToSmile]

My daughter(15) and I were hoping to go to italy, and was hoping for some help!! First holiday since splitting with my ex and I'm just struggling having no one to bounce ideas off for some reason!!
I'd love to see Rome and Pompeii or herculaneum, she'd love to see Venice and open to any other places! We have a week. I know no italian whatsoever, but more than happy to travel by train/coach (is it straight forward!?!)
Absolutely Any help at all would be so welcome!!

Italy is amazing!

With a week, I’d recommend focussing on a couple of places at most. Could you both think about what your number 1 to do would be and then think if it’s possible to do in one trip?

I’ve found the trains to generally be good in Italy. Man in seat 61 has loads of info on travelling by train: https://www.seat61.com/index-mobile.htm

What time of year would you be going? I find Rome for example is too hot beyond about May.

We went to Rome and Florence this year - the train between them is really good and the trains out from Florence to places like Pisa and other gorgeous Tuscan places are easy too. We flew into Rome and home from Florence. We went in August and it really was very very hot, but we worked around it - very early morning at the Forum etc.

If you do Rome, you can do a trip to Ostia Antica which has a bit of a Pompeii feel. Or Amalfi coast with Pompeii and Herculaneum and a day trip to Capri (we did this and it was one of my favourite trips ever!). Very jealous - I LOVE Italy!

Trains are cheap, well cheaper than the U.K. at least why not fly into one side and out the other. Rome is lovely too. I took my dd on a cheap cruise as our first post split holiday, had no window but it meant we visited lots of places

You could go Rome, Pompei and the amalfi coast. Or you could go to Venice and couple it with Rovinj in Croatia.

Or you could go to Cinque terre instead - lovely set of villages.

You'll enjoy it all, Italy is fab. Pick a couple of places near each other and do those - make sure you have lots of chil time factored in to eat - the food is amazing!

I'm just back from Rome. I loved it. I stayed in the Fabulous Camping Village, about 10km out of the city, but might not be the 'vibe' you are looking for with a teen.

One thing I learnt, you do not need to buy tickets for the metro/ bus you can just tap on with your phone/ card.

Beautiful place which I will hopefully return to. Buy tickets in advance for places if possible. I was there with a 1 yr old but I would have loved have wandered around a lot more. As it was we spent 2 days in the city 4 days by the pool.

We were warned a lot about pick-pockets (but you get that everywhere!) anyway I just brought a small cross body bag which sat on my front.

I don't speak any Italian, Grazie is thanks. But use google translate on your phone, you can scan something/ take a picture and it translates it. You can type in what you want to say in English and hit the mic and it will say it in Italian.

Things run a bit differently there too, it was a little chaotic but wonderful

We've booked a family room at a hotel in Pompeii next august with a pool, cost £900 for four of us. The flights to Naples are £900 too. Easy to get around on the train- no need for a car. Excited!

Imo of Rome, Venice, Pompeii area and also Florence are worth at least a week each. You're bound to want to go back to Italy so I wouldn't try to cram too much in and waste a lot of time travelling (though Italian trains do see very good from what I've seen).

I agree with PP, don't go in high summer (heat, crowds). We've been to sorrento for pompeii, Herculaneum (local train), Capri, amalfi coast (local bus)and Paestum (mainline train) one Easter, Rome in an October half term, Florence in late sept/early oct, and Venice in a February half term (my now young adult dd is going there next week).

Book trains online at trenitalia in advance if you are going longer distances, you can get really cheap trips if you book well in advance.
Might be worth flying into Venice and out of Rome, will be a bit more than a return but might be worth it for not having to back track.
We found Flixbus good for longer journeys to, they're all over Europe by the seems of it and also can be easily booked in advance. Pricier than local buses but easy and reliable we found.
Italy is just so beautiful, have a wonderful time.

Personally, I think you need at least a week just for Rome, but you could combine with Venice. Fly in to city 1, get the train to city 2 (v easy) and then fly back home from city 2. Don't add any other places, as you just won't see anything.

So I flew into Rome
Day 1 - Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s.
Evening we strolled around to Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps.
Not a huge art fan so sped through museum, you could split this into 2 days if you want.

Day 2- Colosseum and Roman Forum
Train to Naples
Day 3- Herculaneum and Vesuvius
Day 4- Pompeii

Very easy to travel around on train.

We did amalfi coast and Rome in a week....
Went at Easter or may half term I think.
Flew into naples. First night stayed near naples itself then went to herculaneum for the day. Then train and bus round to piano ( we stayed in Airbnb but if 2 of you you might find a nice hotel). 3 nights on the amalfi coast.
Then bus and local train early to pompei for the day... That evening high speed train to Rome.
Then 3 nights staying in rome city centre. Loved rome.... 3 nights is not enough really ( we've been back since) but you can visit the forum and see the colosseum. Then flew back from Rome.

This was our first trip to italy and we've been back a lot since.

Herculaneum is better than pompei but I felt pompei was a must see.

Venice deserves it's own separate holiday really. We've been in summer staying at the camp sites nearby and getting the boat in for the day. I'm not sure you'd manage to do all 3 in a week.

Piano = priano

Italy is amazing, I could happily go every year.

In the tourist areas you won't need any Italian beyond thank you and hello/goodbye. In less touristy areas, less English is spoken, but the people are generally lovely and helpful and you will get by with a few words from a phrasebook/app and some pointing.

The public transport is generally good but is a bit area specific. The south doesn't have a great train service and you need to use buses on the Amalfi. The bay of Naples train is slow and basic. Around Rome/Milan/Florence the trains are great much nicer than the UK, fast and easy to use.

My advice would be not to try and do too much. If you only have a week don't try and go too far, do one area well and go back next year.

I would say either spend the week in Rome and do it justice or stay in Sorrento or on the Amalfi and do Pompeii, Herculaneum, Vesuvius and the Amalfi coast. If you want to chill out and do beaches then the latter, Rome is quite busy.

Venice is lovely but it doesn't fit with your other priorities and is probably easiest done as a city break on its own. It is also miles from the other places you fancy.

You could try and split your time between Rome and the bay of Naples to fit in Pompeii and Herculaneum but I think you would feel rushed. There is so much to do in Rome.

Thank you all so much!! Looks like we shall narrow down the itinerary to 2/3 places and we can go back another time!!

Rome and Pompeii/Herculaneum would be a good trip.

Or Venice, Verona and Lake Garda is also a great option and about right for a week (or skip Verona and stay two different places in Lake Garda).

Or Florence, Pisa, and an agriturismo in the lovely Tuscan countryside.

Are you planning to fly to Italy? I've travelled to Italy by coach and train, and it was tiring, although you can break the journey by staying overnight somewhere. When I travelled by coach, I holidayed just over the French border on the Ligurian coast for a week. I do speak Italian but found that the younger Italians speak some English and like to practise their English with you. I've never visited Rome or Venice, but Venice is planning to charge visitors, although it's not going to be too high. Personally, with a child in tow, I would prefer not to visit in July/August, but it would make a nice half term break. And Italy is very child friendly.

Apologies, I've just read your 'child' is 15. I thought it read 5 on first reading.

We stayed in Pescheria, Lake Garda earlier this year and it was a great base for visiting other places, they have a train station that is really easy to travel to Venice, Verona, Milan and other places, plus Garda and the lovely villages and towns around it is well worth a visit. It was really easy to get around.

We’re planning a 2 centre trip at Easter to do Rome and Pompeii so this is a great thread! We have 10 days.

As others have stated, it’s better to keep it to fewer destinations so you can really immerse yourselves, you could easily do 5 days in rome - there’s so much to see! Trains are inexpensive and very good :)