Is 5 nights in the Cinque Terre too many?

IMHO, 5 nights in the CT is too many. You've seen everything in two full days. The remainder indeed could be time to relax. I would suggest adding the 2 days onto your stay in Florence. One day trip out of Florence would be a bus trip to Siena or San Gimignano. Another could be Cortona or Assisi.

KnitterMonkey,
(at first I read KritterMonkey, and thought, this person is REALLY into animals!)

Congratulations for your wedding, and what a wonderful trip for your honeymoon! So much depends on your personal interests in travel -- culture, history, art, food and wine, active outdoor hiking, driving or not, etc. -- but having recently visited all the Italian places you mention, I would suggest:

1. Spend three nights in CT, assuming you are there between May and October;
2. Skip Milano altogether.
3. Add the extra two nights either to Florence or another smaller town in Tuscany. In Tuscany you can either use Florence as a base and also take day tips to two or more smaller hill towns; or divide your nights between Florence and another town like Siena, San Gimignano, or another, still allowing additional day trips; or, maybe better for a honeymoon if you can make it work, spend the four nights in a lovely and relaxing agriturismo outside Florence, and drive from there to Florence and other towns. Others here can offer agriturismo suggestions, but the best ones probably require reservations well in advance. Good luck!

...but the more I read, the more that seems like too many
Knitter-I have noticed a sort of knee-jerk reaction by some, on this Forum and others, when people talk about the CT for more than 3-4 days. We spent three nights there, and we certainly could have been comfortable staying longer. Sometimes a lack of 'things to do' is just what we need. As James points out, it really is about what you want out of it. Five days in CT sounds great, but so does an extra day or two in Florence, or wherever. Note that with just two days in Florence, you'll want to take note of particular closing days for sights you may wish to see.
Have a great trip!
EDIT: I had not seen responses from the two Larry's when I posted, and don't mean to infer that they are part of a "knee-jerk" reaction at all, just my two cents;-))

Knitter,

First of all, congratulations!

Five nights in the Cinque Terre is not necessarily too long, but as the others have said that will depend on what your plans are for that area. As well as exploring the five towns, you could also take day trips to Porto Venere, Levanto, Portofino or Santa Margherita Ligure. If the Sentiero Azzurro trails are open, it would be easy to spend one day just hiking and exploring (although they can be done from one end to the other in about four hours if you're energetic). Finally as a location for a honeymoon, the C.T. is a great place to spend five days, just relaxing and enjoying the ambience (and of course some excellent food).

Which of the five towns are you planning to stay in and when will you be there? I'd HIGHLY recommend getting a hotel booked AS SOON as possible! I prefer to stay in Monterosso as it's the largest of the five towns, and also has the best beaches. However, if time is short you may have to take whatever is available. All of the towns are good, although Corniglia is less popular given it's location high on a rock bluff.

If you decide that five nights is too long, I'd suggest adding two nights in Florence and spend a bit more time there (two nights is really not enough for such a beautiful city), and also take a day trip (by Bus) from there to Siena.

Happy travels!

Given the places you want to see, I would take at least one night from Cinque Terre and add it to Florence. Not that five days (nights?) in Cinque Terre is too many, but two in Florence seems not enough. Especially if those two involve a Monday or Tuesday when major sights will be closed one of the two days.

We've spent 5 or 6 nights at a time in the CT and really enjoyed ourselves. We don't travel at a breakneck pace and try to see everything. We prefer to arrive somewhere and stay awhile, soaking up the atmosphere, walking, and just enjoying. The CT has plenty to see and do. Walking paths everywhere - we love the hikes from town to town. They aren't too far apart and offer fantastic food with a seaview at the end of the hike and a train ride back to wherever you came from - pretty ideal if you ask me. Especially for a relaxed honeymoon when the stress of the wedding is over and you just want to be together with the world left behind for a while. I vote for staying there!

I don't think 5 nights in the CT is too much...am I correct to assume that 5 nights equates to 4 full days? We spent 3 days there in 2009 & liked the CT so much that we returned for 5 days this past September and could easily return again! We only hiked part of one trail between towns but still managed to run out of time seeing everything we wanted. But, I'm thinking that you should probably take a day away from the CT and add it to Venice thereby spending 4 nights in Venice and 4 in the CT. There's an awful lot to see/do in Venice as well and since it's your first stop, you might be jet-lagged and not up to full speed for the first day or two so you might benefit from adding an extra day to Venice. If you decide to spend 5 nights in the CT and feel that you've seen enough of the CT towns after the first few days (which I doubt), then you could always spend the remaining days taking day trips to neighboring towns (Portovenere, Camogli, Portofino, etc.). Have a wonderful honeymoon.

I think on a honeymoon that 5 nights is not too many. After all, it is as much about enjoying each other in a beautiful location as it is 'sightseeing'. After a wedding you will need some down time. But, if you do take one night from CT I would add it to Florence, and maybe if you prefer the countryside over cities you might consider staying at a beautiful village in Tuscany and taking a day trip to Florence... all depends on what you like...city or countryside. I would not spend any time in Milan on this trip.

Yes, congratulations! I don't know how much you like to hike but you can easily eat up 4 or 5 days. In addition to hiking between the five villages, if the trails are open, you have many other options. There is a trail between Riomaggiore and Portovenere and one between Monterosso and Levanto. You can take the train to Camogli and hike to San Fruttuoso, have lunch and continue hiking to Portofino. Or take the boat from San Fruttuoso. Or you can hike all the way from Camogli to Santa Margherita. It's all beautiful.

Whatever you decide, have a great trip.