3 weeks - Help w/amount of time in Rome, Tuscany, Venice, Lake Como

Fly into Rome and out of Venice.

Do Lake Como between 5 Terre and Venice, end in Venice.

Figure nights not days, 2 nights = one day. you need three nights in Venice and probably Rome and Florence as well. you won't get to see much of Tuscany (except Florence, the capital of Tuscany) in two days.

There is a lot of Italy north of Florence, so northern Italy might not be exactly correct.

Thanks Gordon. I corrected the post per your comments!

Rome - 5 nights
Florence - 3 nights
Tuscany countryside - 2 nights
Cinque Terra - 2 nights
Venice - 3 nights
Como - 3 nights
Milan - 1 night

We are having a hard time finding flights out of Venice. I did a google map search and going to Venice appears to add 2 hours in travel time as compared to going to Milan first. Do you think the trains/travel will be significantly more cumbersome?

I agree that our Tuscany & Cinque Terra portion could use some work.

While ending in Venice would indeed remove some backtracking, there are indeed many more flight options out of Milan, so you might as well keep the order as it is.

Have you considered starting in Venice and ending in Rome?

Okay okay I think there has been enough pushback on my agenda to reconsider. By google map, I had Cinque Terra--> Venice-->Milan at only 1.5 hours extra driving compared to ending in Venice. Flying out of Milan is a few hundred less so I thought it was superior.

Is the reason to do Milan first because of the drive along the coast through Genoa? I'm just curious why so many recommendations to go through Milan (when the other order only adds 1.5 hours). I certainly appreciate all the opinions and this is very helpful!

Okay okay I think there has been enough pushback on my agenda to
reconsider. By google map, I had Cinque Terra--> Venice-->Milan at
only 1.5 hours extra driving compared to ending in Venice. Flying out
of Milan is a few hundred less so I thought it was superior. Is the
reason to do Milan first because of the drive along the coast through
Genoa? I'm just curious why so many recommendations to go through
Milan (when the other order only adds 1.5 hours). I certainly
appreciate all the opinions and this is very helpful!

I think the revised itinerary is much improved mainly because it lacks so many two nights stays. What is this about driving? You really want to be using the train for most of this plan, with the possible exception of Tuscany, but even that depends on where.

Yes, except for the Tuscany countryside bit, yours is emphatically NOT a driving route. Trains are fairly quick (more than driving) and efficient on your route.

Okay and now I won't use a rent-a-car. Thanks for all the tips everyone. I really do appreciate them. I am flying out of Venice now and am looking forward to the train around the coast through Genoa from Cinque Terra. Really appreciate all of your insights.

Hi Matt, and welcome to the forum.

Not to further the confusion, but here's a slightly different path...first read this and download their ebook. Then decide.

https://www.italybeyondtheobvious.com/dont-mess-with-ztl-zones

5 N Rome.

Rome-Tuscany. 2 options. 1 rent car @ Roma Tiburtina station. Drive to Tuscany. 2, train Roma Termini-Chiusi rent car drive to Siena area.

3 N Tuscany.

Drive Tuscany- La spezia. Drop car. Train (Cinque Terre Express to village of choice.

2 N Cinque Terre.

Train CT- Lake Como. (Varenna?)

3 N Lake Como.

Train Varenna-Florence.

2 N Florence.

Train Florence-Venice.

3 N Venice.

If you haven't booked flights yet, is it possible to reverse and fly into Venice and out of Rome. There are two good reasons for this:

1. Logistically, it's usually easier to arrive than to depart Venice. There's public transportation to FCO from central Rome from very early morning and takes less than an hour. And taxis take less time (outside of rush hour) and are not expensive. VCE is not nearly as easy, takes longer and a water taxi is exhorbitently expensive. It's more time efficient to get to the island from VCE than vice versa.
2. You are arriving after a long-haul, probably red-eye flight, maybe with a layover. You'll probably be jetlagged and drowsy, unable to absorb much of anything on your first day, maybe your second as well. Rome is a big, bustling, noisy city with major tourist sights. Venice is the ideal place to start: small, quiet with no sights as major as the Colosseum or the Vatican, for instance. In Venice, you can wander the back canals, ride the vaporetto up and down the Grand Canal, relax and simply soak up the atmosphere while you "recuperate." IMO Venice is very romantic.
   

I have also used Milan as a gateway to the north, though not after a transatlantic flight. You could fly into Milan and start at nearby Lake Como for a couple nights which would also be a relaxing romantic start to your trip. If you do that, consider also stopping in Verona for a day (there's luggage storage at the train station) or an overnight on the way to Venice. In fact if you keep Como in your itinerary, it probably makes the most sense to fly into Milan, since any other route will take you out of your way to get there.

The most efficient route from Venice to Rome is via Florence and the CT in that order, to avoid backtracking. The CT can be really miserable because of way too many day trippers. Others on the forum have suggested better places to enjoy the Italian Riviera. Another issue is that in spring, some of the trails may be closed for repairs because of winter rain and storm damage. Also it is still possible to get poor weather. If it isn't sunny, the CT villages aren't picturesque and hiking will be difficult.

For Tuscany, because Florence is has the best connections to the other Tuscan towns, you may do better to stay there. You can day trip by train to Pisa/Lucca in a single day, to others like San Gimignano by bus. I'm sure you can find small group day tours for wineries/vineyards/tastings. If you stay in one of the other towns, that means extra time to change locations and to travel to your next destination. Unless you want to rent a car and stay at an agriturismo for 2-3 nights (which is not at all a bad idea). Then you could either drop the car in La Spezia on the way to the CT (or other Riviera town) or back in Florence if you skip the Riviera.

