Florence - Cinque Terre - Venice in 4 days?!

I would not attempt this plan:
Day 1 - See Florence (coming from where?) and sleep there
Day 2 - Train 2.5-3 hours to Cinque Terre and sleep there
Day 3 - Train 5 hours to Venice and sleep there
Day 4 - Train 4 hours to Rome and sleep there (or overnight train)
Day 5 - Catch airplane

Day-tripping to Cinque Terre requires just as much train travel time as staying overnight there. None of your distances are long enough to have an overnight train option, except Venice to Rome. I see no benefit to having a car since trains run frequently to all of these cities and parking is at a premium.

How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it.

If all you want is say that you've passed through those places, and place a check mark on your suitcase, you can even add a few more.

If you want to visit something in any of those locations, then it's not going to work too well.

Count the nights you have at your disposal, knowing that since your flight is Monday from Rome, you need to spend Sunday night (your last night) in Rome.

Ideally I would want to spend 2 nights in Venice, 3 in Florence, 2 in the Cinque Terre.
Since you probably don't have that kind of time, you need to cut something out.
I don't like to spend less than 2 days at the same hotel, because too much time goes into checking in/out and packing.

You could spend all your nights in Florence and day trip to places. Venice is 2 hours away by train. Cinque Terre is closer but it takes longer because of the train changes necessary to get there. There are however lots of places in Tuscany, that are within 1 hour (Siena, for example).

However from what I gather you seem to have only 3 nights available (Thu, Fri, Sat) and on Sun you need to sleep in Rome.
3 nights is only 2 full days (2.5 days if you count the half day of when you arrive), so in my opinion you barely have enough to visit Florence.

Consider spending the whole time in Venice or Florence. One or the other with perhaps just one short day trip from your city of choice. I'm afraid if you try to do it all in that short amount of time you will just wear yourselves out and not really enjoy it the way you should. Better to enjoy one place well than to have only a blur for memories.

Thanks for the advice so far!
We're flying in from Croatia (3 days in Dubrovnik and a day in Zagreb/Plitvice Lakes) into Rome at 9:30am on Wednesday. Rome was simply the easiest to book flights in and out of, I've already been to Rome and my friend plans on returning with her husband so we planned on seeing the main sights that afternoon/evening and getting a cheap room then head out early in the morning.

Original plan was stay in Florence for four nights (Thurs - Sun) and do day trips. I've had people tell me it's easy to see all one wants to see in Venice in a day. We had decided to cancel it all together, but in the off chance we don't ever make it back to Italy I'd hate to have had the opportunity and not gone.

I'm really up for anything - shortening the time in Rome if necessary and taking a train that afternoon somewhere even. Basically we have from 9:30 AM Wednesday to 3:05 PM Monday.

The overnight train from Rome to Venice might be a good option, we'd start in Venice and work our way to Cinque Terre then to Florence...

The day train from Roma to Venezia is only four hours, why spend a night on a train? You'll get into Venezia at 5:30 in the morning on the night train. In that case, perhaps it's better to daytrip from Firenze (2 hours by train).

That's a good point.

I've been trying to see if this would work...

Wednesday
Rome w/ 10:35PM overnight train to Venice w/ 5:20AM arrival
- Sunrise and able to explore a few hours without crowds
- Evening Train to Cinque Terre from Venice (rest from long day on long train ride)
- Overnight in Cinque Terre

Thursday
- Day and evening in Cinque Terre (recovering from Venice)

Friday
- Early train to Florence
- half day sightseeing and Overnight

Saturday
- Full day sightseeing Florence and overnight

Sunday
- late morning train to Rome to catch 3pm flight

is this insane?

I would NOT do a morning train from Florence to Rome on the day of my flight. Italy provides surprises, including strikes (most announce ahead, but I've encountered surprise strikes, although I don't know if surprise strikes are allowed for transportation), delays, and cancellations. Also, to make a 3:00 flight, you need to be at the airport by noon at the latest (earlier might be good on a Sunday). Plus you need to leave time for getting from Termini in Rome to the airport.

You may be less risk averse than I am, but think carefully about the consequences of missing your flight home.

Sherry- another good point.
The flight is actually back to Vienna where my sister lives which we'll do two more days before heading back to the US.

Why do you want to squeeze so much in? Personally, I do think it's crazy... Just pick one place and really enjoy it. Venice was so amazing, I can't imagine just a day trip... the awesome thing about Venice is the wandering around, no time on a day trip for that.

I think it is possible, of course, but not fun. I did a whirlwind Italy trip when I was in my late 20s and packed a ton of places into a few days and I hated it. Went back, with the kids, in early 40s, slowed down a bit, and LOVED Italy.

Spend less time on trains, and more time enjoying Italy.

