Italy Itinerary -- Cinque Terre, Venice, Rome, Florence

Hi there, Jordin -

They have traveled extensively domestically but never aboard and even
without any previous international travel, I think this is WAY too
much.

Yikes, Yes, you are spot on: trying to do Cinque Terre, Venice, Rome and Florence in 8 nights/7.5 days would be an exercise in exhaustion. They'd spend a whole lot of time checking in and out of hotels, sitting in trains/train stations, getting their bearings and not much else. I'll definitely say that they shouldn't do more than 3 locations, and cut the CT out. It'll be mobbed in June (actually, Rome, Florence and Venice will ALL be mobbed but there's more room to spread out) and it doesn't have "fast" train services. Getting from city to city as quickly and efficiently as possible will be important with limited time to work with.

2 nights anywhere = only 1 full day of sightseeing, and that 1 day could be the one the must-see museums are closed or it rains buckets (bad news if in the C.T.) So you're not being a Debbie Downer at all; you're being realistic!

I would think 3 nights in Rome, head to Florence for 3 nights (with a
day trip to CT), and end with 2 nights in Venice if they are dead set
on 8 nights.

Again, I think you're spot on. This is actually a little tight for Rome as I est. 4 nights/3.5 days minimum to scratch the surface there. Sure would be nice if they could find a ninth night and no, I wouldn't add the C.T. back into the mix if they did that, and no I would not do it as a day trip from Florence either. That would put them smack in the middle of the day-tripping hordes to those tiny villages.

Cost: depends on how they like to travel? Swank hotels or budget rooms? Lots of organized tours or mostly self-guided exploring? Dining in posh restaurants or economical cafes? Walk lots or take a lot of taxis?

Editing to add: trimming further to just two destinations isn't a bad idea either, although you could have a bigger fight on your hands to get them to do that! Rome for 4 nights; Florence for 4 nights with a day trip to Siena or Lucca. Or day trips to both if they're OK with limited sightseeing time in Florence itself. If having to fly both in and out of Rome, I'd go directly to Florence on arrival day and then end the trip in Rome.

jordinj, you are right; this is way too ambitious an itinerary. They need to choose no more than two places.

Urge them to sit down with a calendar and a list of the things they actually want to see and do. Have them fill the available days with the desired activities, noting how much time they would spend at each venue, how long it would take to get from one place to another, and add in blocks for meals, rests, and just enjoying being in Italy.

And be blunt about how much time is taken up by traveling from place to place, checking into and out of hotels, getting settled in...

A day trip to CT doesn't strike me as being very practical, either. If they do decide to do that, I think I'd suggest they spend most of that day on the ferry. For me, that's the best way to see the villages. (But I'm not really a CT fan, so disregard this if you are.)

The trip could probably be done for 6k, but like you, I'd budget more.

I agree with all of the above- way too much for just 8 nights.
At most- 3 locations- and that is even a lot for 8 nights but if that is all they've got I would do this:

Fly open jaw- this is a must to make the most of their time
Fly INTO Venice- 3 nights- lets them take a trip out to islands if they'd like.
Train to Florence- 2 nights- make sure this is not a Mon/Tues when some major sights are closed, no day trips
Train to Rome 3 Nights
Fly home from Rome.

I think 6k per couple for an 8 night trip is totally doable. We've done trips twice that long for that amount or less.
Book hotels early for better rates, purchase train tix early for discounted rates, etc.

ETA:
You might also have them take a look at RS tours.
Heart of Italy would give them Rome, Florence, Volterra and CT in 9 days/8 nights
Best of Venice, Florence, Rome in 10 days/9 nights if they can add a night.
Both affordable if you can find decent airfare and wouldn't be too far off their 6K budget
His tours are too fast paced for my liking but if they want to cover that much ground then being on a tour that handles all the details would be beneficial- less wasted time, etc

I wonder if that other couple is participating in the planning, and the wish list for this trip, or if they’re relying on you and your aunt and uncle to come up with the itinerary? Are they going to put additional expectations on the agenda, or will that all be agreed on easily?

Not that ours would be everyone’s “perfect” trip, but years ago, June 2001, and being maybe 10-15 years younger than them, we hit 2 of their 4 places, in 5 days It was a great trip nonetheless, one of our first to Europe in a long time, and set us up for more to come!

This was back when we were going more places, with less time in each place, on a trip. You fit in what you can, ‘cause you don’t know when you’ll get another chance. Rick Steves always says, “Assume you WILL return,” although you never really know what will happen in the future.

Anyway, having spent some time in France, and after a day and a night in Nice, we took the train to the CT. We just showed up, and snagged the last room in Riomaggiore, a triple for just the 2 of us. Sounds like there’s even more demand now, with more people visiting each of the 5 towns, Making lodging reservations would be helpful, especially with the 4 of them.

After 2 nights, we took the train to Venice, changing trains midway in Milan. That station seemed like the hottest place on earth that day. Arrived in Venice on June 21, the Summer Solstice, when much of Europe stays up late at night, with live music and celebrating going on throughout cities. We stayed 2 nights and 2 long days, and left fairly late the 3rd night, heading for home.

