Advice please for 1st and probably only trip to Italy in April 2025

Welcome!

Rome needs more than 2-3 nights.
A 2 night stay just equals 1.5 days

Florence is your best base for day trips - Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Tuscan hilltowns
Even if you are not museum lovers it’s a lovely compact city with lots to do and the best transportation options.

Assisi is nice but not well connected, you’d probably want a car there
Orvieto is lovely as well, worth a night or 2

I would give Rome a minimum of 4 nights.

Other places to consider are Verona and Bologna

Rome is a spectacular city to walk around in and if you visit Vatican City make it a minimum of four nights. Orvieto makes a good day trip from Rome’s Termini station and if you go add an extra night in Rome.
I’m no Dolomite expert but a lot of people on this forum are. Bolzano is not in the Dolomites so there’s no reason to sleep there.
Siena is easier to get to from Florence not from the Cinque Terre. Traveling from the Cinque Terre to Rome will use up a good portion of the day and requires a connection.

Much good advice above, I.e., Rome needs at least 4 nights so you can enjoy it. You can only do, IMO, one big site a day and then leave the rest of the day to explore, have a long sit over a meal, rest up and go for an evening walk before a relaxed late dinner. That is the Roman way.

As to the Dolomites, it is early. It is neither skiing season nor summer season and activities will be limited. Save it for a September trip sometime. You will be back!

I will suggest you break up the journey from Venice to Cinque Terre with a 2-3 night stop in Desenzano del Garda, at the southern end of Lago di Garda. It is right on the train line between Venice and Milan. You can continue from there to Milan to take the direct Intercity train to Monterosso Al Mare, OR you could take the short ride to Verona and change there to a train heading to Florence for a few days in Tuscany.

Here is some information on what to see and do at Desenzano:

https://www.visitdesenzano.it/en/

We like Hotel Park, right on the lake with beautiful views.

two nights is plenty for the CT. Assisi would be a good choice for a couple days. A couple places where a few days would be lovely are Luca, Bologna or Siena. We love Florence but it is really about the art.

Hello Pam, and welcome to the forum!

Some notes here:
- Venice to CT is probably realistically 8+ hours from door to door since you're crossing the country at almost it's widest point and both areas are logistically difficult.
- April is early for the mountains given the logistics of snowy travel and ski areas. But I'll leave mountain travel details to those with more experience.
- Keep in mind that going off the beaten track in any country - especially off season - is going to decrease the amount of English people are likely to speak. Italians are open to communications and will work with you to figure things out but there are limits to what you can communicate non-verbally. (That said I was able to once get an acestyle wrap bandage from a farmacia just before closing using only pantomime so much is possible this way.)

I would suggest breaking up the travel from Venice with a stop along Lake Garda - maybe someplace like Malcesine. It will be early season for the lake so services may be limited but it also means fewer tourists. It offers a cable car up to the top of Mount Baldo - realistically probably snow - which will give you some mountain access via cable car. The upper lake ferry will probably be on a limited schedule that early in the year but it should give you access to the other upper lake towns.
Getting to Malcesine is a bit of challenge since there is no train but a bus from Verona or Peschiera del Garda just outside Verona is an option. Verona itself is a pretty town that might be worth a night (Venice to Verona is is about 1.5 hours on the train) before heading up to the Lake area.

Siena is a beautiful and well worth visiting but is very well touristed (for good reason) but maybe in April it will be early enough to find more locals and fewer tourists. If you really want a pretty town without tourism you might look at Pistoia which is on the train line from Lucca > Pistoia > Prato and then Florence. I like Lucca and while it is much less touristed than Siena you do hear a fair amount of English on the main street in the summer months. In April it will probably be just locals but if you want only Italian life then Pistoia offers access to Florence, Pisa and the big sites without any tourism. Lucca is closer to nature than Pistoia - which is surrounded by industry - and quick walk will take you along the river towards Pisa or follow the local aqueduct into the nearby hills. You can bike to Pisa or even bike to the beach in 45 minutes if that interests you.

Orvieto is small and will probably be very quiet in April but offers reasonable train access along the main line. The views from Orvieto are amazing - although less green in April - and is surrounded by countryside. You might look into Arezzo - across the valley from Siena - which has started to gain some tourist interest but in April will be sleepy. It offers access to Florence on an easy train and some other hills towns like Cortona and a bus will take you to Siena in 1:15.

Hope that helps, have a great time planning a great trip,
=Tod

Assisi is way too far off the beaten track and would make a poor base for anything other than Assisi.

