Cinque Terra and Tuscany visit - help needed.

It would help to know where you'll be going after you visit the Cinque Terre and Tuscany? Which airport are you flying home from? Also, four days is not really enough time to see both locations. Is there any possibility of extending your time?

For visiting the Cinque Terre, the best idea would be to stay in one of the five towns. Everyone here has a favourite and I prefer to stay in Monterosso, which is the largest of the five and therefore has the greatest number of hotels and other amenities.

Could you provide more specific information on where you'd like to visit in the "Tuscany region"?

You'll "travel most conveniently" by rail, as the trains are frequent and relatively inexpensive. You can research train times and costs using the Italian rail website. On some routes you'll need to change trains one or more times, so you'll need to be familiar with that. If you haven't travelled by train in Italy before, there are some potentially expensive caveats to be aware of. If you need more information on those post another note.

Hi Ken, we will arive back in Genoa midday 12th May and fly to the UK on the 16th for 7 day from Italy (flights not yet arranged), then back to Cape Town, South Africa.
We are not keen beach goers but wish to spend some of our short Italy stay seeing the best of the Cinque Terra villiages, if only a full day trip. We are keen to spend most time in the Tuscan counrty villiages using day tours.
Our first intention was to stay in Monterosso but I cannot find a tour Company which offers day trips through the Tuscan region. However, there are many companies offering day trips to the Cinque Terra and Tuscany from Florence.
Would we then be better off locating ourselves in the city of Florence or are there better options.
Many thanks for your consideration and help......Kevin

Our first intention was to stay in Monterosso but I cannot find a tour
Company which offers day trips through the Tuscan region.

That doesn't surprise me as the CT (which is in Liguria) is its own very major attraction so people don't really go there to day-trip Tuscany. If tripping Tuscany via tours is the goal, I'd stay in Florence...which is a marvelous city all by itself.

Personal preference, probably, but if you day-trip to the CT from Florence, I'd try to do it without a tour. Most of the villages are really small, and I think you can move about the crowds better independently than in a group. I agree with Ken, though, that the best idea is to spend a night so that you can enjoy the quieter hours when the day trippers leave.

You might go directly from Genoa to Monterosso on the 12th, spend the night and good chunk of the 13th (have your hotel store your bags) before proceeding to Florence. Spend the nights of the 13th, 14th and 15th there (you'd have two full days for sightseeing) before returning to the Genoa on the 16th. Or the other way around.

One caution, though? I'm not comfortable being some distance from the airport on day of an international departure so if it were me, I'd return to Genoa on the evening on the 15th.

Thank you for your very useful input. Yes, I certanly understand that CT is in the Liguria distict and afar from Tuscany however, our wish is really to accomplish both areas in the short space of time and with as little accomodation/suitcase moves as possible.

With all the information we have now gathered, is seems to make sense to head directly from Genoa on the 12th May to Florence. (We would consider as the best option using the Flixbus for this trip).

From Florence do a day trip to the CT and 1 or 2 trips into Tuscany.

We will the flight to the UK from Florence on the 16th May.

Any further comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A day trip to CT is like wolfing down an elegant 4 course meal in 30 mins. It’s meant to be savored, rather than blitzed.
I’d lobby against day tripping the CT. It’s not Disney world. Just my opinion. Sorry

A quick look at the trenitalia site shows that it's 2.5 - 3.5 hours each way between Florence and Montesrosso. That's 5-7 hours of one day just getting there and back. With stops for lunch and probably dinner, and waits at the train stations to get to the next village, you'll need jet propelled hiking boots to see all 5 villages in the remaining time. By the end of the day you'll be exhausted and it will just be a blur.

Best times of the day in CT are morning and evening - magical. If you day trip, your memory of the CT will be a sea of people elbow to elbow- especially if you hit a big cruise day. Best time of day there is around 4:30 pm - when the day trippers clear out.

A day trip to CT is like wolfing down an elegant 4 course meal in 30 mins. It’s meant to be savored, rather than blitzed.
I’d lobby against day tripping the CT. It’s not Disney world. Just my opinion. Sorry

My opinion as well and I'm not sorry.

There's some irony they will be finishing up a cruise and it is the cruise ship day trippers that have significantly degraded the CT experience.

Kevin,

Thanks for the additional information.

Another question.... is there any way you could add at least one day to the Italy portion of your trip, and one less in the U.K.? As flights are not yet arranged, that may be possible? With your present plans, you only have about three days to cover both the Cinque Terre and Tuscany, and (IMO) that will be a bit challenging (albeit not impossible).

Flixbus is certainly one option for getting around, but most of us here prefer the frequent and inexpensive trains.

If you want to maintain your original plan, this is one option you could consider....

