3 days in Florence

Hi Monique -
First off? 6 nights is only going to give you a tiny sample of Italy. Arrival day will only be a jet-lagged partial, and you'll lose 1/2 day or more in transport between Florence and the Amalfi Coast so realistically you only have 2.5 days for Florence and 2.5 days for the coast.

I'm also curious which airports you'll be flying in and out of? It can make a difference. And what time of year?

My best advice: Grab a Rick Steves Italy book and read it. He has some great thoughts on Italy and some of the must-sees.
3 days in Florence is just enough to actually soak up a little of Florence. It is a beautiful city with a ton of culture and food and shopping and my recommendation is to spend at least 2 full days in the city, especially if you want to see any art. The Uffizi and Accademia are amazing. If you truly have 3 full days in Florence (not any traveling which eats up 1/2 day usually), you could take a day trip into Tuscany, which is what we did and it was fun. I'd recommend Siena or San Gimignano, as possibilities. If you are going when it's warm, 3 days in Cinque Terre would be nice for views, wine, and hiking, and it's only about 2 hours by train from Florence. I have not been to the Amalfi Coast but it is a long way from Florence. With 6 days (or nights? are your travel days included?), you don't have as much time as you think and do you really want to spend it on trains/buses/cars?

Monique -- I haven't actually taken the tour yet so I can't vouch for it personally, but we found a reasonably priced day tour of Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa out of Florence (I believe it was on Viator). It seemed like a good "sampler" tour, with the bonus that we can knock out a stop at Pisa which is the only thing on my 9yo's wish list.

Thank you all for your replies! We are flying in to Florence from Portugal early afternoon of August 1st and will have the full 2nd and 3rd there, then we are deciding whether to catch the 5 hour train down to Amalfi Coast either the night of the 3rd or early morning of the 4th. Then we will have until the morning of the 7th in that area, until we train up to Rome and spend the day there before flying out from Rome at 22.00.
I have seen day trips from Florence where they take you out to Cinque Terre which would be great (has anybody done just a day trip there?) - Also day trips where you can see a few surrounding towns/cities like Pisa etc. It might sound crazy but has anyone done Venice in a day? 2 hr train from Florence ,and return? Thanks so much for your help!

Monique -- I haven't actually taken the tour yet so I can't vouch for it personally, but we found a reasonably priced day tour of Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa out of Florence (I believe it was on Viator). It seemed like a good "sampler" tour, with the bonus that we can knock out a stop at Pisa which is the only thing on my 9yo's wish list.

We did this tour last year (I think it is probably the same one, or similar-it also had a winery stop for lunch with tastings) and we enjoyed it-although I will warn you it is a long day and you won't get to hang out in any of those places as much as you would like. But that being said, it was fun to see all those places in one day without having to pack or drive ourselves. The nice thing about the tour we did was that Pisa was the first stop and it wasn't too crowded when we got there. SanG was pretty packed, though we still liked it. Siena was lovely.

I have actually taken the trip from Florence to Amalfi coast. We spent 2 days in Florence (2 days is enough). Then we rented a car and drove to Siena. We had an amazing lunch there (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187902-d696446-Reviews-Antica_Osteria_da_Divo-Siena_Tuscany.html), walked around the city and then drove through Tuscany to Positano (on the Amalfi coast). We spent one full day in Positano, took a scenic bus to Amalfi and back. Originally we were planning on taking a boat to see the coastline from the sea, but the weather was not good for that. That night we drove to Rome and dropped off the car there. We spent 4 days in Rome and flew back from there. We flew in to Venice and spent 2 days there prior to taking a train to Florence. I think 6 full days would be good to see all these places.

I have seen day trips from Florence where they take you out to Cinque
Terre which would be great (has anybody done just a day trip there?) -
Also day trips where you can see a few surrounding towns/cities like
Pisa etc. It might sound crazy but has anyone done Venice in a day? 2
hr train from Florence ,and return?

I think we'll come back to what some of us cautioned earlier: you are not going to have the kind of time to do all this that you think you will. If you don't arrive in Florence until the afternoon of arrival day, you'll only have two full days there. As a fan of that city, I'll cheerfully disagree that two days are enough for that one if you want to do other locations from there as well.

The Amalfi, as stated, is quite some distance from Florence. The suggestion to substitute the Cinque Terre instead is a good one, IMHO, as it's MUCH closer to Florence and you'll get the sea views (plus hiking!!) without a large chunk of a day spent getting there. It also a much more enjoyable place to STAY rather than day trip as you'll get to enjoy the golden hours before all the OTHER day-trippers arrive and overrun the place, and after they leave. You could even make a stop through Pisa for an hour or so on the way, if you wish, although I probably would give it a skip.

Sooo, you might look at 4 nights/3.5 days in Florence with a day trip or two (Siena/Lucca) if ambitious, and 2 nights/1.5 days in the CT before heading off the Rome early the morning of the 7th. Personally, I'd save Venice for another trip as it deserves more than a day.

I've been going to Italy for many years and my two cents would be to omit the Amalfi coast on this one. The travel will just eat up any free time you think you might have. Depending on what's important to you, 3 nights in Florence gives you enough time to see David and go to the Uffizi (art collection by far one of the best in Europe). Florence is such a great walking city that you would want to be able to have the time to enjoy it and also see Santa Croce, Duomo, Baptistry, Ponte Vecchio and possibly either walk up the Campanile or Duomo to see the stunning views. There's Piazzale Michelangelo for more stunning views and the beautiful San Miniato church right around the corner is worth going to as well. Not to mention the Medici Riccardi Palace which is worth seeing. There's also the Pitti Palace with the beautiful Boboli Gardens. I'm listing all of this because my point is that there really is so much to see and do there. Siena makes a great day trip because it's not far at all and then you could still explore the country side and include things like San Gimignano in the same day. The Cinque Terre can be done in a day but count on that being a 12 hour day with the tour bus. Give yourself the excuse to go back for the Amalfi Coast and Venice. ---You can of course do Venice in one day but it will be very whirlwind and you probably wouldn't get much further than the San Marco area time wise.