Cinque Terre or Amalfi Coast or Venice for our Honeymoon in October?

Venice as a day trip maybe. It can be inefficient use of time to have to pack your bags get on train and check-in to another hotel.

Maybe to maximum time, and minimize travel, spending those extra two days in Rome would make sense???? Your other three options are going to take up a lot of time just getting there.

Congratulations.

I’ll vote for Venice merely because there isn’t anywhere else on the planet like it. Closer to Florence as well.

I’d also suggest fewer nights in Florence by adding 2 in Sienna.

A day trip to Venice by fast train would work for one day. Spend the balance of your time in Rome. It's a city worthy of 4 full days on the ground.

I loved Venice so much I wept. Rome was ok. Florence is the flower of the world. If you haven't made you plane reservations yet, try flying into Venice, stay on Lido, much easier to navigate and away from terrible crowds, then train or bus to Florence ,then train or bus to Rome, or reserve.. You HAVE to have your pic taken on a gondola on your honeymoon, so don't skip Venice. I hear it may be high tide at that time of the year and you may be wading in water, so check the blogs, as I have no first hand knowledge of Venice in Oct. Happy Honeymoon

Hi there and congratulations on your upcoming nuptials!

Question? When you say that you have two extra days, does that mean 2 nights? It makes a difference as far as the time you realistically have to work with/distance you'll want to go. Could you share your complete itinerary in actual dates?

I'd probably go with Venice: as little as 2 hours by fast train from Florence, and approx. 4 hours from Rome. Weather could be a crapshoot there too but rain wouldn't affect activities as much as it would in the C.T. The Amalfi Coast is too far for just 2 nights. That said....

...only two days (how many nights ?) for Rome? There is a LOT of ground to cover in that one so if it were me I'd consider loading all of your remaining time there so you can enjoy it at a less hectic honeymoon pace. 4 nights/3.5 days is what I personally consider the minimum just to start getting one's head around the Eternal City. I'd consider stealing a night from Florence, much as I love that city too. Let's see what your detailed itinerary looks like?

Amalfi Coast is the undisputed winner for a wonderful Honeymoon.

Hi Kathy, it would be 2 nights. We fly in early afternoon on the 15th and fly out in the morning on the 25th. We are in Florence from the 15th till the 21st and then Rome 23rd-25th. We could do more days in Rome as well but we wanted to try to explore one other place. Our hotel in Florence is already booked and it is too late to cancel so we can’t take off any days from Florence. We wanted longer there anyways since we wanted to take day trips to different areas of Tuscany.

None of the above--too much time in transit for such a brief stop. There are just so many options in between Florence and Rome--I would choose one to make the most of two days. If you prefer public transit only, explore the options along the train lines. Otherwise, rent a car and stop somewhere in the countryside or along the coast. congrats!

Late October can be cold and rainy. I'd avoid CT and Amalfi. Venice is well, Venice and if the weather doesn't cooperate there are things to do indoors.

Thanks for the additional clarity!
So you have an itinerary that might look like this:

10/15: Fly into Florence/partial day
10/16: Florence
10/17: Florence
10/18: Florence
10/19: Florence
10/20: Florence
10/21: Train to Venice (?) partial day
10/22: Venice (?)
10/23: Train to Rome/partial day
10/24: Rome
10/25: fly home from Rome

Understand that you're going to kill 1/2 day or more just about every time you transfer to a new location so the other benefit of just staying in Rome is that it would eliminate a time-consuming move. While I understand your desire to stay at a 3rd location, you might consider a day trip from Rome versus a short stay elsewhere? Orvieto or Ostia Antica? You can move more nimbly on day explorations when not hauling luggage, having to locate/get to a hotel, checking in and out, etc. If you got to Rome and decided you needed some down time instead of a day trip, you'd have some flexibility to do that. Just a thought.... :O)

If still determined to have that short stay somewhere, you could also choose to stay in Orvieto or Siena: both are between Florence and Rome.

Thanks for all the help! We are thinking maybe just staying an extra day in Florence and doing a day trip to either Venice or Siena from there. And then spend the rest of the time in Rome.

Any advice on whether we should do the day trip to Venice or Siena?

Sienna is closer, and lovely.

First of all, congratulations!

A few thoughts.....

• If you use Florence as a "home base", there are lots of possible day trips including Venice, Siena, Lucca, Pisa or even the Cinque Terre. That provides the advantage of only having to check into one hotel.
• The five towns of the Cinque Terre will probably be a bit "quiet" at that time of year, as that's getting close to the end of the tourist season. If the weather is good, you might consider a day trip just to have a look and see whether you might want to return for a longer visit in future. If you need tips on making that trip, post another note here.
• If you want to have a look at the Amalfi Coast area, you could take a day trip to Sorrento during your time in Rome. If you decide to do that, I'd suggest cutting one day from Florence as you have so little time in Rome. There are so many sites in Rome, the city deserves more than two or three days.
• In order to plan the most efficient sightseeing, I'd suggest packing along a copy of the RS Italy guidebook. That has a lot of great information regarding sightseeing, hotels, restaurants and how to obtain tickets and minimize queues at the various sites.