I'll agree with Chani, it is easier to arrive in Venice, as the flights out, unless you book one that departs after 11:00, depart very early in the morning. These flights can be frustrating and expensive.

Simply flip the itinerary I provided and Chani echoed.

Apologies if someone has already said what I’m going to say. The coastal drive around Genoa is full of tunnels and big trucks. Not scenic and not fun!
I am not a fan of the CT. In good weather they are monstrously crowded; and in bad weather, there is nothing to do. I would take those 2 days plus the 1 and distribute them among Venice, Florence, and the Tuscan countryside. Florence, especially needs an additional day, since you want to do Siena from there.

Super helpful everyone. So much appreciation.

Considering my trip is April 26-May 17, how do you weigh the inferior weather vs the superior routing of the Venice-->Rome order? My understanding of the historical averages is that the places warm up 4-5 degrees F from end of April to mid-May. Rome seems like it would be okay in late April while Venice seems like mid-May could make it more attractive.

Independent of weather, you guys have convinced me Venice first has its advantages.

Good feedback on CT. This seems to either 1.) warrant scheduling in flexibility based on the weather or 2.) removing altogether. This certainly is a challenging decision.

I've visited Italy 3 times in February, all including Venice and Rome, two including Sorrento/Amalfi coast. There was very little difference in weather from one to another. The weather is changeable so I've been warmer in Venice, sitting at an outdoor cafe sipping an iced drink, than in Rome. Weather is generally mild all over for your time frame. I wouldn't take it into consideration except where bad weather can be a real downer, as in the Cinque Terre . . . maybe Como?

1. We used the Sheraton hotel at the Milan airport and it was so helpful. I had checked my husband out of the hospital that noon and driven straight to the hotel. They met us at the curb with a wheelchair as he had broken his leg and spent 12 day in a hospital. They let us use the wheelchair in the room and we actually went to the restaurant for our first real meal together in almost 2 weeks. With wine. In the morning they came to the room as scheduled and took us to the lobby where they had arranged for airport accessibility staff to meet us and take us into the gate, through security and everything. Two staff, two wheelchairs. One for luggage and one for husband, I just trotted behind! The hotel is attached to the terminal! First class outfit.
2. Watch the weather for Lake Como. We were there in early October and a storm came in and our time was spent drying out and warming up. Lake was covered in clouds or fog. Our hotel was lovely with a good restaurant.
3. Verona is a lovely little city and worth a night! We walked around and dodged in several places for a relaxing day.
4. Plan your time carefully in Venice. There is so much to see and do and you can get worn out getting from one thing to the next. We walked back and forth, recrossing our paths due to lack of planning.
5. We had trained into Venice from Rome and took a water taxi to our lodging. There were 4 of us so it priced out well. We did not find the water taxi outrageously expensive, you have to decide where to indulge and where to save. It took us right to a dock for our Airb&b where we were met by our host. To get to the car rental we had to return to the train station area and go to the office there.
6. I've used the trains in Italy and Europe a lot. Don't leave anything on a train in Italy for even 5 minutes. They do not have a lost & found department and don't understand the need. Someone has taken care of it for you. They leave on time and are very comfortable. I had to go get from Alba to Turin to get a rental car to get my husband from the hospital to the airport. The local car rental office in Alba was criminally bad. The ticket was reasonable and I was able to manage without any iIalian language skills, two changes in small towns and arrived in lovely Turino wishing I'd planned a visit! The only things to remember are be on time (early) and we've changed the spelling of their city names. We are returning to the hospital in Alba this fall to say hello and to get our visit in to Florence which we had to cancel in 2016. We will see how accessible the sights are for wheelchairs!

Eliminate 5 Terre - all three in our group hated it, two so much they immediately went Lucca. I have understood Rick’s enthusiasm for almost every place he recommends, but not for this place. Add one day to Millan, and add one day to Tuscany, possibly in Lucca. If you can discover if cruise ships will be near 5 Terre at the time of your visit, well, you were warned.

Such helpful comments. Really appreciate all of the effort (especially ktmcburr)!

My two cents....
agree get rid of Cinque Terra and driving through Genoa. Genoa is really not a tourist place especially for a first trip (CT is pretty but really it's not all that awesome)

Be aware that many restaurants around Lake Como will be closed for the season by late September. Not all for sure but more limited choices as most of the tourists are gone - which could be a good thing

I'd cut a day from the Florence/Tuscany nights and add it to Venice (Siena is Tuscany)

I'd prefer your "night" count to your "day" count but that's just me.

In Bellagio visit Aperitivo et Al ... great wine bar!

We are planning a trip with some similarities to yours in late April and early May. However, after looking a lot at Cinque Terre options and Lake Como lodgings and penciling out what we wanted to see in each spot. I dropped Cinque Terre and opted for Lake Garda instead of Lake Como. It is the largest lake in Italy and has lots of charming towns. The one we are staying in, Sirmione, has a medieval castle and ruins of a large Roman villa, plus ferry access to other towns.
Here's the itinerary we ended up with:
Arrive in Venice PM - stay 3 nights
Train to Verona. Rent car, drive to Sirmione. Stay 3 nights. Explore that town and others, by car and ferry.
Car to Verona, train to Florence. 4 nights in Florence, possibly with day trip to Pisa and Lucca.
Rent car in Florence, drive through Chianti on the way to Montepulciano. 4 nights there, with day trips to other hill towns and wineries, thermal hot springs.
Drive to Chiusi, return car and take train to Sorrento. 4 nights in Sorrento with possible day trips to Capri, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii.
Train to Rome. 4 nights there, seeing the usual sights, then fly home.

Altogether, it's 22 nights.