Italy for 12 nights

If you haven't purchased your airfare yet I would start by not flying round trip to Venice but rather fly 'open-jaws' into Venice and out of Rome. You'd waste most of a day of your precious 12 getting back to Venice to fly home. I also would probably leave Pompeii off of this trip. Sure, you can do it from Rome on a long day trip but, again, it would take a day away from your itinerary that you can't afford. Personally I would do Venice - 2 nights, Florence - 3 nights, Cinque Terre - 3 nights, Rome - 4 nights. Stop and do a short visit to Pisa on the way from Florence to Cinque Terre. The number of nights in Venice and Florence could be reversed based on what you and your family really want to see and do. I'm basing my answer on your traveling by train rather than rental car which, in my opinion, is not necessary (maybe even detrimental) for this type of itinerary.

Hi subba -
Yours is a many faceted question so I'll just start with the number of destinations you have? Yes, it's too many for 12 nights. Without having an idea of your particular interests or what sort of travelers you are, it's difficult to recommend what to drop but I'll just say that I've spent several weeks in Rome, over multiple trips, and that hasn't been nearly enough!

Your other difficulty is having to backtrack to Venice to fly home: open-jaw tickets which would have allowed you to fly from Rome would have saved you time and the cost of another train ticket. I assume you've booked your flights already?

The more locations you have, the more time - and money - you're going to expend in moving around. All the packing up, getting to train stations, getting to your next location, finding hotels, unpacking…it all eats up valuable time. Granted, you can easily do, say, Pisa, as a day trip from Florence but I'd remove Pompeii from the list as it's a very long day from Rome, and not worth eating up two you really don't have to stay overnight there. And do consider that you may lose most of your first day to a fog of jet lag.

With four of you, I might consider longer stays in apartment rentals than shorter ones in hotels with family rooms which can accommodate all of you. Also cutting back on destinations will help you stretch a tight budget. Buying train tickets (you'll want to do your traveling by train) for fastest, most direct lines to the major cities in advance will be helpful there as well but that can be gotten into in greater detail once you have your itinerary trimmed.

Thank you very much Kathy and Nancy. We are taking break journey in Italy and going to India from Venice. For some reason, I didn't get a good flight with reasonable layover from Rome to India. That is why I booked the trip from Boston - Venice - India - Boston. I will consider advice on removing Pompeii from our itinerary.

What is the best way to reach Cinque Terre from Venice or Florence?

Not sure what is 'best' to you, but to me it would be by train. From Venice it's about 5 hrs, with changes at Florence, Pisa, La Spezia, then to whatever town in CT you're planning to stay. You could fly from Venice to Pisa and then train from there but would probably be more expensive and don't think there would be any real time savings. For your itinerary I would go by train from Venice to Rome to Florence to CT and back to Venice. I really don't think you can do Pompeii without sacrificing time in Rome, CT, or Florence.

Another option, if you're open to it, is to drive from Venice to CT then to Florence, by way of Pisa. Drop car when you get to Florence, train to Rome and then back to Venice.

Go by train. From Venice, you'll likely transfer in Florence after about a 2-hour ride. From Florence, it's a little over 3 more hours to the C.T. towns. Assemble a picnic lunch before you depart Venice to eat on the train.

If you wind up skipping Pompeii this trip, there are lots of fascinating ancient Roman ruins in and around Rome, including Ostia Antica just to the west of Rome itself. When you do get to Pompeii, also consider seeing nearby Herculaneum, another city buried during the same eruption.

Thank you Nancy. Is driving safe in Italy? It is mostly highway from Venice to CT and via Pisa to Florence?

Thank you Cyn. Is there a train from Venice to Monterosso (Cinque Terre) on of the town in C.T.? How is the stay in Monterosso (Cinque Terre)?

Subba, I've not driven in Italy myself but many on here have and hopefully someone will chime in soon with particulars, especially Roberto.

As stated in my other post, train from Venice to Monterosso will be about 5-1/2 hours with stops at Florence, Pisa, La Spezia and then Monterosso.

