Italy Itineraries: 7, 10 and 14 Days, With Train Times and What to Book

Last updated: September 25, 2026

Most Italy itineraries fail for the same reason: too many hotels. Every change of base costs half a day of packing, checking out and getting to the station, so a 7-day trip with five cities is really a 4-day trip with a lot of luggage. The plans below are built the other way around: few bases, fast trains, and one or two things booked ahead in each city so you never queue for the big sights.

Which of these Italy itineraries is right for you?

Trip length	Route	Nights per base	Best for
7 days in Italy	Rome, Florence, Venice	3 + 2 + 2	First-timers who want the classic three
10 days in Italy	Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan	3 + 3 + 2 + 2	Adding a Tuscany day trip and Lake Como
2 weeks in Italy	Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples	3 + 4 + 4 + 3	Adding Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast
3 days in Rome	Rome only	3	A city break, or the first leg of any plan
Northern Italy, 10 days	Milan, Verona, Bologna, Venice	3 + 2 + 2 + 3	Lakes, food towns and the Dolomites
Southern Italy, 10 days	Naples, Sorrento, Bari	3 + 3 + 3	Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Capri and Puglia

All the routes are one-way: you fly into one city and out of another. If you must fly round-trip, add the train time back to your arrival airport on the last day. For Sicily, which needs its own week, start with things to do in Sicily.

How many days do you need in Italy?

• 5 days or less: pick two cities at most. Rome and Florence are 1 hour 25 minutes apart by train.
• 7 days: the classic first trip, Rome, Florence and Venice, with no time for day trips beyond one easy option.
• 10 days: the same three cities at a slower pace, plus Milan for Leonardo’s Last Supper and a day on Lake Como.
• 14 days: enough to add the south: Naples, Pompeii and a day on the Amalfi Coast or Capri.

If you are unsure, take the shorter route and add nights, not cities. For when to go, see our guide to the best time to visit Italy and, for this season, Italy in October.

Train times between Italy’s main cities

Leg	Typical time by high-speed train	Trains per day (Italo)
Rome – Florence	1 h 25 min	32
Florence – Venice (Santa Lucia)	2 h	11
Venice – Milan	2 h 15 min	7
Milan – Florence	1 h 43 min	16
Milan – Rome	2 h 52 min	33
Rome – Naples	55 min	31
Florence – Bologna	37 min	32

Times are the typical journey times published by Italo on its route pages, checked September 25, 2026; the fastest trains can be a few minutes quicker, and Trenitalia runs its own Frecciarossa trains on the same lines. Book long legs a few weeks ahead for the best fares.

Trenitalia also runs two non-stop Frecciarossa trains between Rome and Milan in 2 hours 50 minutes, and more than 100 trains a day on that route. For Lake Como, regional Trenord trains run from Milan Central to Varenna in about 64 minutes, once an hour, from €7.40 in second class (checked September 2026).

What to book before you fly

Italy’s most famous sights run on timed tickets, and in high season the good slots go weeks ahead. These are the ones worth booking as soon as your dates are fixed:

Sight	Official full ticket	What to know	Official site
Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine (Rome)	€16 + €2 booking fee	Timed entry to the Colosseum; valid 24 hours	colosseo.it
Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel (Rome)	€20, or €20 + €5 booked online	Book online to skip the ticket line	museivaticani.va
Borghese Gallery (Rome)	€16 + €2 reservation fee	Reservation mandatory; 2-hour time slots	galleriaborghese.it
Uffizi Gallery (Florence)	€25 on the day, €29 booked ahead	Advance tickets have a set time	uffizi.it
Leonardo’s Last Supper (Milan)	€15 (ages 25+)	Booking mandatory; 15-minute visits, 40 people max	cenacolovinciano.org

Official prices (checked September 2026). Guided tours cost more but include the ticket and a guide; each tour page linked below compares two options with their ratings and conditions.

For the choice between a ticket and a tour, read Colosseum tickets explained and Vatican Museums tickets. To compare every bookable experience, use our experiences finder.

Costs to plan for

• City tourist tax: hotels charge it per person, per night, on top of the room rate. In Florence it is €7 a night in a 4-star hotel, for up to 7 nights, and children under 12 are exempt (checked September 2026). Rome and Venice charge their own rates by hotel category.
• Venice access fee: the 2026 trial of the day-tripper fee ended on July 27, 2026, and no dates for 2027 had been announced by the city when we checked. Overnight guests in registered accommodation were exempt during the trial.
• Seat reservations are included in high-speed train tickets; regional trains (Lake Como, Cinque Terre, Pisa) use cheaper unreserved tickets that you validate before boarding.

Planning a first trip? Our Italy travel tips gather the entry rules, the tickets to book ahead and the local habits worth knowing in one place.

More city and region plans: 3 days in Venice, 3 days in Florence, an Umbria itinerary and a Sardinia itinerary with north and south routes.

City plans by area: our Milan itinerary and Naples itinerary, each with 1, 2 and 3-day versions, plus a Bologna itinerary and a Verona itinerary.

Traveling with children? Our guide to Italy with kids covers bases by age, family train discounts and sample routes.

Before choosing an itinerary, check our guide to the best places to visit in Italy, which matches cities and regions to the kind of trip you want.

Italy itineraries: questions travelers ask

How many days do you need in Italy?

Seven days is enough for Rome, Florence and Venice on a first trip. Ten days adds Milan and Lake Como at a comfortable pace, and two weeks lets you add Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.

What is the best route for a first trip to Italy?

Rome, Florence and Venice, in either direction, connected by high-speed train: Rome to Florence takes about 1 hour 25 minutes and Florence to Venice about 2 hours on Italo’s typical schedule, checked September 2026.

Is it better to travel around Italy by train or by car?

Between the big cities, the train: it is faster than driving, goes from center to center and avoids parking and restricted traffic zones. A car makes sense only for the countryside, such as Tuscany’s hill towns.

What should I book in advance for Italy?

The timed tickets: the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, the Borghese Gallery, the Uffizi and Leonardo’s Last Supper in Milan, which requires a booking for every visitor.

Should I fly into Rome or Milan?

Fly into one and out of the other if you can. A one-way route, such as Rome in and Venice or Milan out, saves you a return train of two to three hours.

Regional plans, day by day: Tuscany itinerary, Amalfi Coast itinerary, Sicily itinerary, Puglia itinerary, and route guides from Rome to the Amalfi Coast and Milan to Lake Como.