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Tuscany Itinerary + Cinque Terre

Posted by (Canada) on

Hello,
I am planning our trip to Tuscany and trying to decide if we should include a visit to Cinque Terre on our own for a couple of days versus a long day trip from Florence. If driving, we will have to deal with parking and since we will have large luggage thinking it would be better to stay in La Spezia versus in one of the villages. Alternatively, we can take the Freccarosa directly from Rome that stops in Florence at the beginning (Day 3) or at the end of touring Florence (Day 6) and the rest of the Tuscany region. We are planning to pick up and return vehicle in Florence as it is considerably more expensive ($400 more) if our pick-up and drop-off location is different. We are flexible on where to pick up our vehicle but Florence has the most frequent and robust train routes.

Here is our current plan without Cinque Terre.

Day 1: Arrive Rome & stay 2 nights

Day 2: Tour Rome (have been several times)

Day 3: Freccarosa to Florence

Day 4: Florence sight seeing

Day 5: Lucca - via Regional Train (maybe also visit Montacantini Terme)

Day 6: Depart Florence for accommodations near San Gimignano - Pickup Rental Vehicle

Day 7 to 16: 10 Days to tour Tuscany area/towns - San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni, Siena, Cortana, Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino, visit a Hot Spring, wine tours/tasting & a cooking class

Day 17 : Depart for Florence to return rental vehicle and take Freccarosa to Rome

Day 18: Fly back home

Any input or suggestions are welcomed!! TIA

Posted by
4939 posts

Knowing your planned dates of travel helps with replies. Especially given the daily inundation to the CT by hordes of cruise ship passengers daytripping the CT from La Spezia and Livorno. A day trip from Florence means spending a good part of the day just in transit, and becoming one with the hordes. Staying IN one of the villages means you can enjoy the comparative peace in the mornings and evenings. IMO Staying in La Spezia is no way to enjoy the CT. If you feel you must drive to CT, then research overnight parking in the 5 villages. I think Monterosso has a parking garage, and would be easiest in handling monster luggage. I'm biting my tongue here on the subject of multi destination travel with large suitcases.

Posted by
3 posts

CJean, thank you for your input and good points. My dates of travel are September 23 to October 10, 2024. I agree with you regarding moving around too much, especially with large luggage. My husband would like to see Cinque Terre, as do I, but I prefer staying put in one central location and not having to pack and unpack.

Posted by
4939 posts

Are you still able to alter your accommodation dates for Tuscany? If so, you'd need to shorten your stay by 2 nights. If you did it at the end of your stay, you could return the car in Florence, train to CT and then train straight to Rome the day before departing for Rome.

Posted by
338 posts

Instead of one monster suitcase, have you considered 2 smaller ones (like 21 or 22")? Will be much easier to handle for the train segments.

Posted by
3 posts

Yes, I can still alter the itinerary as I have not booked any of my accommodations yet, just the flights. I want to fine tune the itinerary first so I know how many days to book in Rome, Florence and Tuscany. I would like to do the furthest destination first so that the last day in Tuscany has the least travel time to Florence to catch train back to Rome on my 2nd last day. We will be gone for 19 days so will need one large suitcase each and a carry-on and want some room for any purchases.

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