5 days in Italy suggestions

Flying in and out - when? Four nights in Italy / five days?

It would be a little nutty to try to do all three in four nights. You'll spend half of your time getting from place to place and check into / out of lodgings. Four nights is probably barely adequate for Rome.

Perhaps Florence and Venice - but even that would be a crazy fast trip.

I assume you are coming to Italy from somewhere else in Europe? With only 5 days, I would pick 1 place, 2 tops. You can easily spend 5 days in Rome. It really depends on your interests and appetite for speed sight-seeing. The 3 cities you mention are all vastly different. What do you like to do? Museums? Churches? Do you like big cities? Small towns?

The train is the most efficient method of transportation. 90 minutes between Florence and Rome and a shade over 2 hours between Florence and Venice. Italotreno.it and trenitalia.com are the websites for the two train companies that serve those cities.

EDIT: I see from another post that you are probably going to Paris and then Italy. You might consider flying into Venice, spend 2 nights and take the train to Florence for the remainder of the trip. Or, you could fly to Rome and stay there for the 5 days.

With five days I recommend spending it all in Rome (we spent 8 days and never ran out of things to do) OR splitting your five days between Florence and nearby Tuscan countryside. Car is only needed for Tuscany.

With only five days I suggest that you choose one city. You lose half a day every time you move between cities. My choice would be Rome, but Florence could also work. Rent a car--no way. As Rick puts it, a car is a "worthless headache" in big cities. Better yet, from the west coast you might want to wait until you can do a two week trip.

You are really spreading yourself thin.

Max of 2 destinations in Italy.

hey holly
where do you fly out of, rome round trip? where are you flying from and if USA don't forget about jetlag, it happens. stay in rome. lots to do there and keep you occupied. if you're going to tuscany for wine tasting, take the train to frascati, 30-40 minute train ride from rome and check out oldfrascatiwinetour.com
every time you go to new city you lose half a day at least, packing up checking out, getting to transportation and travel time, getting to new area, make sure about checkin time after 3pm usually and you not pushing luggage around.
you can keep yourself busy with food tour, cooking class, sitting with glass of vino, people watch. less is more. have fun and enjoy
aloha

5 days only, I would just do Rome. Don't try to do too much. You will waste so much time traveling. Use the train if you do try to see more than one city.

Thanks everyone for your recommendations! Seems like it's wiser to just stay in 1 country for such a short trip (10 days). We have decided to just stick with France since hubby is set on Paris!

Good choice Holly. Just stay in Paris and throw in a day trip or 2.