Kim

You are already at the airport in Rome so just get another flight to Venice. Or, just eat the ticket you bought to Rome and fly to Venice from Croatia. Either way it probably won't cost much more than trains and transfers, will be easier and probably take less time. From there you can get a fast train to Florence. You don't have time for CT but a train to Orvieto would be easy and then to Rome the night before your flight out.

This is all too much for 4 days. Minimum you would need 7 nights (2 nights minimum in each location plus one in your departure city), although 10 or more would be ideal. Even a 2 night stay is barely an introduction to most places since you only get one full day to sightsee.

Dont do it! I didn't listen to the nice people on this board the first time I went to Italy when they told me I was trying to do too much. I went to 6 places in 12 nights, with 2 of those places being a 1 night stay. Did I have a great trip? Sure. Would it have been a lot better if I had slowed down the pace, oh yes! The one night stays were the places I wish I had lingered the most (Siena and Verona). I was exhausted by halfway thru the trip from all the rushing around trying to see everything. I wasted a lot of time on trains and buses, and not as much time enjoying the places I had come to see. I was so tired by the time I got to Rome that I really rather hated the place. My second trip to Italy was at a slower pace and was SO much better!

Me too - we ended in Rome as well and I thought it was horrid!!! :) This time when we spent more time, I loved it so much, dying to go back, so much we did not get to see!

Kim

I've researched a lot of the options for getting to Cinque Terre and it is a real beating on trains. I have not stayed overnight there, but I did do a day trip a couple of years ago. It is very beautiful, but if you are coming from the Split and other costal areas I would stick with the big cities. It is a place to go and relax, really, and enjoy the scenery and I just don't think it should dominate your schedule.

I would skip Cinque Terre and spend more time in Venice.
The sunrise and sunset in Venice is the best time, no crowds! But with time to wander you can loose the crowds at any time of day.

You could rent a car when you leave Venice and see Florence and Tuscany.
If you must see CT, drive to Monterossa and spend half a day on the beach and train to/from Venazza before driving back to near Florence, perhaps stay in Siena or Lucca.

You can then drive to the airport in Rome and return the car on Monday morning.

Enjoy the trip!

"

Wednesday
Rome w/ 10:35PM overnight train to Venice w/ 5:20AM arrival
- Sunrise and able to explore a few hours without crowds
- Evening Train to Cinque Terre from Venice (rest from long day on long train ride)
- Overnight in Cinque Terre

Thursday
- Day and evening in Cinque Terre (recovering from Venice)

Friday
- Early train to Florence
- half day sightseeing and Overnight

Saturday
- Full day sightseeing Florence and overnight

Sunday
- late morning train to Rome to catch 3pm flight

is this insane?

Why, yes it is!

" I've had people tell me it's easy to see all one wants to see in Venice in a day."

"Stop talking to those people--they haven't a clue."

Personally I spent 3 days in Venice and wished it had only been a day and a half. Although we enjoyed the city we really only wanted to scratch the surface. It was not a city we really wanted to explore in depth. (I realize this is horrifying to some on this forum..and trust me I feel sick when someone says they didn't enjoy Rome so please bear with me). I think Venice, like any city, can be explored the surface. Surface exploration may be all some travelers want/need and if that makes them happy that's great. Others really don't enjoy themselves or appreciate the city till they've had more time to really dive into all it has to offer. Depends on what interests you and the number of things you want to see.

Venice - the city itself can be seen by the public transport boats easily. If you want to see museums, church interiors or do much exploring beyond that you'll need additional time. Get the Rick Steve's guidebook on Venice and circle the items in the guidebook you "must see" If you have more than 3 items on that list you'll need more than a day to see it.

That all said - its way too easy to underestimate the amount of time it takes to get checked out from one hotel, arrive at the train station early, ride the train, find your new hotel and get checked in. Often this is as much as a half day lost each time and this process is exhausting from a mental standpoint. Might not be worth it to do so many changes if you have cities you could happily explore in more depth. Maximize the number of hours you spend sightseeing and enjoying places rather than the overall number of cities. With each city comes lots of time "wasted" relocating.

Everyone has their own likes and dislikes - Venice is my fav place I've been, and we have spent 9 or 10 nights there over 4 trips...and I could go back for a week and still not be bored. The best time (IMO) to be in Venice is early in the morning and late in the evening after the day-trippers have left. If you only go and land when the cruise shippers do, and only see the same things they are seeing with the same nutso crowds - you will hate it. The time and money wasted on trains would be enough to deter me from trying to do these 3 amazing spots in 4 days.

As an aside - my husband and I did and insane trip in 2010. We had 23 nights and made 12 stops...of those, 6 were 1 night stays (Strasbourg, Augsburg, Munich, and 3 spots in Switzerland). Never again. When I was looking at photos with my hubby, he didn't even recognize Munich...by the time we got there the evening before and had to leave mid-afternoon the next day, we had all of 8 hours to try and see that big huge city. The time and money we wasted on that trip would probably scare me now.

