I am seeking advice for the Cinque Terre. Is two days enough? If I choose to stay three days, I'll have one less day for Tuscany. As of now I have 9 days for Tuscany (not including the 3 days for Florence). There are so many towns in Tuscany that I'd love to see. Please help me.
Posted by
WPB, FL & Firenze
3112 posts
Dennis - Do you have 2 full days (3 nights) or 1 full day (2 nights)? I like to have a day to hike and another day to just relax. Lots of people do Cinque Terre in 2 nights, but for me the 3rd night makes it more enjoyable. Understand your dilemna though - there are a lot of great towns in Tuscany. Public transit is doable, but it's only efficient between the larger towns. You'll get to see much more if you rent a car to tour the smaller hill towns.
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
Min 2 full days.I stayed 3 and it was relaxing.
Posted by
Gettysburg, PA
1589 posts
On our first trip there, we planned on 2 but changed the plan to stay one more night. What a treasure!
Posted by
Forest City, Iowa, USA
2 posts
We stayed for two days in 2004 and it wished we had at least one more. Staying three days in 2006 and doing so again in May.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
For travel time, it will take you 2.5hrs to get there if you travel from Florence (almost 8.0hrs from Venice) and 2.5hrs to get back to Florence. As above, I would suggest 2 full days. Another suggestion is to travel in the evening prior to the two days to get there. Spend two full days and two nights. At that point, you have the choice of leaving early in the evening of the second full day for Florence. Or, spend the 3rd night and leave early the next morning.
We saw all five towns, walked 3 of the 4 trails and took the ferry roundtrip from Monterosso to Portovenere in 2 full days. We left early in the AM after 3 nights for Venice that we really wanted to see. All of this worked out fine.
Posted by
Sheboygan, Wisc., USA
934 posts
I think it depends when you arrive.We try to get there by noon.That way we can explore the first town that day and have a complete day for the other four.For us plenty of time.2 nights and 1 full day.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
It depends on whether you need things to "do" or if you're content to just kick back and take it easy. I'm more of a "doer" so two nights was just right for us. One more day and I would have started to get antsy, I think.
Posted by
New Brunswick, NJ, USA
59 posts
We stayed 4 nights last year and it was perfect for our first time. If you want to hike between the towns, it gives you enough time to split the hikes up leisurely. I think you could choose 3 and still get enough in (that's what we're planning on this year), but I would stay more than 2 considering travel time will cut into those days.
It's amazing there- we saw Tuscany too, but the Cinque Terre was by far our favorite.