I need some planning help. I will be traveling to Italy in October 2019 for 10-days, flying in and out of Rome based on price. I was thinking of doing 3 nights in Rome and then traveling to Florence and staying there for the balance of the trip. From Florence I will be doing day-trips around the north to Venice, Pisa and Cinque Terre.
Thoughts????
So, 2 full days in Rome, depends on what you want to see. You can easily spend 4 full days there and not see it all.
Day trips out of Florence will be difficult with a car, easy with a train.. Venice isn't close and would be a long day. 5 Terre requires trains changes and Pisa is easy. I would add Siena to the day trip list, and, Lucca.
You have, I guess, 7 days in Florence. But, I would encourage you to be in Rome the night before you depart. It is just easier on you to get to the airport if you are already in town.
Personally, I would do more short stays in more places. I think minimum 3 full days in Rome, 2 full in Florence, 1 full CT (2 nights, arriving late for the fist night), and Sienna or Lucca, and the rest in Venice. But I would probably save Venice OR the CT for another trip and do one of them....
Before you do anything else, game out exactly how many full, usable days you would have there on the ground, not including the day you arrive nor the day you depart, no matter what time your flights might be.
When most people toss off the idea of a (what they call) "10 day trip" they mean 10 days from the time they close their front door at home until they return back there. For most of us, that really only gets you 7 full days in Europe. Seven days is far too short a trip IMHO, it's just not worth spending all the money to get there for such a short time, but that's your choice. In any case, be honest with yourself about how much time you really will have there - that helps you avoid making planning mistakes that can ruin a trip.
With so short a trip, you really have to minimize time wasted traveling between locations (and in fact, even getting out and back on a day trip).
October is a great month to be there! You have 9 nights, right?
Assuming you arrive early enough (i.e., before say 15:00), I would proceed immediately to Florence for 5 nights. There are some direct trains from FCO, otherwise, a change at Termini is easy. Five nights gives you four full days, so perhaps two days for Florence and two for day trips. I would stick to Siena and Lucca. Venice is too far for a day trip and the Cinque Terre requires at least two nights to make it worthwhile, IMO. Pisa is a snooze but can be combined with Lucca.
After Florence, back to Rome for your remaining nights (4?) before departure. No car required -- nor recommended -- for this itinerary.
If you really want to add the CT or Venice, I would go Florence 3 nights, Venice or the Cinque Terre 2 nights, Rome 4 nights, in that order.
You’re smart to not try to cover everything in this trip. I would definitely recommend heading to Florence for your first nights and then ending in Rome. (We’ve taken multiple trains to reach our farthest destination in inner Switzerland even though traveling from the West Coast; it’s worth it.). When you take the train to Venice, get up early so you arrive as early as possible, and take the next to the last train back. Siena is an easy bus ride from Florence and a wonderful town that we’ve enjoyed on multiple trips. (Google the history of Siena, so you know about the Palio history, etc.). The Duomo & baptistery are stunning, and sitting on the sloped Campo with a gelato is a must.
For your train rides, select the Freccia options on Trenitalia. They are more expensive, but time is more valuable on these trips. If you need to know Italian train station names, just put in your two endpoints in rome2rio.com and it will show them in the map view, I.e. Venice is Venezia S. Lucia to be on the islands.
Also, be sure to purchase the Rick Steves Italy book - lots of info to maximize your time, such as which museums to reserve ahead of time, highlights, mistakes to avoid, etc.
Enjoy your time in Italy!
Assuming you arrive early enough (i.e., before say 15:00), I would
proceed immediately to Florence for 5 nights.
Very good advice from Laurel as you're going to want to be in Rome the night before your departure so put it at the end of the trip. I'll also agree that just 2 full days isn't nearly enough for all that the Eternal City has to offer. I'd go with the suggestion of 5 nights in Florence - 2 days for the city itself and 2 for day trips - and 4 in Rome. You would have to eliminate one of your day excursions from Florence, and Venice is probably the one I'd save for a future trip. That said, if you hit a rainy stretch, I'd axe the Cinque Terre as that one isn't all that fun when it's wet.
Just to be clear, how many nights on the ground will you have in Italy?
