Italy and Dolomites, Austria then Germany itinerary questions

If you just want to ride a train and see mountains, you can't do better than the Bernina Express. Practicality says skip Venice (1-day is a waste IMO), so go from Florence to Milan, then to Tirano to get the Bernina Express to Chur, then on to Innsbruck. Early May is really too early for the Dolomites as most of the lifts are not open yet.

Cinque Terre is a ways out of the way for only one night. Same with Venice.

The only way to avoid so many 1 nights is to: 1. Eliminate stops or 2: Extend your trip.

Dolomites cannot be seen by the main railway line Bolzano to Brenner and Innsbruck. The really scenic peaks are in the val Gardena area (or more remote valleys like Fassa and Badia, or Cortina) so they need a dedicated trip.
Innsbruck has its own peaks, you can even get to the top by cable car from the center; not as dramatic as Dolomites but quite respectable. Have a look to any Innsbruck photo (or look for Nordkette and Hafelekar) and you will understand.

If the Innsbruck-Mittenwald railway is not closed for works, you could go from Innsbruck to Munich via Garmisch; again, mountains are not Dolomite grade but quite scenic.

In this forum the Bernina railway is much loved, but for many persons is a long detour over local railways. Extremely scenic but not in your main itinerary.

Generally speaking you are spending too much time in travel. 1 night stays are good only for instagram purposes, and only if the weather is good.

Hello r.delton, and welcome to the forum,

Just a reminder that 2 nights in a location is only one full day with days of packing up, checking out, travel with luggage and checking back in and unpacking one either side. I never recommend staying anywhere for only 1 night - because it is not even a full day to visit someplace - unless it is for travel logistics like getting into town the night before a flight.

With that in mind it is 7-8 hours door to door from Cinque Terre to Venice. Visiting CT from somewhere in Tuscany and then transferring to Venice means at best an evening on the coast preceded and followed by exhausting travel days. In Salerno you will have a chance to spend a day at the Amalfi Coast which is largely the same coastal thing on a much larger scale so I don't see the experience of dinner in CT as being worth the two huge travel days. If you insist on an experience like that between Tuscany and Venice consider Lake Garda which is much more on the way to Venice from Florence without crossing the country. Verona is 1.5 hours from Florence and southern part of Lake Garda is minutes from Verona by train. You could spend an afternoon and evening on the lake and then are within 2 hours of Venice by train the next day.

And again you are in Venice for 1 night. I love Venice but rather than spend parts of two days there I would recommend Verona which is much closer to Bolzano on the train route or maybe two nights on the lake before heading to the mountains. Or move your CT night to Venice and spend at least 2 nights there. Venice is like nowhere else in the world and deserves some time.

In Salerno for 3 days I would do Pompeii, Paestum, Amalfi Coast and the Archaeological museum on one of the times through Naples. You add the Archaeological museum in Naples to a Paestum day but it would be a very long day.

If you want to do rural Tuscany you realistically need to rent a car. If you want to rent a car then many people take the fast train to Rome and then the local train to either Orvieto or Chiusi and rent a car from there since they are closer to countryside depending on where you want to go. If you don't want to deal with renting a car I would recommend staying Siena for a couple of nights and doing an organized wine tour from there.

I understand that you have a wishlist of things to see - everyone does - and especially coming from as far away as Australia you want to see it all. But to preserve your sanity and actually go home with memories of Italy and not "travel logistics and train stations of Italy" I think you need to make some hard choices.

Good luck,
=Tod

OOOOO hiredman has a lot of good ideas! Salerno especially, and DEFINITELY Lake Garda! If you do the Amalfi Coast, a lake would be a great waterside stay! I did an afternoon in Verona on the way to Lake Garda and it was great!

And just to reiterate, one night in Venice and CT (especially with the long travel) don't make sense......and that tip about Verona being on the train line makes it an easy choice :)