I haven't stayed in Monterosso myself but I'm sure others will give you information about using this town as a base for CT versus the other towns.

Can any one suggest which town in CT would be convenient to stay? I am thinking to stay in Monterosso but I'm sure is the best place to stay versus the other towns.

Subba,

My mom & I stayed in Monterosso Al Mare a few years ago & enjoyed it very much.
Monterosso has a small sandy beach where as the other villages in Cinque Terre do not.

It's also the largest of the CT & therefore there are more restaurants, accommodations, etc.

You can also get to the other villages very easily & fast via train.

You may want to read this thread which has excellent info regarding the CT:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/how-to-explore-cinque-terre-where-is-a-good-home-base

Happy Planning!

Hi Subba- We've driven in Italy in Sicily, and on the mianland from the toe of "the boot" up to Naples, but not between Venice and C.T. The highways (Autostrade) are modern and safe. Don't speed, though, and ignore the Mercedes and Audis who do. You'll need to get an International Driver's Permit, available from your local AAA even if you're not a member, for each driver.

In come cities and towns, there are ZTL zones (marked with signs), where certain vehicles are restricted, including visitors in rental cars. Driving in a place you don't belong can result in a costly ticket. Also, some towns with narrow, winding streets and limited parking places can be a challenge, so it's helpful to rent the smallest, most nimble vehicle you can that will still hold all passengers and allow you to stow your luggage out-of-sight in the trunk or in the hatch, under the hatch cover panel.

Trains bound for C.T. pass thru La Spezia, and you head north from there from town #1 (Riomaggiore, where we stayed) to town #5, Monterosso. Rick Steves' favorite is #4, Vernazza. You can shuttle between the towns by train, or take a boat (we did in June, at least, not sure about May), or hike the trails that connect them (providing a particular section of trail isn't closed for maintenance or safety reasons).

Many of us recommend going strictly by train when an itinerary is heavy on cities. As Cyn pointed out, the no-drive zones (ZTL's) can be a confusing headache for tourists - not to mention an expensive one, if one blunders into them - and parking can be very expensive. As you're unlikely to want to drive that car once in the city, it's a waste to shell out the $$ just to park it. It's just a lot easier to take trains which can be jumped in the middle of one city, and jumped off right in the middle of the next. Cars are better for exploring places the trains don't go.

We've stayed in Monterosso and would do so again. As Priscilla mentioned, It has the largest amount of amenities and accommodations, and our hotel was easy, level walking distance from the train station. "Best" is a subjective term but that was best for us.

And yes, you can take a train from Venice to Monterosso but it won't be direct.: you'll change trains twice - in Florence and Pisa or Florence and La Spezia - depending on which one you wish to take.

Nancy's ordering of destinations (train from Venice to Rome to Florence to CT and back to Venice) is the one I would recommend as well.

You are sharing very helpful information. Thank you very much. I am searching train from Venice to CT in goeuro.com website and found a train from Venezia S. Lucia change in Milano Centrale and to Monterosso. But no one in this forum mentioned about this route. I don't know I am looking at the correct route or not. Please adivce.

Subba, you should use the website for the Italian train system to avoid the possibility of 3rd-party fees. That is Trenitalia:
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ddd1a035296f310VgnVCM1000005817f90aRCRD

You do need to input the Italian names of the stations. For instance, in Venice, that will be Venezia S. Lucia or Venezia Mestre, depending on where you end up staying. Florence will be Firenze S.M. Novella: the main train station. Rome will likely be Roma Termini: the main station for that city.

Another option - but only between the larger cities, is Italo:
http://www.italotreno.it/EN/Pages/default.aspx

These are newer Italian trains, and the site has offered very competitive rates. Some people find that site more user-friendly as well as you don't have to input stations in Italian. But again, that one is only for trains between Venice, Rome and Florence and wouldn't work for the CT or Pisa.

Yes, you could go through Milano to/from Venice to/from Monterosso but it takes longer.

Hi Subba,

Others are doing a very good job about answering your questions, so I will only chime in on a couple of things.