The Dolomites are incredible but March/April it will be dead. Bolzano is not very exciting. That said, the small town of Castelrotto is very charming for 2 nights, and you can do some short day hikes.

Verona is a beautiful spot for 2 nights to wander around. It’s not filled with any “blockbuster” sights but great to just promenade. Same with Siena. You could choose two of those locations and of course as everyone else said you absolutely need to add another night or two to Rome.

Merano is not in the Dolomites; it is also quite low in elevation, but it is an elegant spa destination and probably best visited in April as it is extremely hot in summer. There is also a just renovated railway along Venosta valley with interesting side hikes (again, no Dolomites).

Good morning! I woke up to 8 replies and I felt like I had won the lottery! LOL So many great ideas that I printed out everyone's response and will take some time to study each suggestion. I can't tell you how grateful I am! Thank you all so much for your help! I will post later to let you know what we decide on! Thank you again, Pam

PS I don't yet totally understand the forum but I am hoping you all get this thank you or should I individually respond to each person?

@Pam Dean - just saying thanks to everyone is fine. Some people reference specific people like this using the @ symbol but it doesn't alert people the way it does on social media. They'll only see your message if they check in on the thread again and read your response. So also if you ask a follow up of someone for something they said there is no guarantee they'll see it and answer you back.

You can direct message people if you have specific or sensitive questions of specific person but I think this is lightly used to respect people's time and attention. Direct messaging everyone would be overkill but if someone really helps you sending them a message of thanks would be appreciated by them I'm sure.

Enjoy sorting through everything and circle back when you have additional questions,
=Tod

Your response is plenty, any acknowledgement is appreciated!
I am a complete nature nut, but before making any suggestions--are you open to renting a car, or did you want to stick to public transport? Tuscany would be the obvious choice if the mountains are ruled out for weather reasons, but transport becomes a factor.
I concur, I would make it at least three nights in Rome--only two full days to fill, which will be a snap. I am an avid hiker but I would not give CT more time than Venice and Rome (I would not give CT less, just the others more).

Hi there, and welcome to the forum! I'd suggest you check out the towns & areas that interest you here on the website, lots of short videos and descriptions of places. https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy. And consider going to the library with partner to delve into it a bit more, I like DK guides because it shows you places in some 3-D detail.

We are not big art or museum people but love to walk or sit in nature.

Just checking if this includes big city walking interspersed with gelato, ancient ruins, & wonderful meals? The reason I ask is if not, you might be one of the few people I suggest not spend much time in Rome. I've been to Rome at least 25 times and adore it, but you might not! If what you want is smaller towns after Venice & going to the CT, lots of good ideas here already. We've hiked a few days outside Florence with no set agenda, you could take a look at guide books and choose to stay longer in one place, for instance in Lucca or Sienna (more tourists) and take day hikes. https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/lucca-italy

@Tod - Thanks so much for explaining how to use the forum. This is better than winning the lottery! LOL And your original post was also so very helpful! Thanks so much!

@ - Valadelphia- We are not going to rent a car as driving in a foreign country would stress my poor hubby.

@sanddancisco - Thanks for the links. I can't wait to check them out. Good question if we like strolling in a big city. I would say "No" and that is why I originally was planning less days in Rome and thinking small, beautiful towns. Crowds are not our favorite at
all. We love people for sure but enjoy smaller, intimate groups.

Welcome Pam! I know you're excited by the prospects of your upcoming trip!

You've gotten some good advice so far. I'm offering a more general suggestion. The charms of Italy are both the wonderful metropolitan areas of Rome/Florence/Venice/Milan and the charming rural villages such as the hill towns found in Tuscany. It's like Cary -Raleigh/Durham is one aspect of North Carolina and Mount Airy is another. The same thing for us in Georgia, there's Atlanta and then there's our hometown of Juliette that has a population of 290. I suggest you strive to get a taste of both.

How will you be traveling? That will figure in to how you can have the uncommercial experience you desire. We had a wonderful experience spending a week at an agriturismo outside of Greve. There was plenty to explore within 45 minutes of where we stayed, but this exploration was only viable with a car.

Look hard at the realities of Cinque Terre. It is suffering from over tourism. Think about Myrtle Beach the way it was decades ago and how it is now. It's good you are spending the night there because you have to be there before and after the day trippers from cruise ships descend on the area. If you go to CT, you'll have to devote a significant amount of time out of your limited time budget to go where there's limited amount of things to do compared with other areas of Italy.

YouTube is your friend. There's tons of videos of all the areas you mentioned that will help you decide what you want to see.

