It depends whether your aims are to see the famous sights, or get a wider feel for a place. St Marks square and Rialto bridge could be seen in a morning if that was the aim. It is something we all need to have clear in our minds - or rather in this case - David needs to have the aim clear!
Less than 2-3 nights is what… 1-2 nights? This means factoring in travel time there & to next destination (including the unique logistical challenges of Venice), finding the hotel or other lodging, checking in, checking out, packing & unpacking. Lots of crappy time, for what might end up as 10-20 hours of time to appreciate the place including meals. 1-2 nights only really works for us if it fits a specific itinerary constraint e.g. it’s close to entry or exit point and it’s close enough to the airport to coincide with a really early departure, or really late arrival. Without that reason, a day trip starts to look more practical if someone wants to cut the time down to the bare minimum - and sometimes this is fine.
We find 2-3 days is too short for most of the places we want to visit (and some are small and very untouristy). We’ll often compromise at 2 x four day stays and a 7 day stay covering 2 weeks plus a bit from the bookending weekends, hence ~15 days in total (or 3 x five days but that rarely happens for one reason or another). There is still a lot of wasted time in that, but we’ve found that it works well for us, especially if we’re smart on picking places close together.
This reminds me of a post I made on a travel forum a few years ago, on the morning of the 1st day in April.
I have 7 days to see Italy and wonder what you think of this itinerary
Day 1 (Rome): Arrive 11:30, check into Hotel, then see the Vatican and the Colosseum.
Day 2 (Venice/Ravenna): Get 04:45 train from Rome, arrive & see St Mark’s square, take gondola back to railway station, then catch 15:47 train to Ravenna. Check into Hotel and grab bite to eat.
Day 3 (Ravenna/Verona): See church/basilica mosaics in morning, then check out of hotel and take 10:39 train to Verona. Check into Hotel, see balcony, go to opera.
Day 4 (Milan/Lake Como): Check out of hotel and take 03:58 train from Ravenna, drop bags at train station, take taxi to Duomo, return taxi journey to station, picking up bags and taking 14:35 train to Como. Check into hotel and take romantic boat trip & meal.
Day 5 (Lake Como / Florence / Tuscany): See sunrise on lake, then check out of hotel and catch 06:32 train to Florence. Arrive Florence, see David. Hire car, drive to Siena taking in the countryside. Check into hotel
Day 6 (Cinque Terre/Pisa): Check out of hotel & drive to Riomaggiore, walk the lovers walk, take boat back to Riomaggiore, pick up car and drive to Pisa. Check into hotel and see leaning tower.
Day 7 (Rome): Check out of hotel at 01:50. Drive to Rome along the coast, drop car off, see Forum. Catch 16:57 flight back home.
My problem is I really want to see Amalfi Coast and Sicily – any suggestions of how to fit these in. Are there any other must see sights or side trips I should add? I hear Puglia and Sardinia are nice.
I did get one person who said “I think you’re trying to fit too much in”
regards
Ian