10 day trip with family, need advice for a village visit

You have 8 days on the ground.
Most people reporting in here seem to spend 3 or more days in Rome, 2 or 3 in Florence, and perhaps 3 in Venice.
So you can see the problem. Something's gotta give. Or you could add more days to your visit.
Note that 2 hotel nights in a place equates to 1 full day of seeing/doing things.
And getting from one destination to another also uses up time.
You'll want to carefully prioritize and see if you can shoehorn in a bit of village Italy. Possibly a day trip out of Florence to a Tuscan village.

Kathleen,

Eight days is a reasonable time frame for Venice, Florence and Rome, although a bit longer would be better. One point to mention is that it would be preferable to fly inbound Venice and outbound Rome. It's been mentioned here many times that flights back to the U.S. from Venice typically leave very early, so not as desirable.

A short visit to the Cinque Terre will also be possible, and I'd suggest doing that as a day trip from Florence. It's a bit of a long day but provides enough time for a brief look at the five towns. I'd suggest starting in Riomaggiore and finishing in Monterosso, so that you can have a fine hot meal in one of the restaurants there before heading back to Florence (that's what I did last time I was there).

Some visits to "Village Italy" should also be possible as day trips from Florence. For example.....

• Siena (about one hour each way by Bus)
• Lucca (about 1H:20M)
• Pisa (about 1.25 hours)
• Padova (about an hour)

You'll probably only have time for one or two day trips.

Is there any chance at all you could add a few more days? With only eight days, I'd suggest spending only a day or so in Venice, four days or so in Florence as that will allow the day trips, and the remainder in Rome.

Have any of you been to Italy before? There are some potentially expensive "caveats" when using trains or buses there, so you'll have to be sure you do some research on that.

Good luck with your planning!

Here's an idea. Jump the local train from Florence to Lucca for a day trip. You could see Lucca, and/or, you could get off in Montecatini. Lucca is a city, Montecatini is a town, but you might be able to work your way up to Montecatini Alto, a village up on the hill out of Montecatini.

Out of Rome, a day trip to Tivoli (quaint town in the mountains) and Hadrian's Villa might work out for you too.

Have fun.

Pisa (a couple of hours at the Leaning Tower area) and Lucca (the rest of the day, including lunch) can be done in one daytrip from Florence, Siena would be a full day.

If you have eight nights, I would suggest two nights Venice, four nights Florence (including day trips), four nights Rome (including a daytrip to Orvieto).

Some great options via train from Florence. All around or under an hours time by train.

Firenze>Pistoia 33 min. Pistoia>Montecatini Terme 11 min. Take the Funiculare from Montecatini Terme to Montecatini Alto. Montecatine Terme>Lucca 32 min. Lucca>Firenze 1H05m. Another option out of Pistoia is Pescia 27 min.

Use the bus from Florence to Siena http://www.busfox.com/timetable/ Use Firenze as Florence.

We cannot add days to our trip, but we were able to get an 1130am departure from Venice to the US. Thanks for all of your suggestions.

How about stopping in Orvieto between Rome and Florence?

Trains are fast and direct between the big cities, under 1.5 hours Rome-Florence and 2 hours Florence-Venice, so that travel doesn't have to cut much into your city sightseeing time. Orvieto is one of the most convenient hilltown stops, not much detour, taking about 1 hour Rome-Orvieto and 2 hours Orvieto-Florence, both by direct train. Tuscan towns like Lucca require a longer detour with additional connections. If you're settled in Florence for 3 days, then the side trip by bus is easy to Siena (direct, frequent, takes 1.5 hours) or to San Gimignano (hourly, 1.5 - 2 hours with connection at Poggibonsi); buses run less on Sundays.

What is the best route for a day trip from Florence to Pisa then Lucca then back to Florence? Would love to plan a day trip in April from Florence.

tbrenk--This might work for you, via train:

Firenze (Santa Maria Novella) / Pisa (Tutta le Stazioni) 09:28 - 10:28

Pisa (Tutta le Stazioni) / Lucca 14:20 - 14:47

Lucca / Firenze (Santa Maria Novella) 18:31 - 19:50

This way, you don't have to leave first thing in the morning, and you're back in Florence in time for a nice dinner (they don't start dinner in Florence until at least 7:00 PM).

Tbrenk: I'd reverse the order, going to Lucca first, then Pisa. That way, you get to Pisa after the tourist hordes, and the Field of Miracles looks lovely in the afternoon light. I did this exact trip in March of 1989, but it remains one of my best travel days ever.

There are buses and trains between Florence and Lucca, and between Lucca and Pisa. There are frequent trains between Pisa and Florence.

Good suggestion by Harold, especially the note about the light.

In your Pisa Lucca trip, I agree you should do Pisa last. The leaning tower is good to see at night as well. Plus you have plenty of night options to come back to Florence from Pisa. The last train I think is well past 10pm and if you miss the last train you can still go to the airport and take a Terravision bus to Florence. They run even later at night.