Without a car, I would look at the many coastal villages of Liguria, as they are so easy to explore by train.
Unless you are interested in much hiking, I would look at alternatives to CT since you mentioned not enjoying crowds.
I love the idea of some quiet balance in between Venice and Rome. It is a challenge to find the right place to balance having options without a car, but you will get there. Good luck!

Never underestimate Rome, the Queen of all... but wait. You stated clearly you wish to avoid the big city experience... Though the very fibres of my body scream with dissatisfaction, I shall nobly refrain from subtly but firmly advising you to spend a minimum of 4 nights there.

Having read every Italy guide book, including Rick Steves Italy, from cover to cover over the last three years, repeatedly, it is very clear that the way to enjoy CT and Vernazza is by staying the night but never the day. Confined minuscule spaces with hordes of tourists result only in all round asphyxiation. One night is enough I reckon. Other charming Ligurian coastal villages such as Camogli, Levanto and Santa Maria Ligure seem more than satisfactory.

Consider staying 2 nights in Tuscany's Volterra hill town, which is remote, small and comparatively uncrowded.

Having just returned from Bologna/Pisa I would not recommend them to those who seek to commune with nature, as they are clearly cities. My one Bologna complaint, apart from my complaint that there was only the one fountain, is that there was no greenery. I loved both though.

And there is of course walled Lucca, every connoiseurs favourite and the secret destination of Italians in the know. Just the right size, just the right sense of calm, and just the right amount of small old-world palazzo museums. I hear they even have intimate evening concerts with just the right duration...

I would do the following trip if it were me. All can be done with public transport. You might want to look at if the connections around Siena are better with bus or a combination bus train.
Venice 4 nights- I added a night to get over jet lag
Lucca 2 nights - breaks up the trip to CT
Cinque Terre- 3 nights - take boat to Portovenere one of your days
Siena 3 nights
Rome 4 nights.

If you do only want 3 nights in Venice and Rome, then you could go from Siena to Orvieto for 2 nights as well.

@DouigMac = Thank you so much for the suggestion of the agriturismo outside of Greve. We are not going to rent a car this time but maybe next time if I talk my husband into a second trip!

@valadelphia - I will look into Liguria...that's one I am unfamiliar with.

@Cherryplanter. - I love your self restraint! I need to practice more of that with our young adult children! LOL That is amazing that you have read every Italy guide book from cover to cover! I have Rick Steve's and have requested 3 others from the library but I don't think I will ever catch up to you! I will look into Camogli, Levanto, Santa Maria ligure, Volterra and Lucca. Thank you so much for the suggestions!

@Lisa - I will look at all the other suggestions but I think your trip sounds very inline with what I am leaning towards and think will work for us! Unfortunately the AirBnb I booked is full so we can only get 3 nights in Venice but I love the idea of adding Orvieto after Sienna. I am definitely getting closer to an agenda! Thank you!

What a wonderful community that is so willing to give their time to share their experience! Thank to everyone for your help!

Crowds are not our favorite at all

Hey Pam, well Rome is going to be crowded in April. I had to laugh about someone refraining from suggesting you should really, really visit Rome anyway. But, you don't like big cities or crowds, so if that's the case, you could spend your last night in Fumicino, the little town by FCO, (Rome's major airport), if that’s where you’re flying out of Italy, and just skip Rome.

I’m glad someone else mentioned the crowds in Cinque Terre, I too love walking and lack of crowds, and 20+ years ago CT was already too crowded for me. Someone above suggested checking out other villages in the area, if you'd like a coastal destination.

Just checking how much traveling you've done in Europe by train & if you're a light packer? With your evolving itinerary, you would be moving 5x in 15 days, which is a nice pace but you may lose 1/2 a day with each transit, depending upon distance, packing, & train schedules. I liked the idea of breaking up the trip in Lucca. Are your hotels refundable? (So for example if you got to Lucca or Sienna and decided to stay awhile, could you change your plans?) It sounds like an amazing trip!

As others have said, there are lovely places on the coast of Liguria besides the Cinque Terre that will be far less crowded and also have hiking trails. For instance, we stayed in Camogli for 5 nights and could have walked to the abbey of San Fruttuoso (if I could have walked on that trip) but we took the ferry along the coast instead. Look at some Google photos of Camogli.

On other trips, we've spent 5 nights each in Siena and in Orvieto, and either or both would fit your travel preferences better than Rome (which we adore but, wow, was it ever crowded in January this year compared to other times we've been there!). There is no law that you have to go to Rome, although if you do, take the train out to Ostia Antica to walk around in the ruins of an ancient Roman town without the crowds of Rome.

