Florence or Lake Como area ?

There's not much evening action in the small towns, both at Lake Como and the Cinque Terre. For that, Florence would be much better. It you go to Lake Como by train, Varenna is the easiest town to stay in. For the CT you will find more activity in Monterosso, the largest town, than you will in the others.

That's your choice. However you should consider that early April may not be the type of weather where you'd like to spend time on a tiny village on the coast (or on a lake). That time of the year is the second rainiest (early nov. is the rainiest) and sometimes not that warm. If the weather happens to be funky, sidewalks will definitely roll up early, especially on a weekday, at both the Cinque Terre and Varenna (or Bellagio) on Lake Como. In terms of travel time from Milan via train, Varenna (lake Como) is 1 hr away (to the North); Florence is 1h+45min (High Speed) away to the south-east; Cinque Terre is 3 hours to the south of Milan (via Genoa). Since you seem to like lively places that don't roll up sidewalks, Florence never rolls up anything, regardless of weather. Although the metro area is over 1 million people, however the city itself is only 370,000 souls strong and the historic city center (inside the city walls), where tourists visit, is not much bigger than downtown Macon. The only difference might be those 10 million tourists who visit the city every year. Just don't pay attention to that detail. In your place, I'd go to Florence. Then, if the weather is nice, I'd go straight from Florence to Monterosso (Cinque Terre). By train, with one change in Pisa, you can be there in less than 2 + 1/2 hours. At the end of my Cinque Terre visit, I'd go back to Milan (if your flight home is from Milan). Basically, if you look at a map, it's a clockwise circle: MILAN-FLORENCE-MONTEROSSO-MILAN.

Christy, I agree with the previous reply. A "loop" from Milan > Florence > Cinque Terre would be a good choice. Of course, as also mentioned the weather could be a factor, and Florence will have more "inclement weather options" to choose from. Of the five towns in the C.T., Monterosso would be the best choice (IMHO). While there's not a lot to do in terms of Museums or night life, both sides of the town are busy well into the evening. The restaurants are usually packed and there are lots of people just wandering around to enjoy the ambience, looking in the shops, etc. There are often some good street entertainers at the entrance to the tunnel that separates the old and new towns. The first week of April will be the beginning of tourist season, so there may be lots of people there. I'd suggest pre-booking accommodations, and taking your chances on the weather. Happy travels!

Thanks guys! After I posted my question, I did some more research on this and other forums and kind of came to that conclusion too.. If it's not mush bigger than downtown Macon, whew... not too big of an area... Soaking up the ambeince is what we are all about. We are not interested in partying or clubs, just want to walk around and take it all in. Stop off every now and then for a nice glass of wine. I've been doing some hotel research... ever heard of the Orto De Medici in Florence? Seems to have good reviews on Trip Advisor. Still have to go down to Barnes and Noble and pick up Rick's 2013 Italy book, supposed to be out on the 7th. In Milan i'm looking at the Best Western City ( as one of you suggested, I think), Also looking at Hotel Berna... Familiar with that?

Lots of posters to this forum love Hotel Berna in Milan. Right down the block is Hotel Garda, which has great staff and service at a lower price (last summer they gave a discount for paying in cash, other hotels also do this). If you want a city with interesting ambience, you might consider Siena and take a daytrip to Florence (especially if you're not so interested in Florence's museums).

Varenna and the Cinque Terre are on my list of favorite European sites. For me, as I've traveled, sometimes the sequence in which I see a location has a bearing on how I perceive another well liked area. For me, it was better for me to see CT (Vernazza) first and then see Varenna. I also found I was a little disappointed with Lucca. Florence was interesting, but I found I enjoyed Milan just as well. My other thought is CT may not be as enjoyable in April as it could be in late May or June. We were lucky and visited Varenna at end of March and had nice warm weather. Regardless of your discesion , make sure you eventually see CT and Lago di Como/Varenna/Bellagio.

Jim, sorry you didn't like Lucca - I loved it! I stayed inside the old town and walked the 4-kilometers of walls. I was constantly surrounded by music from conservatories, studios (Puccini was born there), one of my great travel memories. I think the location of the hotel can have a lot to do with how much (or little) a visitor can enjoy a city.

I also really liked Lucca. We rented bikes to ride around town and the top of the wall. Very fun!