Italy budget road trip - is this possible?

[Delorest]

Never been to Italy and was thinking of getting cheap flight to Sicily (Cantania) have a day or two there, then ferry to Stromboli to see the volcano and then another ferry to Naples - then on to Rome, Florence, Como, Dolomites (train/buses/car hire) and fly out of either Milan or Switz/Austria (depends where we end up in Dolomites).

Any tips on how to do this on the cheap?

Also any issue finding vegan food in Italy?

Hoping to go middle two weeks of May - does the route look OK for two weeks - dont want to be racing about.

Since nobody else has answered so far: that’s frankly a bonkers idea. Italy is always way longer than you imagine, and going from Sicily to the Dolomites is one heck of a journey. Sure all those stops are doable in a fortnight, but it wouldn’t be fun. The key to Italy is taking time to enjoy meals, go for a relaxed early evening passeggiata, wander the streets - your plan would make it all about hectic deadlines and seeing the bare minimum of each place.
If you like volcanoes, a far more doable plan might be to fly into Catania, see Etna, then ferry to Stromboli, from there to Naples and you can visit Vesuvius and Pompeii, fly back from Naples. The weather in the south will be warm in May but not horrible.
As for doing it ‘on the cheap‘, it would be the same tips as anywhere else: economise on accommodation by using hostels (even shared bunk-bed rooms), rooms in shared AirBnB, or even camping. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s why they’re cheap. Food is easy: just go for street food, a slice of pizza here, piece of cannoli there.

That’s a lot to pack into 2wks! We did just Sicily for 2wks & there’s still so much more of the island we want to see. The above itinerary sounds great or just focus on Sicily. You need to pick one area on focus on that. So either the south or north. You could do Florence, Milan, Como & Dolomites together but I wouldn’t throw in Rome & Sicily too.

Thanks for the reality check on distances.

We are interested in Stromboli volcano so its our only reason to fly to Sicily as ferry is shorter to there than from Naples. Think now we wont stay in Sicily but will get directly to Stromboli on the first day and spend 2 nights there climbing the volcano.

Then we will get the ferry to Naples for Pompeii maybe 2 nights there and then head up to Rome for 3 days which takes care of week one and we will have had enough of cities / monuments etc

Week 2 I think we will look at more relaxed immersive nature experience - so need to decide on either lakes, dolomites or Tuscany. Lakes and Dolomites sound more naturally stunning but more travelling around and lakes likely v busy with tourists. Tuscany we could just hole up in a rural spot and chill.

Agree with PPs - be careful not to be too ambitious.

When I’m planning out a route I will look at all the travel times and work out if it’s doable and whether it’s going to be enjoyable. It’s not fun spending hours travelling every other day. So for example put in your journeys on a site like Rome 2 Rio to get an idea of what your itinerary would look like.

Palermo to Stromboli is 6 hours sailing. So you’re unlikely to be doing that the day you arrive! Catania to Stromboli is at least 4 hours with the drive and sailing times. So unlikely to manage that the day you arrive either - unless you can get all the connections to match up.

I think you’d need to factor in a night in Sicily after you land and before you go to Stromboli. So that would be Day 1. Day 2 and 3 on Stromboli.

Then Day 4 would be travel - 4 and a half hours sailing from Stromboli to Naples.

Then you’d only have one full day (Day 5) for Naples/Pompeii before heading to Rome on Day 6. If you want two full days in Rome (7 and 8) you’d be travelling to Northern Italy for your lakes/mountains on Day 9. Depending on where you go that could easily be 5/6 hours travel. So you’d have Days 10, 11, 12, 13 to chill there before heading home Day 14.

It’s probably doable but seems very rushed with some long travel days - don’t forget that a 4 hour train ride could easily be 6 hours door to door. And you’d only really be scratching the surface on so many different places.

If it was me I’d think about focussing on Sicily/Naples if you’re set on Stromboli. Fly to Sicily, few nights there, sail to Stromboli for a couple of nights then to Naples and fly home from there.

Vegan food is generally quite easy to come by in Italy but will vary region by region. HappyCow is your friend.

If you want to go to Stromboli - also possible from Tropea I think. I would get a one country Interrail pass, or price up the train journeys individually. Feasible to get the train from Messina / Cefalu up the west coast to Naples (the train goes on the ferry) - there is also a sleeper train - then on to Rome, then Florence, Bologna and onto the Dolomites. Then fly from Innsbruck/Munich, or make your way back towards Milan via Lake Como - you can get to Varenna on the train and then use the ferries. It would be doable in 2 weeks I think. Have a look at Seat61.com for general interrail and train information, or Trenitalia.it for specific journeys. My train tickets (1st class) between Tropea and Naples for May cost about 60 euros for 2 people.

Ah the hydrofoil from Calabria doesn't start til June. There are frequent crossings from Milazzo though. We are planning a day trip the last week of May.

@Delorest , it's the jubilee year in Rome which means it's very expensive, check out accommodation options before including it.