Cinque Terre vs. Venice, Capri vs. Paestum

My vote would be for Cinque Terre and Paestum. Venice needs more time.

I have been to Venice twice. Once staying 3 days, the other as a day trip from Verona. That was a very long day on the train. Unless you can take a high speed train, be prepared for a long trip! Venice is wonderful, magical, but best seen after the crowds are gone (evening) when you can hear Verdi's music is played by orchestras in the Piazza San Marco or while strolling past churches. Cinque Terre is also alot to see in a day, let alone all the way from Florence! It is also like no where else, certainly nothing like Venice at all. There is still closure of Vernazza due to the heavy rains and mud in the fall. I have heard that the other towns are mostly recovered. We stayed in Portovenere (just south) which you could access by rail, then took the boat which stopped at each town. If you don't want to travel all day, what about a day trip to either Siena or San Gimignano? Also, Lake Garda is supposed to be beautiful and not as far. Have you checked flights from Florence to Venice? Air Italy may have a great rate.

We are already spending one of our five days seeing Siena and San Gimignano - this will be our last day before heading to Rome. According to the Trenitalia web site, there is a train to Venice that takes two hours, which I think is pretty reasonable. We figured that we could take the early train and be in Venice by 10:00 AM, then wander around, eat lunch, see St. Mark's, and be back on the train by 5:00 in time for dinner in Florence. Our other option is to stay in Florence, we're just not sure if four full days would be too much time. (considering there are so many other things to see?)

Hi Nancy. Unless you are going back to Italy soon, I would definitely do either CT or Venice as opposed to 4 days in Florence. After two days in Florence, you will have a good feel for it, why not add somewhere else when you are so close? You are right, the train to Venice is easy. You could even stay there 'til 7pm and take your time, believe there is a 7:30 train back to Florence. However, note that in July, Venice in the day is likely to be hot; agree with others that you should consider an overnight in either CT or Venice; both are very nice in the evening. Enjoy your trip!

I agree that Venice would be closer, thus giving you more time to actually see more. Don't know what the travel time is to the cinque terre, but there is also the time involved getting to each individual town (waiting for the ferry or train etc.) My vote goes to Venice, but if you could stay a night, check out the Hotel Ai do Mori, a great value and location right off of St. Marks Square. We had the Artist's room, the patio was larger than the room! Only drawback was up the 3 flights of stairs with luggage in summer!

Cinque Terre needs the visitors, but due to your limited time, my vote is for Venice. However, 10am to 5 pm is not enough. You will be disappointed that you didn't give it more time. Why rush back to Florence? My advice...stay in Venice overnight. You will not regret it. The crowds are gone and you will get a much better appreciation for it. Relax, enjoy an outdoor restaurant for supper. Go back to Florence the next day.

We have already booked our apartment in Florence (and love it) and will be leaving for Rome the following morning - if we had decided this was an option earlier, we could have stayed the night, but at this point, staying overnight isn't a good option for us. We are thinking that seven hours is better than no hours!

My very first trip to Italy was an 8 day trip with my high school Latin class. We went to Venice as a day trip from Florence. I loved it. Loved every second of that really short time in Venice. It was so unlike any place I had ever been. So I might consider a day trip from Florence to Venice. Now, the fact that I was young and had never been anywhere probably made it that much more special, but I still love Venice. I'd choose Venice over the Cinque Terre, particularly since you are going to the Amalfi Coast which also has spectacular scenery. I've been to both Paestum and Capri and I liked both, but both are completely different. I'd probably choose Capri in order to enjoy the boat ride and because July will be hot and I think being on an island would be better weather-wise. But I'd probably wait until I arrived to make the final decision; on a rainy day, I'd choose Paestum over Capri.

The reason we are trying to make a Capri/Paestum decision now is that if we choose Paestum, I think we are going to need to hire a private driver. Transportation from Sorrento to Paestum via train/bus sounds complicated and time consuming (it will be our first full day in Italy).