Cinque Terre - 2 nights vs. 3 - thoughts please

You will have many replies ! Remember that 2 nights equals 1 full day, so you have 3 days in Rome, 2 days in Florence, and 2 days in Venice. ANY of these locations deserve an extra day !

But your question is on Florence versus Vernazza - and I think you need to just note ALL of the activities you are determined to do in each place and see if in that amount of time, you can actually see and do everything !

Florence is magical, but 9 and 11 year olds may enjoy the hiking and boating between all of the villages in the Cinque Terre, including Portofino and Santa Margherita. However, if they would love the Uffizzi and the museums of Florence, the extra day may go to Florence. Or even Venice.

Best to figure out the train schedules and plan out your days to see when you would actually be realistically arriving and departing. Florence and CT works well but not so well with CT and Venice or CT and Rome so you have a long day for that leg of travel time which can be considered a good portion of a day lost.
Look at actual train times and then the next train in case you miss your first choice.

Likely when you map it all out you are going to lose more time than you originally thought and will decide on 3 days to make going out of the way to get there worth it.

If mapping out the times and routes does not sway your decision the other big factor is a combo of:
On your Florence days are you planning day trips to any of: Siena, San Gimignano (sp), Lucca, Pisa, Cortona, Volterra, Pienza, Montepulciano, Other Hill Towns, Day to tour the countryside, Day to go to Wine region, etc...
If you are planning more than one of these 10 options you are going to go through your 3 days quickly and may need the 4.
If you are staying put in Florence the whole time, 3 days would be plenty IMO and better to spend the 3 in CT rather than 4 in Florence in this case.

Likewise in CT, do you plan on hiking between the towns or taking the train or ferry. If into hiking you would need more time.
Do you want to see just the 5 villages or explore other areas further up the hillsides or nearby towns like Portovenere (on the main ferry route) as well? Do you want 1 full beach day in Monterosso or ok squeezing in beach time between hikes and other activities? Anything more time consuming like a day trip to Portofino?

After writing this all I think any planned day trips from Florence is really the biggest factor, once you do more research you wll likely conclude you really need 5 in Florence and 3 in CT.

If it were me, I would add an extra day to Florence and keep Vernaza to 2. Are you hikers? When we were there this past May we were only able to hike one segment, the one from Monterosa to Vernaza.....the others were all closed. The ferry is fun to check out the other villages......but there isn't tons to do there ( which is nice for resting after such a busy travel time in the rest of Italy)! This would give you more time to spread out museums and climbing of towers and such in Florence.....it can be quite stimulating to do too much in a short amount of time.

If you really do choose to stay in Cinque Terre remember that Monterosso is the only one of the towns with a "real" beach for water fun. I'm guessing your girls might enjoy that a lot. The CT will be packed with people so keep that in mind.

Florence - not crazy about it. If you can muster it - Pisa is a highly enjoyable day trip from Florence. Very touristy indeed yet very fun to climb the leaning tower.

Kathy is referring only to the most common Hiking trail #2
Of that trail by this June according to the official website 3 of the 4 legs will be open so not 1 of 4 like she experienced.
Only the Way of Love trail will still be closed barring any unforeseen issues with either that opening early or another closing.
Plus there are many more trails to walk than just #2.
See site below which I believe is the best research for updates on the trails.
https://www.incinqueterre.com/en/trail-number2-blue

I would include your girls in making this decision. Not too many kids appreciate the art which Florence has to offer, they might prefer the fun aspect of Vernazza, hiking and beaches. But, I don't know them, so hard to say :)

With 2 kids that age, I would definitely include some beach time, especially in June (Italy is generally rather hot in June). I grew up in Florence and Florence has a lot to offer, but at 9 years old, I doubt frescoes in museums or cathedrals would be high in my agenda. When we were in school in middle school and high school, we used to go to visit museums and churches in Florence and Tuscany at least once a month (part of the curriculum). It really made a difference to keep our interest up, to have somebody to guide us through all that art (in our case it was our history or art history teachers). To make museums interesting to your kids it might pay to hire a guide. That is true in all the art cities you are visiting (Rome, Florence, Venice).

At the Cinque Terre I wouldn't stay in Vernazza, since there is no beach. I would stay in Monterosso (which has a beach). If you can't find accommodations, try Levanto or Bonassola. Levanto is the first beach town after Monterosso in the direction of Genoa (just 4 min from Monterosso via train and a couple more from Vernazza).
Levanto has a big beach and a bike path along the water from Levanto to Bonassola to Framura (it's all flat over a dismissed railroad). I'm sure your kids would enjoy renting bikes there.

I've stayed in Levanto and Monterosso - both have really nice beaches for swimming.
Levanto is a very short train ride south to the CT. (just a few minutes)

rusfi,

My suggestion would most definitely be three nights in the Cinque Terre. That will provide you with about 2.5 days for sightseeing, once the travel time from Florence is accounted for. As some of the others have mentioned, I would also recommend staying in Monterosso rather than Vernazza, for several reasons.....

• Monterosso has the best beaches of the five towns. There are actually two beach segments, one in the "old town" and one in the "new town". Parts of the beach are "pay-per-use" if you want a lounge chair and umbrella but other parts are free. Vernazza does have a small beach, but the beaches in Monterosso are larger and better.
• Vernazza can be horrifically crowded with cruise ship and tour groups during the day time, to the point of being "unpleasant".
• As Monterosso is larger, it has a better choice of hotels, restaurants and other tourist amenities, as well as a full service rail station.

One important point to mention is that it will be necessary to get accommodations booked SOON, as some facilities in the Cinque Terre may already be booked solid for June!

