decisions, decisions - tuscany or amalfi

Travel time to the Cinque Terre and Amalfi Coast is long. Since you only have 9 days, I'd recommend you not go somewhere that takes too long to get to-and-from.

Now, 9 days: is that 10 nights with nine full days of touring? It helps us to know how many nights you have since 9 days can mean 10 nights or as little as 7 if you are including your arrival and departure days

If it is truly 10 nights, I would add a night to Rome making it 4 nights, and then 3 nights each in Venice and Florence. 9 nights, I guess 3-3-3, although I think Rome gets rather short-changed. If you only have 8 nights, stick to just Venice and Rome.

In March the Cinque Terra could still be quite cool. Given your love of wine, I would choose Florence. There is so much to do in Florence and then if you wanted you could do a day tour into the Tuscan wine country. Or a cooking class. There are companies that will come and pick you up in Florence and drive you around to wineries and lunch and so on.

Nine days is not specific. Does it include the days of travel?
How many nights do you have on the ground? Nine? Eight?
Either way you probably don't have enough time for the Naples/Amalfi coast area. You need at least 4 nights to see that area. It is also logistically not located between your arrival airport (VCE) and your departure airport (FCO). Florence (Tuscany) is the most logical choice because it's located exactly half way between the two and you have to go through it anyhow.
Assuming you have 9 nights on the ground, you would want to spend 3 in Venice, 3 in Florence, 3 in Rome, at the very minimum.
With such a short stay you don't even have much time for the Cinque Terre either. The Cinque Terre are not in Tuscany, they are in Liguria, and they are not a short feat to reach. It's a 3 hour train ride from Florence.
The most logical itinerary to include the Cinque Terre would be:
Venice
Florence
Cinque Terre
Rome
However, since you need 3 nights in the big 3 cities, you don't have time for the Cinque Terre unless you prolong your vacation. In my opinion however, I'm not sure I would care to visit the Cinque Terre in March. The weather in March is a hit or miss and it is often too cool.

I was I a similar situation. I am going the end of September for 11 without travel days! I was very overwhelmed with where to go and train times. Finally I decided 3 in Rome plus day of arrival, 4 in Florence and 3 in Venice. I also wanted to go to Cinque Terre and Tuscany. I decided Cinque Terre was a lot of travel time for two days, and I'm going to do day trips from Florence to Tuscanny and Sienna.

You MUST spend the anniversary in Venice, period. So plan around that. Don't you have to be in arguably the most romantic city in the world on your anniversary?

A thought comes to mind, you mention your guilty pleasure of wine apparently equaling Tuscany. Well, sure, good wine in Tuscany but you can get all kinds of good wine anywhere in Italy, it doesn't have to be Tuscany. For example Barolo's, or Sagrantino's. Don't worry about wine, you will find it.

History is Rome, so hire a guide. I told our guide I wanted to see ancient, medieval, modern, and Christian Rome. We saw a lot in two days. Without a guide you might miss something. I recommend them.

So, keep to Venice, Rome, and Florence, then give yourself a couple of hours in the airport on the way home to plan your next visit to Italy as I am sure you will be back.

9 nights total. So 3-3-3? We will arrive Venice on tues the day before anniversary. As someone said I'm insisting on being in Venice on anniversary date.
I'm not worried about finding good wine in Italy but I thought Tuscany was a good area and the scenery is supposed to be wow! A family member who travels often mentioned I would like Verona. Should that be day trip from Venice or Florence?
I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. I wish we had more time but the real life must eventually be returned too.
I've seen several mentions of hiring private guide for Rome. Does RS do that?

I think you have too short a time to do everything you want so must compromise/prioritize
Since Venice and Rome are a sure thing you really should pick only 1 more location.

Tuscany is a large region offering what you like but not all in a 3 night stay, so would choose either a wine/hill town in the countryside, Florence or Cinque Terre. With travel time between your regions you really only have 2 full days with a 3 night stay. You could make Amalfi Coast work as well, again by compromising and not seeing everything in that region as you are a couple of days short on the trip to do that ; though ideally if doing that you could fly out of Naples instead of Rome.

If based out of Florence:
There are some out early back late day trip options to include a taste of one of the other 2 (Cinque Terre or Tuscany countryside/hill towns) while maintaining you base but will make your time very rushed so something to consider but may not be best. Many people stay in Florence for the logistics in addition to what the city offers just keep in mind you will be staying in 3 main cities which may not be the ideal vacation/atmosphere you want the whole time.

Skip Cinque Terra and Amalfi due to the weather. You won't enjoy it as much. i had to make a decision like that and gave up Florence for the Amafi Coadt, but it was still beach/warm weather. I devided it would give me an excuse to go back and do something new!

I would take away one of the nights from Venice or Florence and make Rome 4 nights. We loved Venice, but 2 nights was plenty for us. I could have stayed one moe night, but not if it meant taking away from Rome.

FYI: hubby=history, which he will get plenty of in Rome. Me=sights,
food, wine, some art and culture.

I would choose Florence for your 3rd base: loaded with history, fabulous Renaissance art, culture, food... Direct, fast-train service between Venice, Florence and Rome is frequent and easy, and will allow for more sightseeing time with less spent in transport. With 3 nights each, you'll only have 2.5 days in each after allowing for arrival and settling-in (Venice) and packing/transport/settling into the other two. You could do a day trip from Florence if you wish to (Lucca and Siena are favorites with posters who've done them) but we had 5 nights there without ever running out of things to do...and without running ourselves ragged.

