Itinerary and transportation

Cinque Terre is easy to get to by train from Florence, just a couple of train changes on the way. Since these are mostly regional trains, there is really no need to buy these in advance. To get to Rome, you can either return to Florence and take a high speed train to Rome, or a slower train along the coast. Siena can be done by bus from Florence.

I'd say 2 weeks would be good for Venice, Florence (with day trip to Siena), CT, Rome. Or Venice, Florence, Siena, other Tuscan town, Rome.

Yes, trains all the way, bus or rental car for Tuscan hill towns,

Is this a 1st trip to Italy?

What time of year?

Realize the RS tours have dedicated charter buses to move people from place to place, a luxury an independent traveler does not have. And in many cases trying to overcome that with a rental car is counter-productive.

Does the '2 weeks' include the arrival and departure day?

Depending on how many days you truly have will be crucial to how many destinations you can fit in vs cram in.

From the structure of your question I assume that you are using the RS tour itinerary as a guide to where to go. All of your sites can be done in two weeks, but 5 places (Venice, Florence, Siena, CT, Rome) in two weeks will be rushed given that travel takes up half a day at the time.

Use Viamichelin.com maps:

And Trenitalia for plotting out connections, trip durations, etc.

https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

Trains are easy enough.... You do have to be careful about the Italian spelling of the names of the towns, and some towns have more than one station but the RS guidebooks cover all those details.

Have a great time.

Thanks for the replies.

The two weeks does not include getting there. We’re actually gone 16 days.

We’re planning on going May 5th through the 21st.

Any thoughts on the order of locations? Keeping in mind travel between.

DerekD, do I understand correctly that you're proposing to follow the RS tour itinerary, not take the actual tour? When we took the tour we flew in four nights early, to Milan, and took the train to Varenna on Lake Como for three nights, then one night in Milan, and then on to Venice to start the tour. You could still fly into Milan or Florence and take the train to CT, its just the opposite direction from Venice, or end in Venice and fly out from there. All seems perfectly doable.

We went to France last year and did our own itinerary, but extensively used the guide book during the trip. We’re looking to do the same this time around. We know where we want to go, but logistically, we’re having some issues. My thought was to start in Venice, then go to the Cinque Terre then on to Florence and with a car travel through tuscany with a stop at Siena on the way to Rome. The issue I’m having with that is getting from Venice to the Cinque Terre in any kind of reasonable way. Or maybe I’m over thinking it.

The OP said, “The issue I’m having with that is getting from Venice to the Cinque Terre in any kind of reasonable way.”

It is pretty straightforward, train from Venezia SL via Bologna, Firenze etc, and will take about six hours. A few years ago, we did that trip, catching the first train out of Venice, arriving at CT in time to take a boat trip up the coast.

The issue I’m having with that is getting from Venice to the Cinque Terre in any kind of reasonable way. Or maybe I’m over thinking it

Looking at thetrainline.com, for random date in Oct, I see choices for a 1 change itinerary from Venice to either Monterosso al Mare or La Spezia Total time is 5-6 hrs depending on specific itinerary chosen. You are crossing the fat part of the country; accept that will be the primary activity that day. Dinner and sunset should make it worthwhile

My thought was to start in Venice, then go to the Cinque Terre then on
to Florence and with a car travel through Tuscany with a stop at Siena
on the way to Rome.

With 2 weeks to work with and 5 locations, I don't know as you have time to mess around with a car and rural Tuscany. I'd go Venice> Florence>Cinque Terre>Rome with a day trip to Siena from Florence, all by public transport. Understand that you're going to lose time with every move you make, and that you need to build in acclimation time for every new location. :O)

Hi Derek,

We did a similar tour last summer with friends and family (6 in total). We had 16 days total (2 of which were arrival and departure days). We traveled mainly by train, renting a car only to travel through Tuscany (staying about 20km outside Siena). While we enjoyed our trip, it just gave us a taste of each place.

Here are some things we learned in the process that may help you in your planning.