My husband and I stayed in Manarola on our honeymoon at a nice hotel. We enjoyed Manarola very much and would stay there again. I think Monterosso al Mare would also be lovely.

Not sure how you plan to structure your time in Rome, but there is supposed to be a great archaeological site just outside of Rome that you could research, called Ostia Antica. We wanted to see Pompeii and we ended up not having time for it on our trip. We ended up not having time for Ostia Antica either, but it came highly recommended to us from other RS forum users. You might want to check it out!

Happy travels

Great suggestion from Julie: Ostia Antica can be reached with a very inexpensive train ticket from Rome, and is an excellent substitute for Pompeii. Some travelers who've seen both have actually preferred that one. But your time is short, and there are oodles of ruins in Rome itself so you'll see plenty of those if you can't carve out a day to do it.

Subba,

I have not used the website that you are using to look up train schedules in Italy but I just looked up on trenitalia.com
& the main reason why others have recommended going to Monterosso from Venice via Florence/ Pisa, it's because this route takes 5 hours & 27 minutes vs. 6 hours & 52 minutes if you go Venice > Milano Centrale > Genova > Monterrosso.
Depending on when you leave Venice, there are trains that go to Monterosso via Milano Centrale that take 6 hours & 13 minutes.

Whichever route you choose, it will be a long day on the train so make sure you take a picnic with you!

Another thought? If you go the Florence to CT route - as suggested by Nancy - you could book a train to Pisa Centrale, stow your luggage at the station, and do your sightseeing. Then buy tickets at the station from there to Monterosso. Kinda kills two birds with one stone!

Actually, for this trip I wouldn't purchase train tickets in advance: just buy them in Florence the morning of your journey to Pisa. If it's a regionale train, you can't purchase them more than 7 days in advance anyway.

Subba- there's sometimes more than one way to get somewhere. We actually did the trip kind-of in reverse years ago, coming from Nice, France, changing trains in Milan, then continuing south to the C.T. From the C.T., we continued a few days later to Venice, again passing thru Milan.

Based on our experience, the Milan train station in early July might just be the single hottest place on the planet! :-(

Subba,

Another option:

• arrive in Venice then take high speed (freccia) train to Rome (3 hours 45 minutes)
• after visiting Rome, take another freccia train to Florence
• after visiting Florence, follow Kathy's advice:

" you could book a train to Pisa Centrale, stow your luggage at the station, and do your sightseeing. Then buy tickets at the station from there to Monterosso. Kinda kills two birds with one stone! "

Actually, you could buy your tickets in Florence to Monterosso then stop-over in Pisa for a couple of hours then go on to Monterosso since you have 6 hours from the time the ticket is validated to complete your trip!

...you have 6 hours from the time the ticket is validated to complete your trip!

Good point!

Subba,

Just to add another path..

1 Travel

2 Arrive Venice Alliguna boat to dock closest to lodging purchase @ airport dock 15E

3 Venice

4 Venice (9:25)-Florence (11:30) 2H05m 19,00E if purchased early

5 Florence

6 Florence (8:10)-Lucca (9:29) 1H19m 7,20E. Lucca (15:11)-Pisa S. Rossore (15:37) 26min. 3,40E
Pisa S. Rossore (18:19)-Florence (19:32) 1H13m 1 change Pisa Centrale

7 Florence (9:53)-La Spezia (12:20) 2H27m 12,90E La Spezia (12:54)-Monterosso (13:11) 17 min. 2,70E

8 Monterosso

9 Monterosso

10 Monterosso (7:35)-La Spezia (7:50) 15min 2,70E La Spezia (8:17)-Rome (12:03) 3H46m 19,00E

11 Rome

12 Rome

13 Rome

14 Fly

Use:

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ee13721bdd69a110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD

to look up tickets using Italian spelling for stations...Venezia S Lucia, Firenze SMN, La Spezia Centrale,

Roma Termini.

Purchasing tickets as early as possible, can save a substantial amount. If you have trouble purchasing on

Trenitalia, use http://www.italiarail.com/ a little more user friendly.

Have a great time