Hello-
We are traveling as a family of 6 with 3 young adults and 1 teen. We have 14 days (not including flying in and out) and I have a few questions/am looking for suggestions. We are there last 10 days of June and first part of July.
Here is what we have so far
Venice (3 nights)- arriving late the first night
Cinque Terre 2 nights
Florence- 3 or 4 nights- do some day trips from Florence
Siena (either 1 night or skip and do a day trip)
We have 2 days and am thinking of going to Sorrento for 2 nights.
Rome- 3 nights-
Flying out of Rome
My question is— trains— I am having difficulty seeing train connections between Venice and Cinque Terre— is it because the schedules are not posted yet?
My second question— should we stay an extra night in Florence and take a day trip to Siena— should we skip Sorrento and do an extra day in Rome and/or Florence?
Thank you for your suggestions.
Posted by
Los Angeles
1101 posts
Re train to Cinque Terre - are you entering Venezia S Lucia as starting point and one of the CT villages, such as Monterosso, as the destination? For a sample schedule, on the Trenitalia website put in a date in the near future on the same day of the week that you intend to travel and be sure to specify a morning time - schedules won't change that much. Note that many of the routings take you through Florence, it might make more sense to go to Florence from Venice, then to CT from there.
Sorrento may be a bridge too far, given the time that you have - I'm sure many will weigh in... So train from CT to Rome - add days there - IMHO.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1057 posts
Hello ewertmolly, and welcome to the forum!
Just looking at your schedule I think you are trying to do too many locations with the number of days and the number of people that you have. Keep in mind 2 nights in a location is only one full day there and do not under estimate the amount of time getting 6 people packed, checked out and to the train station and then reversing that process is going to take out of your time on the ground. I would minimize how many times you do this.
Travelling from Venice to CT is crossing from the east coast to the west coast at almost the country's widest point. You will spend a minimum of 7 hours making this trip and I predict it will be more like 9+ hours from door to door. I think going Venice to Florence to CT to Rome is a better schedule with less back tracking. I also think that four destinations is going to be as many as I would recommend, especially given the size of your party.
You can search La Spezia when looking for train tickets since this is the jumping off point for the local CT train or ferry to help in your searches. Siena is well worth a day trip from Florence. I would only ever spend one night somewhere if required by travel logistics - like flying out the next day.
When your time on the ground is limited make sure you see what you want to see but also that you have the time to really enjoy, relax a little and experience the la dolce far niente and Italian culture you travelled all that way to see,
Hope that helps, making hard choices is part of the process. Have a great trip,
=Tod
Posted by
Washington DC
27812 posts
If you spend 2 or 3 nights in Florence, that's only 1 or 2 full days. That doesn't allow time for you to take "some day trips" from Florence. If you want to see both Florence and some of rural Tuscany, I think you need more time there, which really means skipping the Cinque Terre.
Most people go to Sorrento not so much in order to see Sorrento itself, but rather to take day trips to places like the Amalfi Coast, Capri, Herculaneum and Pompeii. I don't think 2 nights in Sorrento really gets you much of anything except time spent on a nice fast train to Naples and more time on a not-nice local train to Sorrento (unless you can time your trip to use the 4-times-a-day Campania Express). You'd spend a lot of time sitting on trains and have just one day to go to one of the places I've mentioned (or to both Pompeii + Herculaneum, but they can be seen from easier-to-reach Naples).
There's also the issue of having just 3 nights in Rome. Rome is a huge city with many and varied sights scattered over a considerable area. Three nights is two full days plus a few hours. That is nothing when you're in a city like Rome. I contend that the Sorrento time needs to be shifted to Rome.
Posted by
Greater Sacramento
602 posts
Dealing with similar questions for the Italy part of our upcoming summer trip. The Cinque Terre seems like a big outlier. With such a big group, a simplified travel logistics program will be helpful. Cut the loose ends which have diminishing returns and focus on the easier and yet very rewarding sites is our plan so far.