Have 10 days in May-June. Flying to Milan and heading straight to Cinque Terra (2-3 days) then to Lucca circling up to Verona before flying out of Milan. Queries: Can we do a day trip to Florence easily from Lucca or should we plan to go there overnight when we are ready to leave Lucca? (I know we should get Ufizzi tickets in advance so we need to decide what day we will be there) Is Luca a good base to do day trips to other towns? Should we cut Lucca short for Padua/Verona time? Is Sienna a better choice than Lucca? Considering the area we will be in, any suggestions for other towns to hike, bike, hang out in and relax. Any vineyard suggestions? Thank you!
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San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15164 posts
Well to visit Florence properly you need at least a couple of days. Lucca can be visited in less than a day. Lucca and Florence are only about 60km apart. I've never taken the train to Lucca (always drove car or motorbike), but it's only 45-50 min by car, so the train will be just a bit over that since they make stops. You can see the train schedule in the Trenitalia website.
I would visit Lucca (and Pisa too) for the day on the way from the Cinque Terre to Florence. Then at night I would head to Florence where I'd stay the night. Spend at least two or three nights in Florence so that you have at least a full day. Then from Florence you go to Verona. Verona itself can be visited in less than a day, but maybe you want to see the Opera in the Arena, in which case you need to spend at least one night because the Opera ends well past midnight/1am.