Amalfi Coast or Cinqua Terre

I presume you will have seen Venice already, otherwise it would make sense to go to Venice and surrounding area before flying home.

I wouldn't go to the Cinque Terre, especially because there is no guarantee the weather will hold in October (the end of October is generally rainy in Italy). Since you are flying out of VCE, I would consider visiting the nearby Lake Garda. From there you can visit the quaint villages on the lake or the beautiful cities of Verona or Vicenza nearby.

You could also go to the Amalfi coast, but you are getting farther away from Venice. It's a long way back to Venice from Amalfi.

I would choose Cinqe Terre just because it's closer in proximity to Venice than the Amalfi Coast. It would be a long train ride from Venice to the Amalfi Coast.

Thank you!!

This is a personal preference question so no correct answer, I think either can work with the timing and logistics.
Amalfi Coast to Venice is a good distance but still doable and would not stop me from going there if I wanted to and had 5 days.
I would look at images, read trip reports in both places and see which interests you more.

Wine or Lemoncello
Pesto or Tomatoes
Anchovies or Clams

Both areas require a fair bit of walking uphill with steps invloved. Cinque Terre you are likely to have shorter but steeper walks with more steps involved and many of the rooms/places to stay will require walking up a few flights to reach.

October weather likely warmer in Amalfi Coast which for me would be a consideration since these are beachy/seasonal kind of places (even if they don't have many true beaches).
Some of the ferry services in both areas may or may not be running in late October (may vary daily based on weather/seas)

Amalfi Coast may more luxury places to stay, many places will have a swimming pool which might be too cold to swim in late October, Cinque Terre at least in the 5 towns the places to stay are mostly B&B's and there are no swimming pools.

They are actually quite a bit different so one might jump out to you right away.
Amalfi Coast: Much larger area with more to see to occupy 5 days. Matters more what town you stay in than CT would, you likely will be traveling by bus and ferry between different towns though either way.
Traveling distances between different towns quite a bit further and longer.
I think there is better shopping here, especially if you include Sorrento and Capri.
Has more grand Churches/Duomos.
I think it is a little more upscale / luxurious but guess that depends on where you stay.

Cinque Terre: If you like hiking on trails I would choose this, it is more rustic and the area is a natural park so I think that has an appeal to a certain group that might not like the Amalfi Coast and vice versa. These are/were 5 fishing villages, the main towns in the Amalfi Coast area were rich towns even way back, Has the colorful stacked houses which is really a unique look and the close proximity of the towns to each other means it is much easier to see each of the 5 towns in a short amount of time.
You could see the sunset in Vernazza, have dinner in Manarola and get back to your bed in Riomaggiore without many issues, likely you would not want to attempt such movement to towns in the Amalfi Coast.
To be fair to this area if you include Sorrento and Capri with the Amalfi Coast you might also include Portofino and other coastal towns in the Cinque Terre area, Portovenere, Levanto, etc... based on similar distances. Including Portofino would give the Cinque Terre more of the luxurious feel I imagine and would make the distances/area more spread out.

Just wanted to jump in with a quick note - there is some good hiking on the Amalfi Coast as well. We only did the walk from Ravello to Atrani (we aren't seasoned hikers) but if hiking is your thing, look into the Path of the Gods. It seems very popular but I have no personal experience.

We've visited CT twice (08 and 12) and Amalfi in '14. Getting around CT is much easier because of short distances and the frequent trains. On the AC, of course, you are relying more on buses. It is of course a much longer travel day to get from AC to Venice. I'm not sure myself that I could find something to do for 5 days in CT, but there are lots of little surrounding towns you could certainly visit. But with only 4 nights/5 days, (and having to use one of those days to travel to Venice) you will really only get a quick taste of AC. We had three nights in '14 and I'd love to go back for 5-6 nights.

For me, having to be in Venice to fly home, I'd probably choose to stay in CT. If I was flying home from Rome, hands down AC.

((Just to throw a wrench into things, we actually enjoyed AC more. BUT...I would say only because our 2nd visit to CT, it was absolutely overrun with tourists compared to our first visit - both of which were over the same few days the 3rd week of Sept. It was a real turnoff. We liked it enough to go back a second time, and I think in Oct you may have a little more peace in the CT))

Oct 19 Cruise finishes in Rome
Oct 19-23 Amalfi Coast - 4 nts (3 full days for Capri/Pompeii/Positano)
Oct 23 Fly Naples to Venice
easyJet EZY995
15:35 NAP Naples International
16:50 VCE Venice Marco Polo
Oct 23-25 Venice - 2 nts
Oct 25 Fly home from Venice

jd,

Either area would be good, but since you'll be flying out of Venice, I'd probably lean towards a destination in the north such as the Cinque Terre. However, as Roberto pointed out, the weather in October can be an issue so that's the "wild card" in the equation. The Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre share some similarities, but they're also quite different in many ways. Transportation will be easier in the CT, especially the eventual trip to Venice (as compared to travel from the AC).

There are many possibilities, and these are a few.....

• Use Florence as a "home base" and take a day trip to the CT (on a nice day). It's a bit of a long day, but it is possible (I've done it). That would allow you to at least see the five towns. You could also take trips to Pisa, Lucca, Siena or other locations.
• Explore one of the lakes, as Roberto suggested. I tend to prefer Lake Como (Varenna) or Lake Maggiore (Stresa).
• Use Salerno (or area) as a "home base" to explore some parts of the Amalfi Coast. Travel from Salerno to Venice is easy via high speed train (about 6 hours, often with one change in Rome).