Is 12 days long enough to cover most of the ‘must see’ places in Italy?

[Guest]

I just booked a 12-day trip to Italy. Is 12 days long enough to cover most of the ‘must see’ places in Italy?

I’ll definitely visit Milan (my port of entry), Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples/Pompei/Almafi.

What else worth seeing?

I would love to visit them all but I don’t want to rush and be all stressed out. I want it to be a relaxing family trip.

Thanks!

[Regina]

I lived there over 3 years & never made it to all the must-see places, yet we traveled every weekend! If it’s your first time to Italy, just cover the top 3 (Venice, Florence, & Rome) & save others for another trip.

[Lee]

I agree with all of the above. Pick 3. We traveled between cities by train and if you do so, this is the best advice I received from a friend: take only a carry on size bag due to train travel and movement. For clothing, take a few pieces that can be mixed and matched and find a place to do laundry if necessary. My husband and I just made a plan to say, “You look nice today!” To one another every day!

[Tina]

Because you say you don’t want to feel stressed or rushed, you should cut it to 3 or you will have no time to relax. For each relocation, you lose a day of sight seeing. So a 12 day trip to your 5 places translates to 1 day arrive, 4 days relocate, 1 day departure, leaving only 6 days of planned activity.

You don’t say where you depart from.

You could do 2 nights Venice, 3 nights Florence, 3 nights Rome and 3 nights Amalfi with day trip to Pompeii. You won’t actually have time for touring Milan and Naples.

Consider the interests and activity level first then plan accordingly.

[Claudia]

You cannot do all of that in 12 days and still breathe. I would do just 3 cities, perhaps Milan, Florence, and Rome. Research public transporation passes in each city.

[Alicia]

With 12 days I’d say pick 3-4 cities only and focus on those. You’ll need at least 2-3 days each in Rome and Venice to feel like you scratched the surface. When I was planning my 3 weeks in Italy I heard from a lot of people to skip Naples.

[Victoria]

Use the Rome2rio app. It tells you how long it takes to get from place to place with different modes of transportation. It always helps me not to pack in too much.

[Tyler]

There are some countries... Spain, Greece, France, and yes, Italy that seem small to us Americans but are so culturally rich that they would take pretty much a lifetime to really fully explore. In 12 days, pick a couple places that you are most interested in and explore the area!

[Anne]

There is not a lot to see in Milan aside from the Cathedral and the designer store shopping center almost next to it. Spoiler: it's a partially covered mall with highly over-priced designer items. Our Tour Guide explained that so much of Milan, aside from the Cathedral, was bombed in WW2 so much of the surrounding town was rebuilt. Our Tour Guide said these almost 70 y/o buildings are "all new" and boring. He was correct. So don't devote much time to Milan. Let's put it this way: the Starbucks a few blocks from the Cathedral is a big tourist draw in Milan. We were there for about 4 hours which was 2 hours too long. And don't even think of trying to park there.

[Pooja]

I would give each city 3 days minimum and this can give you an intro or more to each place. You always visit Italy with the intention of going back some day!

Milan is the only place that doesn’t need 3 days. Can do that in one day and move on unless you want to visit Lake Como (which is beautiful)