Got to Florence several years later, and have returned several times. Rome was a big trip near Christmastime, in 2012.

Denver had just started getting international flights from 3 airlines in the late 1990’s, so the competition led to lowish fares being offered. Now, would your aunt and uncle be looking at a flight out of Atlanta? Or elsewhere? Are there some options for getting a cheaper flight to Europe, hopefully one that doesn’t involve 2 or more connections, taking a long time to reach Italy?

Guidebooks, especially Rick Steves’, can give an idea of “must see” sights and activities, and the reasonable time needed. Prices too. Whatever they do, having gelato should be among their priorities! ☺️

Very respectfully but nearly 20 years after a well-intentioned poster's reported trip (tourist numbers have ballooned since then) there's no way I'd show up in the CT with 4 people and no reservations during high season. Making lodging reservations WELL in advance - and people are booking as much as a year in advance - is not just "helpful", it's essential these days. You do not want them to arrive with no locked-down place to stay. Still, with the limited amount of time your relatives and their friends have for this trip, this is the best one to cut of their too-many destinations.

Think about eight days, visiting New York, Washington, New Hampshire and Baltimore. Because that is what they want to do.

A CT day trip from Florence requires spending at least 7 hours on trains and going to and from stations.

A CT day trip from Florence requires spending at least 7 hours on
trains

If you take the once-a-day train which covers the distance from Firenze Campo di Marte to La Spezia in 1 hr. 43 min, and the other once-a-day train back, which takes 1 hr, 41 min., this can be done for less than 7 hours. This is not counting trains from L.S. into and around the region but aside from wait times, those take just a matter of minutes from point to point.

But I still don't personally recommend the CT for this particular time-challenged trip, and trains within the region will be jam packed with other day trippers in June.

Have them look at the RS Venice-Florence-Rome itinerary and have them decide what they want to see at each locale. Make sure they are aware a tour works on a brisk is the dedicated bus with door to door service and a guide who knows exactly where to go.

I suspect if they try to " do it all " they will come back unhappy (and probably blame you than admit they tried to swallow the elephant whole)

I agree with you that they are trying to do too much in 8 days.

A $6k Total budget hinges on getting a 'deal of the decade' airfare and not being particular in accomadations

Good luck

OK, if “helpful” wasn’t a forceful enough word, then I’ll stress that lodging should be pre-arranged and reserved for each stay on this prospective trip, whichever cities they may include. I mentioned that, even in 2001, we snagged the last room in that C.T. town, and were paying for a bigger room than we two needed. And now, the C.T. is a national park, and Venice is inundated by enormous cruise boatloads of people during the day, which wasn’t the case 18 years ago, so that has changed, too.

Depending on the foursome’s priorities, are all 4 locations “a must?” Then sights and activities in each would be more limited than if they had more time, or picked fewer places, but it’s doable, to say they’ve seen a bit of each. And there will be a lot of time spent in transit, with associated travel costs.

Or which is the least of their 4 priorities, and would that ultimately determine what to drop, if the other 3 (or 2) were non-negotiable? From a geographic standpoint, Venice is over on the east side of Italy (and north), and the other three are in the west. Rome’s furthest south, too, but they’re probably flying in and/or out of Rome anyway. Maybe concentrating on those western three (or two of the three) would give them the most return for their 8 days on the ground?

Timing - are they locked into June? It will be hot, humid, crowded and high season prices, though early June will be better than late June.

Itinerary - if Venice, Florence and Rome are non-negotiable, they should fly open-jaw, into Venice and out of Rome. It's much easier to arrive in Venice than to depart from there. Rome is about the same for arrivals and departures. Venice is low key, a good place to get over jetlag, instead of big, bustling Rome.

Budget - international airfare depends on factors no one here can predict. There are ways to hunt for lower fares. Maybe do some searching and/or start a separate thread for that in the Transportation section. Now is a good time to look for deals on hotels. Just be sure that reservations are fully cancellable before booking. Just for the helluvit, I tried expedia.com for open-jaw from Charleston for mid-June and got 1-stop flights for $1,524 and 2-stop flights for $1,253. If they buy no-refund,no-exchange train tickets when they go on sale, they can get tickets from Venice to Florence for about €35/pp and from Florence to Rome for less than €25. That's how you work out a budget. Figure out the known costs (hotels, trains, planes, entrance fees) and then you can estimate a food budget depending on how much they are willing to skimp or splurge.

Cyn makes a good point about possibly narrowing the field based on geographical location. Venice is the outlier from that standpoint. It will, however, take the about the same amount of time to/from there and Florence (via fast train, no changes) as it would to get to/from the CT and Florence (most likely with 1 train change in La Spezia).

Same with traveling between Venice and Rome versus CT and Rome: it would take very roughly the same amount of time BUT there are far more direct trains to/from Venice, if that makes a difference. To/from the CT will involve at least one train change in La Spezia + additional depending on desired departure/arrival times and price. Not a huge deal, maybe, but something to consider?