Also, check to see if there are walking trails leaving from Siena, Orvieto, or any Italian town you decide on --- we have noticed that many towns we have stayed in have such walking routes.

Forgot to add - If you look here, https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/i-do-not-want-to-stay-in-rome-after-a-cruise#bottom, there are a number of hotel recommendations further down for Ostia & Fiumicino. I liked the looks of the Hotel Tiber in Fiumicino. It's a good idea to be close to your departure airport the night before, just in case of train delays.

The underground tours in Orvieto look amazing! https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/orvieto-underground-which-one-differences.

@Sandancisco - Thank you so much for the websites about hotels in Rome. After reading them, I did book the Hotel Tiber for our last night as many had recommended it. So far, I have only booked it and an Airbnb in Venice and both are refundable. I will definitely keep cancellation policies in mind as I book other accommodations in case we want to stay somewhere longer once we get there.

I have only traveled to London for a month with my sister in college. I remember being in the train station and realizing that we should have brought our dad with us as we had more luggage than the two of us could carry. Somehow we managed but it isn't a fond memory! LOL I usually say that I would like to be looking at it instead of looking for it when I pack but this trip I am going to bring only a backpack. I watched a video yesterday of a young lady explaining her packing ideas. She had a super nice blazer and I googled it thinking it would make me look young and beautiful like her and then found it is $795. My husband jokingly said I can pick either the trip to Italy or the blazer! Needless to say, I won't be sporting the blazer! I now have an excuse to wear my frumpy old clothes! LOL

@Nancys 8- Thanks for the suggestions of Camogli, Siena and Orvieto. After all the rave reviews, we will stay in Siena and Orvieto for a minimum of 2 nights each. I also expanded my search of lodging around the CT and found an Airbnb in La Spezia with a gorgeous view and somehow I closed out of it and now it is nowhere to be found. So back to looking again! I did find a website that shows which days cruise ships land in La Spezia next year. In the beginning of April when we will be visiting, they only land on the 2nd, 9th, and 11th. In May, June and July, most days have at least one ship landing and some days have 2 ships landing. I am hopeful this website has the correct information and I am going to try and time our visit to CT before the 9th. If anyone is interested in the website, it is https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/la-spezia-port-160?month=2025-04#schedule

Thanks so much for your kind help! Pam

Hi there, just so you're clear, you've booked a hotel in Fiumicino, the small village close to FCO, outside of what most people would call Rome. Which seems to fit your requirements!

It would be nice to have 4 nights in Venice instead of three. If the AirBnB you booked can be canceled, I suggest you look instead at one of the reliable apartment rental agencies that we ourselves have used for Venice. I recommend this over AirBnB rentals for several reasons. For first-time visitors to Venice, it is nice to have the back-up and support of the management team if you need it. And the company will provide a representative to meet you at the nearest vaporetto dock and show you the way to the apartment and give you a little orientation before handing you the keys. They will also explain things about recycling and garbage collection, which can be confusing.

With AirBnB you are at the mercy of individual owners who may or may not be helpful, and the directions they provide to the apartment may or may not be sufficient. On our recent multi-day (5 nights) stay in Venice, in March 2023, there were 3 separate occasions where we saw visitors arriving with luggage struggling with the directions on their phone as they lugged their roller bags up and over bridges.

One time it was a group of 4 young women (Americans) and they could not agree on what the map directions on their phone were saying. I looked at the location, then showed them a paper map, and walked them to the top of the street they needed to take (it was nearby but they were heading the wrong way). The second time was a British couple who were very grateful for some help. The third time it was a German couple, in a confusing maze of dark streets in the area north of San Marco. The wife was in tears and the husband was angry, and I felt it best to not intervene. I hope they worked it out.

The two agencies I recommend are Venice Red House, owned and managed by Venetians, and Views on Venice, which I believe is a British company, but the on-site management is Venetian (the apartment we rented from them was right near their office, and when we had trouble with one of the keys they sent someone over in 5 minutes to help).

These are examples of their rentals on offer, available for 4 nights on your dates, both in a location in Dorsoduro we really like. But they have many other apartments all over the island. You can use the links to check out the two apartments and then move to the main page to look at others.

https://veniceredhouse.com/apartments-in-venice/venier-apartment/

https://www.viewsonvenice.com/rentals/apartment-venice-lo-squero-1-the-secret-courtyard-in-dorsoduro-324091.html?FRMEntrada=31/03/2025&FRMSalida=04/04/2025&FRMAdultos=2