itinerary help

Posted by brigittebrierley on 04/05/18 01:38 AM

Hi, I am traveling with my husband to Italy for 13 days/nights (2 days of travel time not included). We are flying in and out of Rome...unfortunately I can't change my departure flight to another city. I'm looking for advice on the itinerary and transportation.

Option 1:
Rome- 3 days, 3 nights
Tuscany Region- 3 days, 3 nights
Cinque Terre- 2 days, 2 nights
Venice- 3 days, 3nights
Rome-2 days, 3 nights

Option 2:
Rome- 3 days, 3 nights
Cinque Terre- 2 days, 2 nights
Venice- 3 days, 3nights
Tuscany Region- 3 days, 3 nights
Rome-2 days, 3 nights

Also, do you think we could rent a car for our time spent in the Tuscany Region? Do we need a car in Cinque Terre?

Thank you!

Posted by Frances

San Diego

04/05/18 01:46 AM

1540 posts

No car is needed in Cinque Terre. ( Train or boat is the best/only way to get to each village.)
Question - what time of year are you going to Italy?
Which part of Tuscany do you plan to visit?

Posted by Jazz+Travels

Chicago

04/05/18 01:51 AM

8229 posts

Go with Option 1. Renting a car it is possible from Florence

Posted by amc027

04/05/18 02:20 AM

3 posts

I would rent a car for Tuscany. Also, I highly recommend spending an afternoon and night in Montepulciano while you're in Tuscany.

Unfortunately I haven't made it to Cinque Terre so I'm not sure I can weigh in on the 2 options. However, I would advocate for visiting Venice during the week because weekends are ridiculous.

Posted by acraven

Washington DC

04/05/18 02:58 AM

28450 posts

It's a significant time-waster to spend the night in Rome at both the beginning and end of your trip. You need to be there the night before you fly home, so the best plan is to put all of your Rome nights at the end of your trip. Plan to get to your first stop on your arrival day. Tuscany will be easier to reach than Cinque Terre, so I think I'd go with Option 1. However, since your arrival day will not provide much sightseeing time at all, and you are likely to be zombies, I would increase the Tuscany stop to 4 nights and make Rome 5 rather than 6 (all at the end of the trip).

It's usually not recommended by buy your arrival-day train tickets before arrival, because you can't be sure your flight will not be very late. Buying at Fiumicino means you don't have to worry about missing a train and having to buy more tickets. This will be more costly than buying way in advance, but those cheap advance-purchase tickets are non-exchangeable and non-refundable.

Posted by joe32F

Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂

04/05/18 05:35 AM

12044 posts

If you have an arrival in Rome in the AM, I would go to Venice first and work back toward Rome and have all the Rome days at the end.

Posted by acraven

Washington DC

04/05/18 04:42 PM

28450 posts

From a travel-time standpoint, it makes a great deal of sense to go all the way to Venice on arrival day, which is pretty useless for sightseeing anyway. However, a quick check of the Trenitalia website indicates that last-minute tickets to Venice can cost up to 125 euros per person (vs. 36 euros purchased way in advance), whereas the fare to Florence doesn't seem to exceed 47 euros (vs. 20 euros purchased way in advance). So there's a lot more excess money (up to 178 euros for two people) spent on a walk-up rail fare to Venice for Day 1.