Hi everyone,
My husband and I are going to Italy for our honeymoon! We are arriving in Venice and flying out of Rome. Now, we also want to stay in Cinque Terre, Florence, and Siena. What is the best route? We will be taking the train, and I've looked everything up. But, what order should we see the cities so we minimize our travel time. I was thinking about starting in Venice-Cinque Terre-Florence-Siena-Rome, but as I'm looking on the map, it looks like I may be going back and forth alot.
Posted by
Napa, CA
3580 posts
You don't say how long you will be in Italy. You should have at least 10 days for your itinerary, and preferably longer. I think you will not be running around too much if you go: Venice, then a three hour train trip to Florence with a daytrip to Siena while staying in Florence, then a couple of hours on the train to Cinque Terre, followed by a four-hour train trip from La Spezia to Rome. You don't need railpasses, but may want to make buy train tickets and make reservations as soon as you arrive in Venice. You can find train schedules on www.trenitalia.it or www.raileurope.com. If you prefer to fly, you can probably find flights from Venice-Pisa which is close to Florence and Cinque Terre, then Pisa-Rome.
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
473 posts
I would include Cinque Terre only if you have more than 2 weeks. By eliminating Cinque Terre, you'll be able to better devote your time to the other 4 cities. FYI, raileurope.com offers only certain routes, so using trenitalia.it, the Italian rail system's website, will provide you with all of your options. Trenitalia seems to have redesigned their website so that there is no longer an English link on the main page. What you have to do is, in the "Biglietteria online" box on the left, enter your departure city in the "Da:" box, your arrival city in the "A:" box, and your date/time in the in the boxes the "Data di partenza:" label. Then click the "Invia" button. A new web browser will pop up which has an English link at the top. Also, Florence and Siena are only about 1.5 hours apart. You might want to think of staying in one of those cities and just take a day trip or two to the other city.
Posted by
Roswell, GA, USA
14 posts
My wife and I far prefer Siena to Florence. Florence is crowded anyway, and simply packed with tourists in summer. Siena is more serene with less tourist-trap restaurants and a better choice for overnight. Our humble opinion.