Milan Venice Cinque Terre Florence

One full day is not enough for Cinque Terre.
It is easier to go Milan Cinque Terre Florence Venice time on the train wise
Maybe skip Milan go straight to Cinque Terre. You are trying too much. You will be exhausted lose time from all the train rides checking out of hotels.

i wouldn't attempt a day trip to Lake Como on your arrival day. Stay in Milan so that you can return to your hotel for a rest if jet lag catches up and save Lake Como for the second day. If you're flying back from Milan, you might even consider heading straight to Cinque Terre and saving Milan for the end of your trip, so straight to Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice and then Milan with day trip to Lake Como.

So this is our plan right now:
Milan 2 days
Venice 2 days
Cinque Terre 2 days
Florence 2 days
Siena 2 days
Assisi 1 day
Orvieto 1 day
Sorrento 3 days
Rome 3 days (fly back home)

Deleted my original post as OP was answering my question as I wrote it. Who says ESP isn't real?

IMHO, you have WAY too many 2-night stays on your itinerary. 2 nights = only 1 full day, and you're going to kill time dealing with transport, finding your hotels, checking in and out, packing and unpacking, getting your bearings...

You haven't told us about your interests but outside of Milan, only 1 day for the destinations you've listed so far - and we've no idea what destinations are encompassed in "and so on" - is not nearly enough depending on what you what to do and see in those places. Consider also that you're counting on weather to be perfect for those 1-day plans? That doesn't always happen. The museums you want to see in Florence may also not be open on the 1 day you're allowing for it.

You also haven't told us what time of year you'll be traveling? The CT has its challenges depending on when that will be.

Editing to add: based on a previous post, this trip will be in late June? Where do Naples and Rome fall into this itinerary? Other than 3 nights for Rome, where do your 2 nights in Siena fall, and how many nights did you plan for Naples?

Having just done many of those cities, your planned time in Florence is too short. Maybe take a day from Milan?

Cinque Terre is really crowded and 1 day is not enough especially when you might be struggling with lines for trains and tickets, etc.

We are travelling in mid-June. I've visited Italy before, so I don't need to spend too much time in Florence.
I'm following a plan AAA put in for us. What I really need help with is:

Milan, Venice Cinque Terre, Florence or

Milan Cinque Terre, Venice, Florence

I would appreciate your feedback. Thank you.

How about this?

Venice, Florence, CT, Milan

Is CT a must? If not, I would leave it for another trip because you really don't have enough time for each place.

Thank you so much for your suggestions. It's made me realize that I do need to re-think my itinerary. Thank you again.

Eighteen days, nine locations, so every second day approx is a travel day.
That is really fast paced.

ld,

I agree with Kathy, you have too many short duration stops in what appears to be an 18 day time frame. Does that time include your two flight days? The Itinerary that was suggested for you is "problematic", to put it mildly.

Although you've been to Italy before, unless you can increase the time frame, I'd suggest cutting a few stops from your list and staying slightly longer in some locations. Many on the forum suggest planning on the basis of nights in each stop, rather than days.

I would definitely not travel from Venice to the Cinque Terre (or vice versa). You're basically traveling right across the country from one coast to the other, and you'll be spending unnecessary time for travel.

A few thoughts on the locations you listed.....

• Milan - 2 nights in good but your arrival day is probably going to be a blur of airports, hotel check-in, and early dinner and bedtime. You could certainly take a day trip to Lago di Como (Varenna?) on your second day in Milan, although you may not be up to "full touring speed" yet.
• Cinque Terre - I'd suggest making this the next stop. There are direct Intercity trains from Milano Centrale to Monterosso, so that trip is very easy. Which town are you planning to stay in? Two nights will provide about 1.5 days for sightseeing.
• Florence - this is a fairly easy trip from the Cinque Terre, although at least one change-of-trains is usually required (depending on which train solution you choose). You might consider adding one night in Florence and visiting Siena as a day trip from Florence by Corse Rapide bus as it's a short trip. The advantage of travel by bus on that route is that you'll be dropped in the centre of town in Piazza Gramsci rather than the bottom of the hill where the rail station is located. This solution avoids wasting time with checking in & out of hotels, travel to Siena, etc. so it facilitates your ongoing journey.
• Venice - an easy trip from Florence via high speed rail.
• Rome - that's also a very easy trip via high speed rail (choose either Trenitalia or Italo, whichever you prefer). You might consider adding at least one night to Rome, as you could take day trips to both Orvieto and Assisi.
• Sorrento - three nights should be good. Have you researched the travel from Rome to Sorrento? You'll take the high speed trains from Rome to Napoli Centrale and then use either the Circumvesuviana or Campania Express.

If you make Sorrento your last stop, you might consider booking open jaw flights, and return from Naples rather than Rome. It's very easy to get from Sorrento to Naples airport using the Curreri Viaggi coaches (about €10 PP as I recall).

Good luck with your planning!

