how to fit Cinque Terra in to itinerary

limar,

The easiest solution would be to visit the Cinque Terre at the end of the tour, as the travel time from Rome is less than from Venice. There are a few direct trains (no changes) every day from Roma Termini to La Spezia Centrale, with a travel time of about 3H:45M. When you arrive in La Spezia, you'll transfer to the local train for the short trip to whichever one of the five towns you'll be staying in.

The train from one of the Cinque Terra towns to Venice is about 5-6 hours making a long travel day. If you don't mind a long travel day I would do the Cinque Terra first. It's a good way to relax and hike off the jet lag in the beautiful towns before diving into the big cities and tours right away. If you haven't booked flights you can fly into a different airport like Milan or Genoa (connections only in Europe not from US) and train to the cinque terra. Then take a early train after a couple days for the trip to Venice. I did that trek in reverse going straight from Venice to Cinque Terra

My personal preference would be to go to Cinque Terre from Rome after the tour rather than before. I think after touring the 3 biggies a few days of rest in CT would be welcome before flying home. I would also recommend flying into Venice (if that's where you are flying to from US) early enough to have a whole day to wander around Venice and recoup from jetlag before starting the tour, then go to CT after the tour and fly home from Rome, Florence, Milan, Pisa, or even Bologna, whichever Italian airport gives you the best flights to your US destination.

Another vote for doing the Cinque Terre after Rome at the end of the tour. I also suggest you get to Venice ahead of time so that you spend a couple of nights before the tour starts. I think a lot of people underestimate the effects of a jet lag and how long it takes to adapt to the time difference. In my opinion you need to spend at least 1 night for each 3 hr difference in time zone.

If you fly Delta, it would be a good idea to fly to Venice (directly from JFK or ATL or via a Sky Team hub like CDG or AMS), then return from Pisa, which is close to the Cinque Terre. Pisa has a Delta flight from PSA To JFK 4 times a week from June through August and prices on that flight are often good. Of course you can also fly from Pisa to the US via Paris CDG.

You're on the right track with the advice above, and I'd especially agree with Roberto's version.

Thank you all for your valuable input. This is going to be our first Rick Steves tour and first trip to Europe.