• May 12 - arrive Genoa port - take Taxi to Genova Piazza Principe station and train to Firenze Santa Maria Novella station - given your arrival time of "midday", you may be able to connect with a departure at 13:47, arriving Florence at 18:07 (time 4H:20M, one change at La Spezia Centrale, second segment via Regionale so you must validate ticket prior to boarding train) - dinner and light touring in Florence.
• May 13 - take day tour of "Tuscany Country Villages" with local tour company, or take day trip on your own. I believe there are some tour companies listed in the Rick Steves Italy guidebook.
• May 14 - spend morning touring Florence - depart afternoon for Monterosso - you could consider a departure at 13:53, arriving Monterosso at 16:53 (time 3H:00M, one change at La Spezia Centrale, first segment via Regionale so ticket must be validated before boarding on the day of travel) - I'd suggest booking accommodations as soon as you have your Itinerary finalized as that area books up quickly at that time of year!
• May 15 - tour five Cinque Terre towns using the local trains or combination of train / ferry (depending on weather).
• May 16 - take train to Pisa Airport - one possibility is a train departing at 12:42, arriving Pisa Airport at 14:18 (time 1H:36M, 2 changes at La Spezia Centrale and Pisa Centrale) - Flight to London - one option is easyJet which offers flights to both London Luton and London Gatwick - at the moment, Luton flights are much cheaper - flights to Luton depart at 16:20 - if you decide to book with easyJet, be sure to read their terms and conditions carefully, especially related to luggage limits - those who book earliest get the best prices, but the cheapest tickets are non-refundable and non changeable so choose carefully.

There are of course numerous possibilities, and this is only one suggestion.

You can check guidebooks for hotel suggestions in Florence. I normally prefer hotels that are reasonably close to the rail station.

For hotels in Monterosso, you can choose between staying in the "old town" or the "new town" (both sides are easily walkable). If you need suggestions, post another note here. If you prefer to be closer to the rail station, it's in the "new town". I'd suggest spending at least one evening in the Cinque Terre, as the place can be mobbed by cruise ship passengers and bus tours in the day time. Having the quieter atmosphere in the evening allows for a much nicer visit there.

Good luck with your planning!

Hello Ken,
Thank you for your very concise suggested option for our trip.
We have taken your advise and extended our Italian leg by one day which has certainly given us an easier task of planning a convinient and comfortable itinerary for the 5 days.
We are in the process of finalising our plans based on your recommendation and hope to accomplish everything we set out to do.
Our sincere appreciation for all the positive and helpful information your have provided.
Sincerely Kevin and Cheryl

In reply to those few that seem to favor negative comment or the use of 'irony' to mock or convey contempt on such forums, my wife and I are avid cruiseship enthusiasts and during our 5 days (day trippers ???????) in the CT, Linguria and Tuscany area, we dont intend 'significantly degraded the CT experience'.

Kevin and Cheryl,

I'm pleased that the information was helpful.

I also wanted to mention that given your home location, I hope the authorities in your area are able to find some solution to the current dreadful water shortage.

Finally, I don't know if you have access to the Rick Steves guidebooks in your area, but wanted to mention that most of them are also available as E-books in several different formats (Kindle, iBooks, etc.). I've found that the E-books work reasonably well, although the maps are sometimes a bit hard to see on the "small screen". Here's a link of a Kindle book using the U.S. website for Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Rick-Steves-Italy-2018-ebook/dp/B06Y13Y2YP/ref=sr_1_2_twi_kin_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1517121378&sr=1-2&keywords=rick+steves+italy+kindle .

Another one that might be helpful is - https://www.amazon.com/Rick-Steves-Mediterranean-Cruise-Ports-ebook/dp/B01N44FPIG/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1517121418&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=rick+steves+meditteranean+cruise+kindle .

Good luck with your planning!

Hello again Ken,

We are a little away from the city of the CapeTown up the east coast in the small town of Mossel Bay. Thankfully we have good local water reserves in our surrounding dams and a small but effective desalination plant which was commisioned some years back to service the outlying PetroSA industry.
Cape Town city and surrounding areas are however in a very serious state of affairs and we can only hope and pray for some good rains within the next few weeks.

After much consideration we have decided to base ourselves in the old town centre of Lucca for the 5 days whilst in Italy (Hotel still to decided) as most of what we would like to see and do seems to be well within reach and quite accessable from there.

We have also explored the options of flights from Pisa as per your suggestion which is also very convinient as our preference was to arrive into Luton UK.

Thank you again for being extremely helpful and considerate of our travel plans and if I can ever assist you with anything in South Africa, it would be a real pleasure to reciprocate.

Sincerely, Kevin and Cheryl

we dont intend 'significantly degraded the CT experience'.

I know you don't, but the sheer increase in masses of tourist brought by cruise ships have caused a real problem in places like CT, Venice, Rome and Dubrovnik. Read: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/europe/venice-italy-tourist-invasion.html and www.traveller.com.au/go-home-overcrowding-causes-angry-backlash-against-tourists-in-europes-hottest-destinations-gxqlw5.

I understand that cruise ship passengers have as much right to enjoy the wonders of Europe as much as those who choose other modes of visiting. However, the crush of visitors is taking away much of the charm that attracted visitors in the first place (the irony part).

My wife and I choose a different type of travel. We have the luxury of visiting during the off season. In addition to the most popular cities, we also like to travel the back country not frequented as much by tourists.

Kevin and Cheryl,

"if I can ever assist you with anything in South Africa, it would be a real pleasure to reciprocate."

Thanks for the offer! No plans at present but I could get there eventually.