Cinque Terre or Siena

CT, no all the trails are not yet open....at least those that have damage and remain closed. If it's rainy, you should not attempt to hike the trails. End of March, could be rainy.

Question is --how long are you planning for the CT? If you are thinking of a day trip - which from your post it sounds like you are- then the CT is NOT a good idea. Siena on the other hand is a beautiful city and worth a nice day trip, or longer if you are planning on one night and 2 days.

We just need to know how long you want to be in either location, that will help us help you.

Cinque Terre and Siena are very different, so it depends upon your preferences. If you enjoy walking/hiking and experiencing the more rustic side of Italy, then Cinque Terre would be perfect. Siena is a more medieval town with fantastic architecture within the Tuscan region of Italy.

Myself and another traveler visited Cinque Terre last summer and loved it, but we didn't hike much. We walked around the towns and enjoyed experiencing the rustic villages.

taylor,

At the end of March, the Cinque Terre will just be "waking up" for the season so it should be relatively quiet there and devoid of the usual cruise ship mobs (hopefully). Were you planning to see the Cinque Terre as a day trip, or spend a few nights there? As another reply indicated, it's important to consider the weather on the day you'll be there, as the experience won't be as pleasant if it's pouring rain.

Thank you all for the replies!
We were planning on doing CT for 1.5 days. Our whole trip will be about 10 days. We are both young and enjoy the outdoors and hiking, so CT sounded like a good idea. From these responses, it seems like the weather could be a big issue. Do you think we need to have this planned well ahead of time, or we could decide last minute based on the weather?

We were originally thinking CT over Siena, because of how different it is from all the other Tuscan towns. We have been debating over the two itineraries below. We’re both in our twenties and are looking for a relaxing trip full of wineries and adventure. We enjoy history and culture, but don’t want to spend all our time in Church’s/ Museums.

Option 1:
Florence
CT
Chianti

Rome

Option 2:
Florence
Chianti
Siena/ San Gimignano
Rome

taylor,

At that time of year, you should be able to get away with a spontaneous trip to the Cinque Terre, based on the weather. There should be adequate vacancies. Three nights (two full touring days) would be better, but if you only have 1.5 days, I guess that will have to do. It will take the better part of half a day to get there from Florence, with 2-3 train changes. It's an easy trip.

The two segments of the Sentiero Azzurro trails that are currently open should be operating at that time (hopefully). Note that there's a charge for the Park Pass to hike those trails. You will of course have to decide which of the five towns to stay in. Will you be using Hotels or Hostels?

I'm with Ken, for two days you will be able to find all the trails you want, there are numerous trails of all levels of ability. We took the shuttle up from Monorola to Volastra and then hiked down to Corniglia, nice 2-3 hour walk with ups and downs. We also did Vernazza to Monterosso which took us 4 hours, we are slow and savored each trail! There are many trails for walking. But I totally agree with Ken, if it is raining the trails we walked would have been really really tuff due to slick rocks and mud, you have to keep your fingers crossed regarding rain. We went in October and on a rainy day walked the trail out to Portofino that handled the water pretty well, bu for me the CT trails would be a no go if it were raining.

I think the CT will give you a little more variety by adding the sea. I love being near the water at any time of the year and unless you are going to make a special trip back just to visit CT I would say go for it. If you have a little xtra time in Florence you could easily take the train to Siena for dinner one evening.

You could always do a day trip to Cinque Terre from Florence. I did this last summer with CAF Tours and thought it was wonderful although we didn't have enough time for walking the trails. I'm sure there are lots of other tours into CT from Florence that would allow you to walk around a bit more.

You could also do a day trip into Tuscany from Florence and visit San Gimignano and other hill towns. I did this last summer as well with "Fun in Tuscany" and it was great!! We went into the Chianti region of Tuscany and had at least 10 wine tastings from two wineries and visited San Gimignano for about an hour. Here is their website if you are interested: http://www.funintuscany.com/

Cinque Terra hands down!