If I need to pick between Cinque terre and Amalfi Coast ? Help with tuscany

Personally, I'd try to fit in Pompei and Amalfi Coast ahead of Cinque Terre. But, Cinque Terre would likely be much easier to fit into your itinerary.

However, I would put Rome ahead of just about everything. If you've already been to Rome, then it's a different story. However, if you have not been to Rome, I would figure out how to get 3 nights there, even taking from Venice and Val Gardena.

Also, if you're only visiting Pisa for the Tower, you won't need more than a couple of hours....if that.

If you are doing Pisa, maybe Lucca or Siena could be a good place to spend the night. Do you have reservations in Positano? If not, may I suggest staying in Sorrento where you can catch a ferry to Capri and the Amalfi Coast (2 trips). Have you looked at a map and checked mileage to all these places? You will more than likely be losing a day of vacation for every day of travel (and checking in/out of hotels). I'd be tempted to skip the areas south of Rome, but that's my opinion.

Read this about driving in Italy and restrictions involved [ZTLs]; avoid leaving anything of value in a car when parked:

http://driventoit.blogspot.com/

I suggest you ditch the car upon arrival in Venice. Leaving, take the train to Napoli Centrale, then downstairs to Garibaldi for the commuter train to Sorrento.

And we leave this saturday , I am sure I sound lame for planning all
this late.

I won't call you the name that you called yourself but will admit that you are VERY late for trying to make a decision for arrangements within days of departure during high season. And it's uncertain how much time you've allowed for Rome. If only one night before departure, it's not nearly enough for that city unless you don't care about sightseeing it at all.

Very sorry but the abbreviated itinerary you've provided is too, er, too abbreviated to make sense of what you're trying to do. Based on seeing Pisa and guessing you are flying out of Rome, I'd say the Cinque Terre is your most logical choice. The Amalfi Coast is too far south to try and do on a tight, last-minute timeline.

That said, accommodations in the CT fill far in advance of high season so you don't want to just land in there without reservations. Get onto booking.com or another booking site and nail down whatever is still left in the region which meets your budget.

You are leaving in a couple of days and don't have reservations for several of the nights? I'm sorry but I think you are asking for trouble. It sounds like you have already booked your first 7 nights? And you have 4 more nights? I'd just go straight to Rome and stay there. For one thing you are more likely to find decent accommodations last minute there, but also you are just trying to do too much. And are you driving this whole trip? Have you got the car reserved? You don't want a car in Venice. I'd drop the car upon arriving in Venice, take the train to Rome. If you really love super fast travel then take the train to Florence or somewhere near there for a couple nights to see Pisa, then train on to Rome. Or forget Rome and just do somewhere near Cinque Terre/Pisa for three of those nights and spend the last night at the airport.

Or I could drive through Cinque terre the morning after we leave Venice and to Pisa

That is impossible.

If the Dolomites etc is still part of your trip then you need to drop Positano/Amalfi Coast and spend that time in CT or Rome. Unless you have already spent time in Rome, you have allocated way too little there.

Good luck finding lodgings

Hotels on booking.com. Good luck!

If I understand correctly, you leave Venice and have 4 nights until you need to be in Rome at the airport. Which is really 3 useful days.

And you are thinking of 2 options -
Option 1 - Day 1 drive 3 hours, spend 2 hours in Pisa, drive another hour to somewhere in CT, spend an hour or 2 there, then drive to a village in Tuscany (somewhere south of Florence). Day 2 in a Tuscan village. Day 3 drive 3 hours to Rome. Day 4 fly home.

Option 2 - Day 1 drive 6 hours to Positano, Day 2 Capri, Day 3 drive 3 hours to Rome. Day 4 fly home.

You can probably guess, that is way too hectic for me. It can be done but...... I would not consider driving in CT area or AC... AC is the outlier, save for next trip...

Perhaps consider something like this; Day 1 train 2 hours to Florence. Day 2 day trip by train 1 hour to Pisa and then 1.5 hours CT to see 1 or 2 of the towns. Day 3 train 1.5 hours to Rome. Day 4 fly home.

Or better yet, go directly to Rome and enjoy the eternal city for 3 days. There is plenty to do....

Thanks a lot for all the help :) . I have 7 days left after venice, its was actually 4 days after tuscany .

I do have a car rental for all days but yes I do plan on dropping it off at venice now and taking a new one from venice or florence till maybe rome. I do love sightseeing but I just had so less time and didndt want to skip places on my list .
Does it sound more doable if I skip pisa / tuscany altogether ? Cause amalfi or cinqueterre are high on my list and so is Capri. Also, we LOVE hiking .
I plan on finishing all my bookings tonight , I should have probably not done 3 nights in the dolomites but the possibility of good hikes kind of got to us . I have hotels booked upto venice ( the first 7 nights) . Thanks again.

Or I could drive through Cinque terre the morning after we leave
Venice and to Pisa

Arg, forgot to comment on this previously.... No, not a good plan. The CT is not a vehicle-friendly area. For people even planning to stay overnight in the region, it's often recommended that those with a vehicle leave it in La Spezia or Levanto and take the trains in.

You also do not want a vehicle in Florence OR Rome, and I personally wouldn't want to deal with one in the Amalfi Coast during high season either.

If you want to see any of Florence and the C.T. and any of Rome before flying home, skip the Amalfi Coast.

Well 7 days makes alot more sense!! I'd still call AC an outlier. And as others mentioned, it might be tough to get a room in CT or AC at this late hour. Maybe 4 nights in Florence with day trips to Pisa/CT, Tuscany/Siena. And finish up with 3 in Rome. But if you do choose AC, I'd forget everything else and just fast train from Venice to Naples, then slow train to Sorrento for 4 or 5 nights.. Then back to Rome.

Pisa is a very easy day trip from Florence, not the case with any of the Cinque Terre villages, requiring spending around 7 hours on trains and going to and from stations.

You can take the train from Florence to CT, and get off in Pisa for a few hours if you just want to see the tower. CT is a slow motion visit- you spend a lot of time walking to and through the 5 towns, waiting for trains, etc. It's not really an area you can 'drive through', or visit quickly, but it's worth the time. Or take the train from Pisa to Rome and just relax for your last couple of days..

Our OP left on their trip 6/9 so are already well into it. :O)

Travelfrk, after you get home it would be great if you got back to us with what you ended up doing and how that worked for you?