Guidance Needed for 13 Days in Italy: Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre

IF it were me I would spend an extra evening in Rome and one less in Florence. As far as hill towns go, if you don't have a car then Orvieto is about an hour by train from Rome on the way north towards Florence, and from Orvieto you can take the bus to Civita di bagnoregio for a day trip. From Orvieto you can take a train further north on your way to Florence and Chiusi Scalo and hop on the bus right outside the train station to Montepulciano. Definitely both Orvieto and Montepulciano are worth an overnight stay or two. The towns clear out of tourists in the evening and they are quite lovely. If, on the other hand you have a car, there are so many more possibilities.

Spend less time in Cinque Terre and more time in the Hill towns. The best plan of action would be to see Rome, then rent a car and spend about 4-5 nights at an agriturismo in the middle of Tuscany, return the car in La Spezia on your way to Cinque Terre, then finish in Florence. No need to split up florence at all.

Hello, Your plan looks fine. Since you don't have a car, the best choice is taking the train to Orvieto. While there, you could take a bus over to Civita for an added hill town experience. Orvieto is the perfect hill town in my opinion.

Hello
Why are you going to Florence, then CT, then back to Florence? You will loose precious time doing that. I would go from the hilltown directly to the CT and then via train to Florence.

Just chiming in with advice - but not particular advice...

Our first trip to Italy in 2000, we did Florence (which I didn't love), and then we rushed around and saw a million hill towns in a few days, different places each night with a stop on the way. Ended in Rome exhausted. Well needless to say, we really hated Italy. Really really did not like it at all.

Fast forward 14 years to this summer - we took the kids. A majority of our itinerary ended up in Italy the way the flights fell and things the kids wanted to see... both my husband and I were a bit (a lot) nervous - to be spending so much time in Italy since we both really did not like it last time. This time we did 3 nights Rome, 2 nights Lucca (day trip to Pisa), and ended with 3 nights in Venice. (We had also stopped a Cinque Terre and Pompeii from a cruise the week prior).

WOW what a difference! yes we are older now and perhaps better travelers, but two things I think made the trip - this time we really LOVED Italy. One, why we ever tried to rush around to the hill towns I will never know. We should have picked one and stayed a couple nights, maybe day tripped to another. So don't overdo that part by switching around every night - at least stay 2 nights.

And two, why in the world did we skip Venice!? That was amazing, we completely fell in love with that city (away from tourist areas!). You may feel differently though about Florence, just my opinion.

Happy travels!
Kim

Agree with Marie, go straight from hill town to CT then finish up in Florence so youre not doubling back. I followed a similar itinerary to yours last October but didnt stay in a hill town. Instead, after finishing in Rome, we based ourselves in Florence and on 2 separate days , visited Pisa/Lucca and Siena. Thats an option to think about because moving from hotel to hotel can eat up a half day which then eliminates sightseeing time!

You have gotten some great advice so far. Just to reinforce some ideas mentioned I would add more time in Rome, visit Orvieto since it is the easiest hill town to visit without a car, go from there to the Cinque Terre (even if you end up needing to pass through Florence to change trains) and then end your trip in Florence with some potential day trip ideas to locations such as Lucca. You can start getting more ideas about the rail connections using the information and links found on Rick's rail page.