We are putting the finishing touches on our month-long family trip to Europe. We plan to spend 5 nights in Cinque Terre and Siena/FLorence area before heading over to Venice. So, here's my question...Which location should get the 3 nights? Cinque Terre or Siena/Florence area? (Note: We will be staying in Rome for 3 nights earlier in the vacation.)
Very grateful for your input,
Barb
An important thing to realize about the comparison of the two areas, CT and Florence/Siena, is that they are very different experiences. The CT is about being in small fishing villages and on trails with cliffs coming up out of the water, hiking and into nature kind of thing--no duomos, museums and galleries. Florence, on the other hand, is totally different than that. The Rough Guide says: "If one city could be said to encapsulate the essence of Italy it would be Florence....What makes this city pivotal to the culture not just of Italy but of all Europe is, of course, the Renaissance. Every eminent artistic figure... is represented here, in an unrivaled concentration of churches, galleries and museums." and sienna is a different experience from Florence, it has its share of great art and do almost but also blends in the magic of a larger Tuscan hill town.
Thank you Kent. We will be staying in an agriturismo outside of Orvieto for 3 nights prior to arriving in the Siena/Florence area. Our thought was to then stay 2 or 3 nights outside of Siena so that we could spend a day in Florence. Then, we would head up to Cinque Terre to enjoy that wonderful-sounding little area. Here's another question...should we just add 2 days to our agriturismo outside of Orvieto experience and then just head straight to Cinque Terre? Maybe we're trying to do too much? We totally get that we have to come back to Europe in the future because we cannot "do it all" this trip. What do you think?
The teenagers will love hiking the CT. Some hotels require a CT required a 3 night minium stay when we were planning our trip. If you do stay 3 nights you will have 2 full days for swimming and hiking CT.
Although I wasn't thrilled with lodging in Florence, you will need at least two busy days to cover the must sees. Get reservations for the Academia and Uffizi so you don't miss them.
I would spend the fewest nights possible that will give you two good touring days in Florence.
One day and night in Siena works pretty well.
An extra day or two in CT always works. My wife liked relaxing by the water and the kids were never bored feeding their pizza crumbs to the fish, birds and cats, jumping in the water and collecting shells at Monterosso beach. Everyone enjoyed hiking the trail and riding the milk run train through the tunnels and villages.
In CT, we didn't book a hotel. We negotiated for an apartment when we got there. It was October, not sure if you could plan for that in summer.
I think we will plan to spend the 3 nights in Cinque Terre, especially since we will be leaving on a very early early train the final morning to go to Venice. Thank you all very much for your replies. Now, to book accommodations...Yikes!
