First Trip to Italy

That sounds like a lovely trip! I did something similar two years ago, going the opposite direction but unfortunately did not have as long to stay (we spent four nights in Rome, two nights in Florence and two nights in Venice). It doesn't sound like you have too much planned to me.

Regarding the train tickets, I believe they are only good for the specific time purchased, but others may have newer, better information than I.

Your food budget sounds good. My travelling companions and I are thrifty travelers and do quite nicely on about 30-35 euros pp per day for food and snacks (we tend to indulge in dessert a couple of times a day when in Europe). Especially with having your breakfast covered by your hotel in Venice, 50 euros sounds very realistic.

Stick with what you got and continue researching the towns where you are going. Go to Monterosso and decide when you get there. Who knows it may rain or be cloudy that day.

Those trains Venice to Florence and Florence to Rome requiring a reservation and seat assignment are only good for that time and date. The regionale or regional trains are good for 4 hours and the prices never change.

Sounds like a very nice trip as your first tour of Italy. I would suggest a day trip to Cinque Terra from Florence. You can see a lot of Cinque Terra in a day because trains run through each village every hour and the villages are small and don't necessarily take very long to tour them. Start out early in the day. Five days in Florence is plenty so you can use one of those days to CT. Six days in Rome is also a very long time and I would suggest a day trip to Sorrento or Positano from Rome. They are both very scenic and worth the day trip. Your food budget is fine unless you are a big 3 meal a day person. You can find excellent meals in Italy that do not cost a fortune. Use Yelp to help you find some little out of the way places. Enjoy your trip.

Yeah the plan was to take a day trip to Cinque Terre from Florence. My sister wants to go to the beach, I am hoping the weather is nice enough to swim.

We stayed in Monterosso three nights and went to the beach one afternoon after hiking. Our hotel had a private section with beach chairs, etc so don’t recall dealing with crowds. It’s OK but visiting the other four nearby towns would be a much better use of your time there. The beach would not rank well against beaches in the US, just so your sister understands. It is not large either.

Does anyone have a recommended beach we could visit as a day trip. We don't have beaches where we live and the ones we travel do are not good for swimming, very very cold.

Venice:
Don't book a gondola ride ahead of time. When you're in Venice, you will be able to choose which gondolier you would like as you're walking around; it's not cheaper to purchase ahead of time.
Walk around in some of the neighborhoods away from San Marco - less tourists and half the fun of Venice is wandering! The Dorsoduro neighborhood is just across the Accademia Bridge.
If you're interested in classical arts, check out La Fenice to attend an opera & see the beautiful interior, or there's other music options in the city.
Take a vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal during the day & evening.

Florence: read RS (Rick Steves) book to find out how to avoid waiting in some long lines for the major art museums.
I would add a daytrip out to Siena. Take the bus which is handier than the train station location at Siena. Read about Siena in the RS book to find out why it's such an interesting town.

Rome:
Seeing Ostia Antica is another option.
I would recommend taking a daytrip to Orvieto - an hour by train. (As much as I love the larger cities in Italy, I really love the smaller ones, too, for many reasons.)

Enjoy your trip!

Tab,

My first suggestion (if you haven't already done so), would be to buy a copy of the RS Italy 2018 guidebook. That provides a lot of good information on things like transportation, hotels, restaurants and avoiding lines at the major sites.

"We are not able to book these until after December when the new timetables are posted."

The next schedule changes will take place on Sunday 10 December. However there will be another change in mid-June, which covers the time you'll be travelling. I doubt that you'll be able to buy tickets for mid-to-late June in December. You'll probably have better luck in about March or April. One of the easiest websites for buying tickets is www.trainline.eu. Once registered on the site, it's very user friendly, and they sell prices at the same price as the rail networks. NOTE that the discounted tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable once purchased.

