Into Venice, Out of Rome. 12 full days in October!

With the description of what you wish to see and 12 full days to do it, I offer the following suggested itinerary. Venice looks OK - a bit brief but OK. Travel to the CT will take 6.5hrs with about half the train runs going through Florence. Thus, you will be in the CT in the early afternoon of Oct 5. Spend 2 nights in the CT. In my opinion, you can really see most of the CT in a couple of days. Depart the CT on Oct 7 for Florence. Spend the afternoon of Oct 7 and all of Oct 8 in Florence. 2 nights in Florence. Depart Florence on Oct 9 for Siena (90 minutes on the train). Two nights in Siena (side visit by bus to nearby San Gimignano). Depart Siena on Oct 11 for Rome by train (3.5hrs) or SENA bus (www.sena.it). 3 nights in Rome.

Many great opinions on this site. I'm sure that you will get a few. Finally, I'm sure that this is a very special trip. However, as a lifetime traveler, there's no such thing as a trip of a lifetime. I still remember them all. In a couple of years, our journeys will often be centered around our grandchildren. We can't wait. It doesn't stop; it just gets different. Enjoy your trip.

Your itineray sounds good. If anything CT for 5 nights might be much- I would go Venice 3 nights to Florence 3 nights- with a side trip to Siena for a day by train, then to CT for 3 nights then Rome for 4 nights. Train to CT from Venice is approx 6.5 hrs with a change in Milano. You should buy Rick Steves Italy book to research hotels and Museum passes required in each area.Since you are going in October it might be a slower time for booking CT but I would do it soon to ensure accommodations. You could also take a chance and find a place in any city once you are there.However, I feel it is wasting valuable site-seeing time and relaxing with a glass of Vino and people watching. Keep watching the helpline for suggestions on accomdations and pricing as well.
Have fun on your trip.

We will have a similar trip in May ( no Sinque Terre): flying in Venice, flying out from Rome. After some stragle we decided not to go to Sinque Terre.
In Venice we spend 4 nights renting an a studio in Canaregio ( 95 Euros/night - Holiday Rental.com). Then we drive to an Agriturizmo near Siena where we will spend 4 nights with one day trip to Florence y bus or train. On the way to Rome we will drop the car in Orvieto and spend 4 days in Rome ( B&B from sleepinitaly.com)

Larry, You mention that most trains run from venice to CT through Florence. Does it make sense for us to go to Florence first then on to CT? Then to Siena from CT, or is there no direct from CT to siena?

The CT in October is not really at its best. I would do more time in Venice instead.

Michael,
What about CT in october is "not at its best"?

Amanda I think your trip sounds good. 2 nights in venice is not enough, but neither is 4 or 8 or 16 or 32. If you want to see Cinque Terre, see it. But like others have said, do assume you guys will be back - sooner than later! But I think 3 stops in 12 days is reasonable. You won't be moving tooooo fast, but you will still see a variety of things.

I'd also like to know why CT in October is "not at its best" - I am planning 3 nights there in the 2nd half of October this year. I skipped it on my first trip to Italy 2 years ago and there's no way I'm skipping it this time around!

Amanda, Just a note relating to CT in Oct. We were in Monterosso in mid Sept. with RS tour. Sunny, breezy and VERY crowded. Following our tour we spent an addition 2 weeks in Italy and returned to Vernazza for 2 nights, Oct 16 and 17. It was less crowded, sunny, hot during the day, less wind and cooler in the evening. Very relaxing to spend the sunset passegiata near a wine bar after the day trippers had left. It was one of our trip's WOW moments.
You'll love CT in October.
Sherry

Amanda, I don't think I said most trains route via Florence. I did say about half do. Most of the other half routes via Milan/Genoa. As for your question, it could be useful to go Venice => Florence => CT => Siena. You'll save a small bit of time. The train from CT to Siena doesn't route back through Florence. It routes via Empoli which is a bit NW of Florence. CLICK HERE to see a morning train schedule from Monterosso to Siena.