• Arriving in Venice: we arrived at 9:00 a.m. in the morning after a long, two-legged trip. I had rented an apartment and booked it so that I could check in the morning. It cost me an extra night, but it was worth it. If you can arrange an early check in without paying, even better. We also arranged for a private water taxi (it is expensive, but with a group of 6, more cost effective). There are other less expensive options to get in from the airport (vaparetto, for example).
• The trip from Venice to Cinque Terre is really long (the shortest train voyage is 5 hours and 30 minutes). I had had to do it over again, I would not have gone from Venice to Cinque Terre, but I would have gone to Florence and then gone to the Cinque Terre (fastest route is 2 hours 30 minutes).
• Because we took the route we did (Venice to Cinque Terre), we really only had 1.5 days (arriving late afternoon). This is long enough to get a taste of Cinque Terre only. The consensus of the group is that we would have preferred to stay 2.5 days.
• When you plan your trip, make sure you factor in travel time, the rule of thumb is you lose a half-day for every time you change locations (some even longer). Plot out your days using this guideline and then you can determine is the pace is too fast or just right.
• On transportation, in general, we had good luck on trains. We only had one significant delay and that was from Siena to Rome. The train was over 45 minutes late and it had a cascading effect on the connection to Rome. If I had to do it over again, I would have chosen a route with better connections so that when we missed the train, we didn't have to wait so long for the next train.
• Renting a car was really easy (always use Auto Europe when I rent in Europe). Had to get an International Drivers Permit in advance, but it was easy at AAA. Driving in Florence is a bit confusing, but we used WAZE and it kept us out of ZTL zones. Once you are in Tuscany (we were in Chianti most of the time), the roads were well marked and WAZE helped us navigate (even though our car came with navigation). The only challenge for us was parking, especially in Siena on market day with a huge vqn, everything else was very straight forward.

Hope this information helps.

Sandy

Sandy, that’s terrific information. Sounds like you did the trip we’re looking to do. Perhaps we could do Florence, the city, after Venice, then head to Cinque Terre and then straight to Siena for Tuscany and rent a car there. Thoughts on driving to Rome from tuscany?

Logistically this is the route I'd recommend:

Fly into Venice (best place to soak up the atmosphere while getting over jetlag)
Train to Florence. Day trip by train or bus to other Tuscan towns. Having a car for 2-3 days is mostly hassle, rarely efficient.
Train to the CT
Train to Rome

I was about to suggest something very similar to Chani. Go from Venice to Florence and immediately rent a car for your Siena and rural Tuscany time, then return for your stay in Florence dropping off the car upon arrival. Train to Cinque Terre and finally take the direct Freccia train from La Speiza to Rome. Another option for the middle of the trip would be to spend time in Florence, then pick up a rental car for the Siena and rural Tuscany portion and return the car in La Spezia. Either of those options would help reduce the long travel times between destinations.

Edit: If you only plan to visit Siena and not the Tuscan countryside, skip the rental car and take bus or train from Florence to Siena and train to Cinque Terre. If departing for Cinque Terre from Florence, there's a Freccia train at 7:28am from the Firenze Campo di Marte station that's the fastest train of the day to La Spezia, getting you there at 9:11am. Campo di Marte is the secondary train station in Florence, but it's easily, quickly and inexpensively reached by taxi from the historic center.

Hi Derek,

Chani's recommendation would give you the easiest in terms of transportation. We did not drive to Rome on our last trip, although that was an option. For us it was just easier to drop the car in Siena and then just take the train, especially since we were not planning to stop along the way.

PM me if you want any details on our itinerary.

Sandy

Hi Derek,

Try this slightly different path.

Day 1. Travel.

Day 2. Arrive Venice.

Day 3. Venice.

Day 4. Venice.

Day 5. Train Venice-Florence.

Day. 6. Florence.

Day 7. Florence.

Day 8. Train to Cinque Terre.
Fastest train is from Campo di Marte station
@ 7:28 2H19m.

Day. 9. Cinque Terre.

Day 10. Cinque Terre.

Day 11. Cinque Terre Express- La Spezia.
Pick up rental car. Drive to Tuscany.

Day 12. Tuscany.

Day 13. Tuscany.
Two options: 1. drop car in Chiusi & train to Rome.
2. Drive to Rome dropping car at Tiburtina station, short 10 minute taxi ride to central Rome.

Day 14. Rome.

Day 15. Rome.

Day 16. Travel.

If you prefer more nights in Rome, take a day from one of your other locations.
Or take an early evening train from Venice-Florence on day 4.