Yes, all three are cities but they are very different cities with individual histories and architecture. Italy as a unified country is younger than the United States - only 150 years old or so - so heritage runs deep. Let's just say that while all three are in Italy, they are differently shaped and colored patchwork pieces of the quilt.

I know that many here on the forums are very fond of tours, and if those work for you, then that's what you should plan for. I'll just throw a different angle in as we've found Rome very easy to do on our own with some research and guidebook or two. You could also compromise and choose just a tour or two of the larger and/or more complex attractions and spend the rest of your time exploring on your own.

It's probably a personal preference but the last thing I'd want to do on an anniversary trip is spend full days on guided tours. We're not big on them anyway, to be fair, but an anniversary trip would be a special time for just the two of us enjoy being together without fixed schedules or all-day 'company.' That may or may not be the same for you but a consideration?

We're coming up to a 40th next year and are working out our next adventure abroad... just the two of us! :O)

You will love the Travestere Twighlight Tour is Rome...one of the highlights of our trip. Reserve quickly, they book up quickly.

http://www.eatingitalyfoodtours.com/rome/tours/twilight-trastevere/?gclid=CPT4t5DU584CFQataQodLBIHcQ

A family member who travels often mentioned I would like Verona. Should that be day trip from Venice or Florence?
I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. I wish we had more time but the real life must eventually be returned too.
I've seen several mentions of hiring private guide for Rome. Does RS do that?

• You barely have time for Venice. I would not add in Verona unless there is something you personally have always wanted to see but I don't sense that is the case. Venice is unique with history and charm and atmosphere.

• Ditto day-tripping from Florence. List out what you want to see in Florence and I think you will have 2 1/2 days full without day-tripping. But if you decide to venture out, don't go to Verona, go to the Tuscan countryside. You could take a tour with Roberto of Tours By Roberto for wine, history and scenery. Great day.

• In Rome I like to recommend a private guide for the Colosseo/Foro Romano/Palatino. Sonia Tavoletta ([email protected]) does a marvelous job.

3-3-3 will do. On your way home you can plan your next trip!

You can do 3-3-3, but it is hurried, IMO. Why not stick to Venice and Rome, saving Florence and Amalfi for your next trip? I say that even though Florence is my favorite location, so far, in Italy. You will get enough of a contrast between Venice and Rome. Add in day trips if you get bored (can't imagine). You will have 4 days in Venice and 4 days in Rome, which will allow you to feel like you know those places a bit, plus you will have the 1 relaxing transport/train day between the two. Why run around to different locales to see more, when there is so much to see in those two cities alone? Wray

I just got back from 16 days and we started in venice and ended in rome with stops at Florence, cinque terre and Tuscany in between. We loved Tuscany. stayed at a nice villa in trequanda and enjoyed every second we were there. although if staying in Tuscany a car is a must for exploring.

Venice for your anniversary, Rome for the history and then consider a smaller town in Tuscany to get a feel for the countryside and some lovely local wine. I think CT and Amalfi coast are both too far flung in the time you have. You can day trip in to Florence, see David/Uffizi and even the Duomo in a single day, then get back to relaxing in the country.

Hello,

I agree with the majority of the posts. You do not want to overplan and you would be surprised how much time and energy you lose traveling from place to place. In my opinion you could do two nights in florence and enjoy some sights OR maybe travel north of Venice to Dolomites and do some hiking and sight seeing. There are some fabulous Michelin star restaurants in that area and its about a 2 hour drive from Venice.

My husband and I LOVED florence and spent three full days there, we also enjoyed Rome very much and spent 4 days there which in my opinion was needed. They even have a Pratesi store (love their bags)

The food in Florence was probably the best for us and we adored the square where our hotel was located.......(close to the train station). Thats another plus for florence the train station s SUPER close to everything and is definitely walkable.

Be careful of the food in Rome. Pictures on the menu and people trying to usher you inside means DO NOT GO THERE. Look for places off the beaten path and ask MULTIPLE people for food help at hotel and definitely look up places and their reviews. Food was a real struggle for us in Rome and I would have to say we only liked maybe TWO-THREE places TOTAL our entire trip.........We walked far away from the Collesium going opposite from main area and found an adorable local lunch place which had fabulous food. Very italian and very local. Our waiter spoke no english and was very accommodating. Food was fabulous then again we had to walk away from the heart of the city to get this.

Although on our two previous trips we've featured Florence, we love it and it feels like home, if you insist on spending your anniversary in Venice and finishing in Rome, spend 1-2 nights either in Florence staying near the SMN train station, or bypassing Florence altogether and spending an overnight in Orvieto on the way to Rome. They're both on the Trenitalia line--Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast are not.

Recover from jetlag and spend 4 nights in Venice, then two hours to Florence, another two hours to Orvieto. Good thing about the latter is that when you leave you've only got another hour to Rome, although the Freccia train from Florence gets you to Roma Termini station in 90 minutes. As stated above, once you've got your dates/destinations pretty well set, 90 days out you can buy tickets online at Trenitalia at super discounts, at least half-price. It's worth it.

We'll be in Rome in early March as well, and hear that it's quite temperate, 40's and 50's for sure, better than a Midwest winter! But I'll still have my trusty ultra-light down jacket that folds up softball-size in my bag, however, just in case.

Rest assured you will get plenty of Italian wines wherever you land in Italy!

Trenitalia and Italo allow ticket purchase up to 120 days in advance.