I just used a helpful little site suggested to me by Kent here on the helpline. http://www.wunderground.com/tripplanner/index.asp Weather in the Cinque Terre in beginning of October is between 60-70 degrees, warm and sunny. Sounds good to me! I'm going to be there a week earlier and this weather is still nice enough for me to lay on the beach!

Hello, if you are looking for an apartment in Rome, visit our site www.appartamentotuscolano.com.
Best regards
ALESSANDRO

Hi Amanda,

I think you are in CT too long. Also, just in my opinion, if you are going in October I might even suggest cutting CT out as it will be cold and the town is very quiet (VERY quiet) after the summer rush has left.

I also really wanted to visit the CT and stayed 4 days this past September, hiked the trail and then visited all of the shops and lounged on the beach the rest of the time as there is really nothing else to "do" or see. Although the scenery is all really lovely, I would have been more than content spending only 2 days there.

Are you skipping Florence because you are not into art/museums? I think that the museums, ruins and art really are the "big" things about Italy. There are some lovely places outside of Florence you might be interested in - great wine country visits, small old town (Siena for example), good food, etc you might want to consider?

This is what im thinking now given all the wonderful feedback!

Venice 3 nights 10/2-10/4
Florence 2 nights 10/5-10/6
CT 2 nights 10/7-10/8
Siena 2 nights 10/9-10/10
Rome 3 nights 10/11-10/13

Seems the train times are around
Venice to Florence = 3 hrs
Florence to CT = 4 hrs
CT to Siena = 4 hrs
Siena to Rome = 3 hrs

It does seem that CT is the more out of the way place on my itinerary. My good friend said that knowing me it is a place i must go!I think that early october weather will suit me just fine but I am having a hard time deciding whether to keep it.

Hi Amanda,

Siena is only an hour by bus from Florence, so you may want to re-think that order. Could you do Venice to CT, CT to Siena, Siena to Florence, Florence to Rome? (or Venice to CT, CT to Florence, bus from Florence to Siena, Siena to Rome) Does the train from La Spezia go to Siena?

It might be cheaper to skip a train in there as you can easily take the bus between Siena and Florence, I think its something like 10 euro.

For what it's worth, you can spend a nice day in the Cinque Terra on a day trip from a home base near Florence. There is a delightful town called Montecatini Terme on the rail line between Florence and Viareggio that we spent a week at last June when we toured Italy with Grand Circle Travel. From Montecatini we took the 8AM train to Monterosso (changes in Viareggio and La Spezia) arriving at 10:30. We wandered through the streets a little and then hiked the trail to Vernazza (you're young so you should be able to handle the steep parts). We had lunch in Vernazza up by the tower and then took the train to Manarola where we hiked the Via Dell'Amore trail to Riomaggiore (it's shorter and flatter). After strolling some more through the little streets we caught the 6:30 train back through Viareggio, returning at 9PM. It's a long day but you do get the flavor of three of these gorgeous little towns and some great views of the sea on the trail.

Florence, Pisa, the beach town of Viareggio, even Siena are all easy day trips by train from Montecatini. If you're going to travel Italy by train do your homework on trenitalia.com before you leave so that you'll know what the connections are and how long and how much it costs to get from a to b. Ciao!

Everybody has their own opinions on how much to try and see on a trip. I rarely stay less than a week at one place. There is so much to see and do in both Venice and Rome that I would just spend half your time in each city. Each change of venue will usually take the entire day.

To save money on lodging in Venice, Florence, & Rome we've used the Rick Steve's recommended website www.cross-pollinate.com. They list lots of B&B's for those cities. We've stayed in a couple of them in Rome & Venice. Much cheaper than hotels.

hello, if you are looking for an apartment in rome for few days, visit my website www.appartamentotuscolano.com and write me (info@appartamentotuscolano.com). Thanks. Alessandro