April Itinerary help (Florence, Lucca, Siena, etc.)

Hi, I will start your replies to push this to the top of the list.

You might want to consider just staying in Levanto and doing short day trips to Cinque Terre and then over to Portofino. I haven’t been to Cinque Terre recently, so I don’t know how many trails are currently open between the five towns.

There’s nice options for mini-van day tours from Siena or you could go yourself by bus. Thinking Montepulciano, etc. We really like Siena!

For Lucca, if you want to ride a bike on the wall vs. just walking (and be sure to do it!), I brought my driver’s license because I didn’t want to leave my passport as my bike deposit. If you’re interested in a cooking class, I really enjoyed the Extra Virgin cooking class! Wonderful food & overall experience!

Six nights is personally too much for me in Florence. And if you stay in Levanto, you could reduce the number of coastal nights by one at least. You might want one more location and give Florence four nights. If you have a lot of plans for Florence, skip my advice! : )

Hello PeachTraveler, and welcome to the boards!

I think your schedule is pretty good and I like your town choices and the amount of time you're taking in each place. But I would say that April is pretty early for visiting the Ligurian coast. The weather is more likely to be cooler, more frisky and I would check on the ferry schedule because it may not be at full tourist schedule yet.

Jumping on a bus or train to Siena right off an international flight might be a little ambitious, but the Florence airport is close enough to town isn't that much different than coming in the hour from Milan.

Don't miss the Duomo museum in Florence!

Have a great trip,
=Tod

Hello again, I wanted to add some more thoughts to my previous post.

I think you may want to add another day to Siena to make up for one of your nights being an arrival day and jetlag etc.
Where to steal that day from is the question. I think you could afford one less night in Florence or if you rearrange your nights on the Ligurian coast - maybe staying in Levanto for 4 nights and doing day trips up and down the coast to CT and the Ligurian coast towns as Jean suggested. I think it would be a shame to short Lucca (which I really like) but Siena is bigger and more scenic than Lucca is so for most people I think the day is better spent in Siena.

Given your description of what you like I would throw in the random suggestion you check out Verona at some point in your Northern travels. It is a very genteel and cafe kind of city with faded middle ages architecture with some Roman remnants 12 feet underneath all that.

Whatever you decide have a great trip,
=Tod

Because I love art museums and churches, 6 days does not sound too long for Florence. Suggestions: Orvieto's cathedral is stunning-maybe an overnight there.

Thank you for the replies.

Yes, I think going to Siena the day I arrive would be too much.

This is the new itinerary:
Florence 5 nights (main sights, walking around)
Siena 3 nights (main sights, walking the town)
Lucca 3 nights (Pisa day trip, main sights, walking the town)
Cinque Terre 3 nights (visit 5 towns by train, visit 5 towns by ferry, bit of hiking between towns)
Santa Margherita Ligure 2 nights (Portofino day trip)
Florence 1 night and fly home

I have been to Orvieto and loved it. I think Verona will be on another trip. From my research, the ferries begin April 1.

PeachTraveler Your revise itinerary sounds good. I’m intrigued about the idea of flying into Florence. May I ask where you are coming from? I usually go to London then Venice or London to Rome. Coming as I do from California this is a LONG haul. I’m just now thinking about a trip to Ravenna& Ferrara and then Rome. Flying into Florence would be very close to Ravenna, so you have my full attention!

Thank you

SuzieeQQ I'm flying Atlanta to Paris and Paris to Florence on Delta and Air France.