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Help with my 12 Nights in Italy Itinerary

Posted by on

Hello,

I am planning a trip to Italy with my mom this spring and was hoping for comments on the itinerary that I put together below. Neither of us have been to Italy before so we are looking to do the big 3 and then some time in the country side. We are both very active and love good food and wine and of course looking forward to having an authentic Italian experience. Any recommendations or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Rome - April 23rd through April 27th - Fly into Rome and spend 4 nights

Siena - April 27th through April 29th - Train from Rome - 3 nights. Is this too much? We thought we would do day trips around Tuscany. Hire a car yo give us a tour for a full food/wine experience. Any recommendations?

Florence - April 29th through May 2nd. 2 nights on either side of Cinque Terre. Train from Siena to Florence on April 29th

Cinque Terre - April 30th - 1 night in Vernazza or Riomaggiore, any suggestions? We want to hire the trail and see all 5 towns. Either train or Ferry to/from Florence - any suggestions?

Venice - May 2nd through May 5th - train from Florence

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have never been to Italy and created this itinerary from online research. Thanks

Posted by
28450 posts

I would go through a lot of contortions to avoid staying in Florence both before and after your time in the Cinque Terre. Checking in and out of hotels and carting luggage around: what a drag.

I think two of the four segments of the most commonly used trail running between the Cinque Terre towns have been closed for some time due to weather damage. It sounds as if they are not really expected to reopen this year. You can still see all the towns, but unless you are willing to climb up very high, you will probably need to do some of your traveling by train. There's also boat service (not to Corniglia, and note that Florence isn't coastal, so there are no ferries there), but I'm not sure that it's running so early in the season. You're talking about mid-spring, which might be rainy, so best not to count on long walks up in the hills. With luck, it will be fine.

Posted by
11839 posts

I would restructure the portion between Rome and Venice.

  • Cinque Terre, April 27-April 29 (2 nights)
  • Florence, April 29-May 2 (3 nights) with day trip Siena. It's really only 2 full days (April 30 and May 1, a holiday) so one for Florence and one for Siena OR a wine tour with Tours By Roberto.
  • Venice, May 2-5 (3 nights)

Rome to La Spezia is easy via high-speed train, then connect to Vernazza or Riomaggiore.

Posted by
86 posts

My humble opinion: I would completely skip Cinque Terra if you are only going to be there one night. Add the night to Florence, there is so much to see there. Siena is a good place to do some day trips in Tuscany, you could do many of the available tours or rent a car. Personally I would start my trip in Venice, that is a great place to shake off the jet lag and end in Rome.

Posted by
1245 posts

Agree with starting in Venice and leaving from Rome. Most flights from Venice to US are very early in the AM and it takes some time to get to the airport. If you arrive there first, it is a nice easy place to get over jet lag.

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