My friend and I are going to Europe for a month. We will be in Italy for a little over a week, then heading to Geneva (only for a night though), and then we are going up to France. I'm wondering what the best plan is for getting around Italy. We're flying into Rome and will stay there for a few days and then want to visit the Cinque Terre, Venice and Florence.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
look at the times from CT to Geneva. The routes serving the CT area tend to be regional trains and you will probably have to change trains several times to get to Geneva. Even travelling from farther away, it might take no more time and be less of a hassle to go from Venice or Florence. Maybe it was just our bad luck on a trip last summer in Italy, but twice in 8 days of travel we missed a connecting train due to trains being behind schedule and had to wait for the next one (1-2 hours later). The moral, for me at least, is the fewer train changes the better.
mike's right. It would appear that if you must keep all the destinations in your schedule, the most effecient route on the train would be:
Rome to the CT 4.5 hours
CT to Florence 3 - 3.5 hours
Florence to Venice 2:45 on a Eurostar
Venice to Geneva about 8 hours
A week is really a short time to see the four areas you mentioned. That being said, I agree with Ron's suggested route. It is slightly faster and with fewer train changes to get Geneva from Venice than it is from the Cinque Terre towns. Oddly, on some runs from either, you end up on the same trains out of Milan to Geneva. Total train time is about 19.0hrs.
Alternatively, I estimate Rome/Florence/CT/Venice/Geneva to take 26.5hrs and Rome/Florence/Venice/CT/Geneva to take 23.0hrs.
I would take the train from Rome to CT National Park. The train to Florence and on to Venice.
Do a search for CT on the web and read about the five villages to decide which one you want to stay in and visit the other 4 by using the local train. About 15 minutes to the next village.
Also read the web page for Florence and for Venice to learn all there is to see in each town.
Hi Katy, this isn't your question, but you have too many destinations for one week in Italy.
Katy, spend more time in Italy and less time in France. My family and I went to Italy and saw the exact same places on your list but in 3 weeks and it seemed too short. There is so much to see and do in each of the towns. Anyway, take trains. Each place is about 3-4 hours away from each other, except venice to cinque terre which can take 4-6.