You can certainly do it if you want to tick off boxes, but you really should keep it to one, two if you really need to see two of the places...

Sparty,

Although it won't allow much time to see anything, your plans are feasible. You could arrange your Itinerary something like this.....

• Wednesday - depart Roma Termini at 06:50, arrive Venezia Santa Lucia at 10:35 (time 3H:45M); store bags at Deposito Bagagli and tour Venice; depart Venezia S.L. at 18:25, arrive Firenze SMN at 20:30 (time 2H:05M).
• Thursday - Florence, touring
• Friday - Florence touring in morning, afternoon train to Cinque Terre; depart Firenze SMN at 12:28, arrive Monterosso at 14:52 (time 2H:24M, 1 change at Pisa Centrale); you didn't specify WHICH of the five towns you wanted to stay in, so I used Monterosso in calculating travel times; in any case, I'd suggest getting a hotel booking SOON if you decide to do this!!!
• Saturday - Cinque Terre, touring
• Sunday - since your flight is within Europe, you should be able to manage checking-in two hours before your flight. HOWEVER, if there are any transportation delays, you may have a problem. One solution would be to use a departure from Monterosso at 07:35, arriving Roma Termni at 12:03 (time 4H:28M, 1 change at La Spezia Centrale); then connect with a 12:20 departure of the Leonardo Express to FCO, arriving 12:52. Buy your tickets in advance (ie: at the Monterosso) station, but don't forget to validate the Regionale train tickets prior to boarding on the day of travel. That leaves you about two hours to get to your flight, which is a bit "tight", but should be possible.

This suggestion is a more efficient route and minimizes travel times.

Buon Viaggio!

I appreciate everyone's input, these forums are such wealths of information!

I need to compare some of the suggestions to what I devised the other day, but this is what I'm thinking....

Wednesday, May 13
- 9:25 am fly into ROME
- 35 min train ride to main station (drop off bag in locker) from airport
- sightsee approx 10:30am - 7:30 PM
- 19:35 (get bag from locker) Train to Florence
- 21:06 arrival in FLORENCE main station (1.5 hr train ride)
- 1st Night in Florence

Thursday, May 14
- sightsee major stuff in florence (museums etc)
- 2nd Night in florence

Friday, May 15
- day trip to Cinque Terre
- 7:39 AM train from Firenze
- 9:08 AM Arrival in La Spezia
- Transfer to village
- hike south to north
- 20:41 train from Vernazza
- 23:50 arrival Firenze
- 3rd Night in Florence

Saturday, May 16
- sight see more in florence
- half day to wine country ?
- 4th Night in Florence

Sunday, May 17
- 7:30 AM train from Florence
- 10:18 AM arrival in Venice
- leave bag at train station locker
- See city
- Get bag from locker
- Overnight train back to ROME (5:30am arrival)

Monday, May 18
- 5:30 AM arrival in Rome
- Leave bag in train station
- see city while everyone is sleeping
- slow morning once crowds are out - coffee/people watch
- get bags from locker at train station
- 12 PM head to airport via train around
- 3 PM Flight out of Rome to Vienna
- 4:45 PM Arrival in Vienna
- Overnight in Vienna

My reasoning is as must a I hate to admit it, we really are just checking off Venice on our bucket list, we both plan on returning at some point and will 'experience' the culture more then should we have the opportunity. That being said I don't want it to be underwater or on my deathbed and know that I had originally had it on my itinerary and could have fit it in, but didn't so I could people watch in Florence. This is my seventh trip abroad and I have been fine seeing most cities in a weekend. Sure, spending three weeks in London would be amazing, but I can die happy having only 'scratched the surface'. My sister lives in Vienna, so this will not be my only trip to Italy. But this time around we're not trying to spend more than we have to see as much as we can. We can sleep when we're dead ;-)

Thank you again for all the tips! I'm eager to hear what everyone has to say about my itinerary :-/

Sparty,

One minor point to mention regarding your plan to "hike south to north" in the Cinque Terre. There's an extensive network of trails in the C.T. but most visitors want to hike the Sentiero Azzurro trails above the ocean. Those trails are routinely closed due to slide damage and at the present time, only the segment from Monterosso to Vernazza is open (which is the most challenging segment). This may change at any time, and other segments may be open at the time of your visit. You can still easily travel between the five towns using the frequent local trains.

Note that you'll need a Park Pass to hike the Sentiero Azzurro trails (but the pass is not required on the other trails which run higher up into the hills).

Just one more thing: Roma Termini doesn't have lockers, it's a staffed left-luggage room. You have allotted 5 minutes to retrieve your luggage and board your train. It cannot be done unless all the stars align and your departure track is outside the Deposito Bagagli.

Instead of staying in Florence for a 4th night on 16th, why not take an evening train to Venice so you can hit the ground running the morning of the only day you have there?