See site below which I believe is the best research for updates on the
trails. https://www.incinqueterre.com/en/trail-number2-blue

The link below is to the official website for Parco Cinque Terre with all of the current trail information. The site was overhauled last year, and is quite a lot better than the old version:

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Eindex.php

Right now, 2 of 4 sections of the #2 are closed (well, one is mostly closed, anyway) and I'm not seeing anything on that site which indicates a firm date for re-opening of either. MrReynolds, I'm curious where you're seeing mention of June on that site? I guess I always recommend keeping CT hiking plans flexible anyway as trails can close abruptly at any time.

But yes, there are plenty of others besides the #2!

I like the idea of giving the kidlets a little break from museums and churches and old piles of rocks. :O) As Roberto has suggested, I'd stay in Monterosso or Levanto so they can have some beach time, and Mom and Dad can catch their breath before everyone dives into the next city. We had three nights in the CT and didn't feel like that was too long at all. It will be VERY busy but staying overnight provides some quieter hours before/after the day-trippers arrive/depart.

Wow! I am so grateful for all of your thoughtful insights. I have decided to spend 3 nights in CT as it sounds like we will need the break!

Any hotel/B & B recommendations for Monterosa?
Thank you!

I would skip The Cinque Terre altogether. We liked them, but they are crawling with other people and are a city break, not a crowd break.. To get a real break from crowds and museums, take day trips to Lucca, Fisole, and Ostia Antiqua instead.

Re: Kathy's comment on the trails.
She is correct right now 2 of the 4 are open which I believe is the same thing I said.

This morning the website I linked stated that
2b. Manarola - Corniglia (railway station). would be opened in April 2016 so it was reasonable to believe this would be the case in June.
However as of this afternoon when I just went to it now, it changed the date until 2018 which is quite different and I am sorry if I gave anyone bad information. I assure you the site just changed this I have been to the site multiple times this week and it was stating April 2016.

Way of Love they are still stating the same 2017 timeframe for.

On a side note there are other paths one can hike, the reason I originally commented on Kathy's original post is she made it seem like there was only one trail open when she visited, I know her second post does mention may other trails and agree that these trails seem to be subject to close depending on things out of our control.

On a second side note: I recognize that these trails are engineering marvels as is all of the Cliffside construction but you would think the government/national park service would put a priority on getting these trails repaired, it should not take years to do so when the trails are typically listed as the number 1 tourist attraction in an area that is dependent on tourism. Guess the outcry is not much since they are probably getting all of the tourists they can handle as is. Another reason to blame the cruise ships.

rusfl,

As I mentioned in my earlier reply, it could be challenging to find hotel rooms in Monterosso in June but here are a few suggestions.....

• Hotel Villa Steno (old town, very popular so doubtful if you'll be able to get a booking but you can try)
• Hotel Pasquale (old town, sister property of Villa Steno and also very popular)
• Hotel Villa Adriana (far end of the new town, larger property and they serve a nice breakfast)
• Hotel La Spiaggia (new town, close to the station, some rooms have views of the beach)
• Hotel Porto Roca (far end of the old town, somewhat posh and expensive but with incredible views and a nice pool - hotel is located right at the start of the trail to Vernazza)

You can check other hotels and their locations on THIS website. There also a number of smaller private accommodations that are also very nice. You should be able to find something, but it may take some work and internet time.

"Any hotel/B & B recommendations for Monterosa?"

We stayed at Hotel Pasquale last summer, highly recommended. Right on the beach in Old Town (Monterosso), the rooms yield incredible views and the family who run the property are extremely nice.

Think you'll be glad you took an extra night in Cinque Terre. Wonderful place.

I assure you the site just changed this I have been to the site
multiple times this week and it was stating April 2016.

Frustrating, I know (!!!) but that's why the park's own website is the best reference.

The problem with the trails are that they're fragile, were never meant to be hammered by the amount of feet they are (the #2 in particular), are easily washed away in heavy rain, and rockfalls are always a threat. It's difficult to impossible to completely stabilize landscape that steep, and very difficult to get any sort of machinery in there for repairs. I'm guessing most of the work has to be done by hand.

An extra night in Florence would allow for a day trip to Siena (or the like). You need to weigh up your preference - hiking/relaxing vs seeing another place.

Great point about the crowds! I should have mentioned that we live in Florida, with great daily proximity to the beach. So the idea of relaxing on a crowded beach doesn't sound as appealing as hiking.
Thanks again for your thoughts!

As others have mentioned hotel options for your 2 rooms or large family room requirement are going to make finding a place for this June if wanting to stay in any of the 5 villages in the CT very difficult I imagine.

The best rooms seem to book a year in advance, places are limited and there are no large hotels in this area. You may want to check availability before making your decisions.
I think you will find enough to do in either location so not sure there is a correct answer in this case at least not without knowing the full itinerary of what you plan on doing with your time in each place ; I do think you will feel a little rushed getting out to CT and back for a 2 night stay but others are fine with seeing it as a day trip.

We went to the CT for three days last summer and assumed it would be enough. It wasn't, and we're going back for seven days this year. Yeah, the crowds are insane during mid day, but it's the most beautiful area we've seen.

I sent you a PM

rusfl,

" So the idea of relaxing on a crowded beach doesn't sound as appealing as hiking."

The picture I linked earlier may not show a lot of detail, but the beaches don't seem to be excessively crowded. It probably helps that visitors have to pay for those portions of the beach that have lounge chairs and umbrellas (it's a very reasonable charge, I believe).

The small beach in the old town is not as busy, and I don't expect that crowds will be a problem on the beaches. The trails can also be "busy" at times.