There's no efficient way to visit Milan, Venice, Cinque Terre and Florence and then head south. The only way to make it efficient is to drop either Venice or Cinque Terre. Personally I'd drop Cinque Terre since you're also planning time to visit the Amalfi Coast area. If you decide to include all of the above destinations, I suggest Milan, Venice, Cinque Terre (long train trip, I know), Siena, Florence and then Assisi, etc. Public transit options from Florence to Assisi are better than from Siena. I agree with others that your proposed itinerary involves spending a considerable amount of your valuable vacation time moving between locations and changing hotels, so I'm glad to see you're going to rethink it.

Yeah, the problem with both Venice and CT is that they are in opposite directions from Milan. I agree with Frank that since you are also doing the Amalfi Coast you could skip CT. That would give you 6 nights in the 'north' and only two destinations. I'd split it 3 and 3 especially if you want to consider a day trip from Milan to Lake Como. Or forget about Lake Como and spend just one day in Milan (get over jet lag, see highlights) and have 4 or 5 nights in Venice and then if you get bored (not likely) you can do day trips from there (Padua, or Vicenza or Verona).

I would also combine Florence and Siena - pick one and do the other as a day trip (by bus, easy).

Thank you so much for your suggestions. Made some adjustments to my schedule--what do you think? I've already booked my flights so I cannot make changes to that -- Flying to Milan /Returning from Rome

2 Nights- -Milan, Visit Lake Como
3 Nights-- Venice (too many days???)
4 Nights --Florence * (At the end of 4th day pick up car)
- Side trips to Pissa, Luca
- Siena
- maybe CQ day trip
2 Nights in Perugia/Assisi (Drive from Florence to this region and drive to Sorrento)
3 Nights -Drive to Sorrento ----Return car
4 Nights - Rome --Return by train from Naples to Rome
18 Days total.

I really appreciate your comments and suggestions. Thank you.

LB

What you have listed is 18 nights, so really only 17 DAYS to visit, and several involve significant amounts of time traveling.

You may have a happier result if you make Rome your southern most point

You may want to take the train from Perugia/Assisi to Sorrento. Travel time is about the same; the train would be much more relaxing. Car rental agencies (check to see which ones-we usually book through Auto Europe) are right at the Perugia train station, so it is easy to drop the car there and get on the train. Also, since you plan to drive, be sure to get an IDP for each driver from your local AAA office (costs about $25; you need a passport-style photo).

LB,

Given that you've already booked your tickets, that limits the flexibility to some extent. Would something like this work....

• Jun.15 - D1 - Flight to Italy
• Jun.16 - D2/N1 - Arrive Milan
• Jun.17 - D3/N2 - Day trip to Lake Como (which town on the lake are you planning to visit?)
• Jun.18 - D4/N1 - high speed train to Venezia SL (arrive mid-afternoon?)
• Jun.19 - D5/N2 - Venice, touring
• Jun.20 - D6/N3 - Venice, touring
• Jun.21 - D7/N1 - high speed train to Firenze SMN
• Jun.22 - D8/N2 - Florence, touring (given the limited time there, I'm not sure I'd bother with a day trip to Pisa; Lucca is worth visiting IMO)
• Jun.23 - D9/N3 - Day trip to Siena via Bus (be sure you note the return time of the bus so you don't get stranded there)
• Jun.24 - D10/N4 - Day trip to Cinque Terre? This is certainly possible from Florence but it will be a long day, depending on how much time you want to spend there. If you plan to briefly see each of the five towns, I'd suggest making Monterosso the last stop. Have a fine meal at one of the restaurants there and then return to Florence by train.
• Jun.25 - D11/N1 - Florence, morning; pick up rental car for drive to Perugia / Assisi. Check with others on the forum for information on the best rental location for avoiding ZTL areas as you exit Florence.
• Jun.26 - D12/N2 - Perugia / Assisi
• Jun.27 - D13/N1 - Drive to Sorrento
• Jun.28 - D14/N2 - Sorrento
• Jun.29 - D15/N3 - Sorrento
• Jun.30 - D16/N1 - Return car in Naples, high speed train to Rome
• Jul.01 - D17/N2 - Rome, touring
• Jul.02 - D18/N3 - Rome touring (day trip to Orvieto?)
• Jul.03 - D19/N4 - Rome, touring
• Jul.04 - D20 - Flight home

Is this close to what you had in mind? You could consider skipping the two nights in Assisi, as it would be easy to add one night in Rome and do that as a day trip. There are many ways this could be structured, and this is only one suggestion.

Given the time of year you'll be driving along the Amalfi Coast, traffic will likely be somewhat busy and hectic. Others on the forum can provide more information on that point.

I assume you're aware of the rules for using public transit in Italy?

When planning trips in Italy, it's always nice to keep the "slow travel" concept in mind..... fewer destinations and spending more quality time in the places you do visit.

Happy planning!

I really appreciate your input. I'm going to work with itinerary Ken provided and see how it works out. Again, thank you very much.