extra day in Florence or Venice

How many days will you be in Florence and Venice otherwise?

But it sounds like your real question is: Lucca or Verona?

We will have 3 1/2 days in Florence and 2 1/2 days in Venice.

Yes, I guess since we will also be going to Sienna, maybe it would be better to see Verona instead of Lucca. Also, would the route between Cinque Terre and Florence be considered a drive/ride through Tuscany?

With so few days in Venice, I'd add the night to Venice then, and plan an optional Verona day trip if you have time or feel like it.

It might be possible to stop in Lucca between the Cinque Terre and Florence (leave bags at train station). Many people do this with Pisa where it's probably easier (trains often go through or change in Pisa anyway).

Trudy,

It's a toss-up. My best advise is to research the day trips from each location and pick which ever appeals to you more.

From Venice - The Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza (30 minutes by fast train) is absolutely incredible and would still leave time to visit either Verona (40ish minutes past Vicenza) or Padua (15 minutes back towards Venice). Padua has some very beautiful churches and a fabulous square, Proto della Valle, which hosts a market a few days a week.

From Florence, Pisa and Lucca are very doable via the regional train. I would do Pisa as early in the morning as you could then hit the train for Lucca before the motor-coach crowds arrive. (They were the worst tourists I had ever encountered in my life!) Lucca was so much nicer and we really enjoyed strolling on top of the wall.

You really can't go wrong either way and you'll probably want to return on a future trip.

Thanks so much for the tips!

I’d spend the extra day in Venice.

My suggestion would be Venice. It takes a little while to get a handle on Venice, the bigger streets are full of water, the smaller streets are like a maze, and you will almost certainly get lost on more than a few occasioins. However, you can’t get too lost, as you are on an island.

Unless you've been to Florence before, I'd suggest you add a day there. If I read your posting correctly, you have 2.5 days in Venice with no day trips currently planned but only 1.5 days in Florence after allowing for your days trips to Siena and Cinque Terre (a long day trip). There's so much to see in Florence that I think an extra day there with no additional day trips might be the better choice.

Actually Sienna and Cinque Terre aren't included in the time in Florence. We have whole 3 1/2 days for Florence. Sorry I didn't make that clear.

Florence! (...IMHO).

Our family enjoyed our trip to Florence and that was the consensus when I asked which place would they want to go back and visit again

My thought is to have the extra day in Venice because you are far more likely, on a return trip to Italy, to be able to easily visit Florence again, but for Venice you have to make a special effort --- it's more challenging to get there transportation-wise and it's much more out-of-the way. Florence is an transportation hub.

My other thought is that both Florence and Venice are so very rich in things to do (I have spent 8 weeks total in one or the other and would spend more weeks in each if I could) that I would skip all day trips except the one to Siena. But, full disclosure, I have not yet been to the Cinque Terre or Verona. And I love medieval and Renaissance art and architecture.

But you'll have a wonderful time no matter what you decide to do!

Venice is my second favorite city in the world. And Verona is one of my favorite Italian towns. So I would add the day to Venice and once you are there, you can decide whether you want to stay in Venice or take a day trip to Verona. And if you really don't enjoy Venice, you can add a day trip to Padua too.

I have a related question that may also help the OP.
I am going on the BoI tour and am planning my free time. There are so many things I would love to see/do in Florence that I won't be able to get to, so I am making a list by priority.
For Venice, not so much. My plan for free time is "be in Venice". For those of you that voted for Venice will you share your favorite activities for the city? I am expecting some of the responses to be "be in Venice" , but would like to hear them.