A few more details about tickets..... It's only beneficial to buy advance tickets for the fast trains, as these are discounted. These trains have compulsory seat reservations, and tickets are specific to train, date and departure time. If you board the wrong train by mistake, you'll be subject to hefty fines! There's no benefit with advance purchase for Regionale trains, as these are always the same price. The "four hour rule" only applies to Regionale trains. If you buy these locally, you MUST validate them prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or risk hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot! The same applies to Metro or Bus tickets.

For travel on the high speed trains, note that you can use either Trenitalia or the competing Italo Treno rail network.

It is certainly possible to make a day trip from Florence to the Cinque Terre, but it will be a long day. Be sure to research the rail times as you wouldn't want to miss the last train back to Florence. Note that you will most likely have to make at least one (and maybe more) train changes on the trip. Typical changes occur at Pisa Centrale or La Spezia Centrale. That trip will probably involve a combination of Regionale and Express trains. You can easily buy your tickets the day of travel either at a user friendly Kiosk or at the staffed ticket office at Firenze SMN.

Monterosso may or may not be overly crowded on the day you're there. If there are no cruise ships in port, it should be manageable. Note that parts of the beaches in both the new town and old town are "pay-per-use". I don't think the charges are too high. You may want to plan for an early supper at one of the excellent restaurants in Monterosso, and then return to Florence in then evening. Cantina di Miky (close to the rail station) is a big favourite with many here.

Is your food budget €50 per person, per day? Breakfast will normally be provided at your hotel in the cost of the room, so you'll only need to be concerned with lunch and supper. You may want to do some research on "Italian dining" as meals are typically arranged in different courses *(primi, secondi, contorni, dolce, etc.). You may also encounter THIS.

Good luck with your planning!

Given the time it takes to get to the Cinque Terre from Florence and the fact that there are five towns to explore (though they are small and close together), the CT is not where I'd be looking for my beach experience. I'd rather use the limited time there to see the towns and do a bit of hiking.

Unfortunately, as not-a-beach-person myself, I cannot give you a specific personal recommendation for your desired beach time. However, there are beaches near Venice (the Lido) and Rome. There are options closer to Florence than the Cinque Terre, too.

I am a nay-sayer when it comes to the CT. We were there on a first weekend of June, and it was mind-bogglingly crowded. I can’t believe it will be less so late in June. Additionally, you are planning to go there as a day trip from Florence, which one poster has explained is complicated and time-consuming. Some weeks ago, there was a question here about beaches near Florence. If you must have a beach day, you can do a search and find the answers. Btw, the waters of the Mediterranean are not warm, especially in early summer.

Hi, FYI....Cinque Terre beachs aren't anything special. Very rocky both the beaches and the water. The water is beautiful and clean but CT isn't a beach destination. Nonetheless your itinerary is great. Allowing 50 Euro per person per day is doable. Most accommodations provide breakfast. I really enjoy restaurants . ...and typically allow 60 - 65 euro per day. Have a great time.
Lorieann

Instead of a day trip to the CInque Terre, how about a beach day while you are in Roma? You can take the train to Lido di Ostia just outside of Roma. Less travel time, classic Italian beach. You will have to rent chairs and an umbrella as is done in Italy.

I think you have a very sensible trip planned and will have time to do a lot in each location.

Ostia Antica is a good choice for an outing from Rome. It's an easy local train journey and a great ancient sight. It's quite near the sea (it was the ancient port of Rome), and I think others have said there's a beach there. 1/2 day at the ruins, 1/2 day at the beach = 1 good day out while in Rome.

Thanks everyone for the input. I'm glad to see I have a solid plan. We are staying in BNBs. Venice is a private room, the rest are private apartments which is why food is not included. I love to cook and will be making some of our own meals. We were orginally planning to go to a beach from Rome. Cinque terre was I'm idea as a surprise to my sister, as it is around her birthday, and wanted to do something special. She has talked about wanting to go there. I might have to make other arrangements or stick with cinque terre but not focus on the beach.