Hi Ken, a day trip to Cinque Terre sounds like a nice option too! Is that doable to do in a day?

I don't know as you need to add another day to Florence: you already have enough there for 3.5 days in the city + two day trips. Granted, there's a lot of see in that one if you're really into Renaissance art (I am) but 3.5 days would do 'er for a lot of folks. Hard to say without knowing where your interests lie?

Again, IMHO it's Rome that's being seriously stiffed here but, well, there's that interest thing again! :O)

Some of the CT can be done in a day - albeit you'd want to choose a dry, sunny one - but many of us tend to steer people away from day-tripping it due to the hordes of day-trippers that clog up the tiny villages. You would be late enough in the season that it might be a little less overrun. There is 1 morning and 1 evening train between La Spezia (where you'd change trains into the CT) and Florence that make that journey in the shortest amount of time. Can clue you in if you decide that's something you want to do.

Personally, I wouldn't try and do the Amalfi Coast as a day trip from Rome; save it for a future trip when you can give that region the time it demands.

I was in the Amalfi Coast at the end of October last year. We had a few glorious days, sunny, and then the weather changed, it rained and the boats were not running due to the big waves in the sea.

Like mentioned above, be ready for rainy days, but if you are lucky, you will have great weather minus the crowds.

Anyway you can fly into Venice, then go to Florence and then go to Rome? I would spend at least 2 nights in Venice. There is nothing like it.

Definitely Venice. Nothing is as romantic as Venice.

I wouldn't go near it in June, July or August, but October should be heavenly. Just you and the Venitians. I was there in December once!!! Take a boat trip to Burano for sure. Read some Donna Leon novels in the meantime.

Cinque Terra is wonderful, but better in summer. Haven't been to the Amalfi Coast, looks lovely, but that's a LOOOOONG trip for a short stay.

And re your posted itinerary: 1 day longer in Rome and 1 day longer in Venice, MINIMUM. In fact, if it was me, I'd reduce the cities to 2 rather than trying to do 3. If it was me, I'd do Florence and Venice (save Rome for your anniversary).

"Hi Ken, a day trip to Cinque Terre sounds like a nice option too! Is that doable to do in a day?"

Yes, absolutely! I know that as I've done it. I'd suggesting leaving reasonably early and returning in the evening in order to give yourself as much time as possible in the Cinque Terre. You can get to each of the towns easily using the frequent local trains (Cinque Terre Express). There's a departure from Firenze S.M. Novella at 08:28, arriving Riomaggiore at 11:02 and that's probably the one I'd use (I'm "cheap" and always like to take advantage of the "free" breakfast at the hotel).

I'd suggest starting in Riomaggiore, the most southerly town. While there you may want to buy a Cinque Terre Treno card so that you can freely move from one town to another without buying tickets each time.

Once you've had a look there, move onto the next town, Manarola. By that time, you'll probably be ready for lunch and there are lots of restaurants to choose from.

After lunch move on to Corniglia. The town is located high on a rock bluff so you'll either have to walk up a long stairway from the station, or better yet pay a few Euro for the shuttle van *(if you have the Cinque Terre Treno card, I believe that covers the shuttle). Walking down the steps to reach the station is much easier. Corniglia is fairly small so it probably won't take you long to see it.

After that take the train to the town featured in so many photos of the Cinque Terre, Vernazza. You may want to walk uphill to the viewing point to take the classic picture of the town and the harbour - https://images.app.goo.gl/T7DTrWnA31oo7GNEA .

Last but certainly not least, take the train to Monterosso. I'd suggest allotting more time here as the town has two parts, an "old town" and a "new town" so it will take longer to explore. The other reason for spending more time here is that it would be a great place to have a fine meal in one of the excellent local restaurants, perhaps a Pesto dish in the area where it was invented. Cantina di Miky is a big favourite with many here and it's a good choice as it's close to the station. They have a somewhat "compact" outdoor patio overlooking the ocean. There are lots of restaurants in Monterosso, so lots to choose from.

After supper and perhaps a glass (or two) of Limoncino, head to the station in Monterosso for the trip back to Florence. On the current schedules, there's a departure at 19:42 arriving Firenze S.M. Novella at 22:32. If you'd rather leave a bit earlier, there's a departure at 19:07, arriving Firenze S.M. Novella at 21:32. Verify those times at the time you'll be travelling, using the Trenitalia website.

The trains you'll be using will likely be a mix of Regionale / Intercity / Freccia. If you're buying tickets locally, it's important to remember that Regionale tickets MUST be validated prior to boarding the train on the day of travel. Failure to do so may result in hefty fines collected on the spot. Tickets for the other two types of train do not have to be validated, as they come with compulsory seat reservations and can ONLY be used on the one train listed on the ticket. If you board the wrong train by mistake, you'll be deemed to be travelling without valid reservations, and again hefty fines!

Hope this helps.