Opinion: Cinque Terra or Amalfi Coast..?

Have you visited Venice, Florence or Rome before, when will you visit? I assume you’re traveling from city to city by train and you will be on trains for a total of what, maybe 5-6 hours (total Venice-Florence-Rome), perhaps another 4-5 hours getting to/from three hotels and another 4-5 hours check-in and check-out. While the CT or Amalfi are both great places, a day and a half at either location will add another couple of hours train travel each way from either Florence or Rome—and unpacking and packing one more time. You may want to stay in any of the three cities another day or two and make one or two day trips (for example Venice to Vicenza, Florence to Siena or Rome to Tivoli). Save the CT or Amalfi for another visit when you can really enjoy them at a leisurely pace. We visited the CT not too long ago and were there three days and three nights--it wasn't too long.

in my opinion it also depends on whether you have been to Italy before, which you don't say.
To me both Venice and Florence deserve 2 to 3 nights each (2 being the absolute bare minimum with3 being being the preferred option if it's your first time there). Rome needs 3 to 4 nights.

I'm not too clear about your ability of adding nights, but assuming you have the required nights for the 3 bigs above, this is my take.

If you have at least 3 or better 4 extra nights available, then the gulf of Naples area can be considered. There is simply too much to see there to go there for any less time.

If you have one or two extra nights available, then the Cinque Terre is more manageable. Two nights there are adequate. Even one night only could be acceptable if not ideal. There isn't as much to do and see compared to Naples and surroundings.

To me both Venice and Florence deserve 2 to 3 nights each (2 being the
absolute bare minimum with3 being being the preferred option if it's
your first time there). Rome needs 3 to 4 nights.

Agreeing with Roberto here, Scott. Unless you've been to them before, the three cities on your list deserve all of the 10 days that you have. The Amalfi needs more time than you have to give it - getting there isn't necessarily "quick" - and the C.T. has its own challenges.

The more you moves you have, the more valuable sightseeing time you lose in packing up, getting to rail stations, sitting on trains, getting to next hotel, unpacking, getting acclimated to new location, etc.

Rome deserves a minimum of 4 nights (more is better), and I'd give Venice and Florence each one more night. How many total nights do you have on the ground in Italy before flying to Paris?

Thanks for feedback and apologize for not being more clear on dates and etc. I had the opportunity to visit Venice, Florence and Rome about 14yrs ago on a solo trip before my wife and I were together.

This is the first time for my wife visiting anywhere in Europe!

Her big choices/dreams for this trip are Paris, Rome, Florence and Venice, which is great and since I've only been to each of those places once(14yrs ago), I know I'm going to really enjoy seeing them all again, but admittedly, I did also want to see something new(my own selfishness). :-)

We have essentially 20 days for the entire trip(landing in morning March 19th, flying out late afternoon April 7th to/from Paris) and this is what our itinerary looks like at this point.

Paris: March 19th-24th - leave on 24th at 4pm on flight to Venice.
Venice: 24th-26th - arrive by 6pm from Paris.

Stay in Venice until Sunday(26th) afternoon and then taking a 1pm train to Florence.

Arrive Florence approx. 3pm on Sunday(26th).

That's about where we're at by this point with our plans/itinerary.

We were thinking of staying in Florence until Wednesday(29th) morning and then either grabbing a train for a potential side trip to CT or just go directly to Rome?

That's what triggered this question for opinions.

My thought was, if we arrived in Rome by the 30th or 31st, we could stay there until about April 4th, which gives us about 4 days in Rome and then we'd have about 1 1/2 - 2 days left before we'd have to be back in Paris(either evening of April 6th or early morning April 7th, since flight leaves late afternoon).

I definitely don't want to try to do too much and not be able to take it all in and enjoy it, but as I said, for me, it'd also be nice to see something new that neither of us has seen before. As it is, this trip is quite the stretch for us and it could be another 10-14yrs before we may be able to revisit again. We've been together for 10yrs and this our anniversary gift to ourselves and is literally the first trip we've ever taken in our time together(other then an extended weekend visiting family in another state, which sometimes isn't really a vacation at all. haha...), so I guess there's a little propensity for us to want to "see it all now!" ;-)

Appreciate everyone's feedback. It's going to be a wonderful trip with whatever we see, visit and etc!!

I think the Amalfi Coast would need to have 3 nights to do, and I know you can find enough things in the other cities to take up your time....

One trick I use in places I have already been to (Dublin, Paris, Rome, Florence, London, etc...) is to find new things to do there. I hadn't been to the Galleria Borghese in Rome in all of my trips, so when I was showing my parents around the country, we made sure for a stop there. Try to find something interesting or new (maybe something that people overlook cuz they are focused on the big things) in each city and savor your time instead of adding more destinations to pack more in.

Both the Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre might have some places closed ahead of season, but I don't know for sure. Wouldn't it make more sense to do something that's on your way, like Tuscany? Orvieto would be fine out of season, for example. Or bigger and more famous cities Siena or San Gimigiano, both of which would benefit from being seen out of season because they are insufferably crowded in the summer. Siena is good for two days, certainly.

I haven't been to Cinque Terre, but you are not taking full measure of how many "seats" it takes to get to the Amalfi Coast. And if you only mean Sorrento (which isn't on the Amalfi Coast), that isn't "far enough" to make the trip worth your time. For example, the words "Naples, Pompeii, Capri" haven't come up yet! I suspect that it's easier to get to Cinque Terre, but you need to do some March climate research, since it's an "outdoor" destination.

Why don't you just make a list of suburban attractions near Rome (Tivoli, Ostia Antica, Orvieto by train ... ) in case (you won't!) you find 3-4 days in Rome "too many?" As it is, Fiesole takes half a day or more out of Florence.

Cinque Terre is stunning, and I'm going to Amalfi for the first time in June.I can't compare the two just yet but the simple geography would make CT easier, a much smaller more train accessible visit. You would be adding a ton of time going south of Rome, and even more if you went to the A/C proper. You could easily train from Florence to La Spezia, and then up through each of the 5 CT towns. Then you could go to Rome to finish your trip.

We spent about a day in CT, managed to see all 5 towns have 2 sit down meals, walk/hike/explore but it was fast paced. If you had more than a day it would be really ideal.

Loved it.

Scott, I still think the Amalfi as a stretch and too much moving around for that little bit of time.
So you said you've been to Florence but did you see anything else in the region? Give that one more time and you could take an easy day trip to Siena or Lucca; no packing up and moving. That makes more sense than trying to go ALL the way to the Amalfi Coast and having to try and cram that one into just 1.2 days.

burd,

I'd suggest skipping the Amalfi Coast this time, due to the short time frame. Transportation there is not as easy as in the north so it will take longer to get around.

It would be very easy to fit in a visit to the Cinque Terre between Florence and Rome. There's also one other benefit of travelling there at the end of March - that's just about the start of the "official" tourist season there so it probably won't be too busy. I agree with Roberto that two nights would be fine (although three might be better, especially if the weather is less-than-desirable on your one free day to see the area).

In visiting the Cinque Terre you'll first have to decide which of the five towns you want to stay in. I'd suggest Monterosso as it's the largest and therefore has the greatest number of hotels, restaurants and other tourist amenities, as well as the best beaches (although that probably won't be a concern at that time of year).

From the Cinque Terre, the easiest and quickest way to get to Rome is to use one of the direct (no changes) trains from La Spezia Centrale to Roma Termini (travel time about 3H:45M). You'll use a Regionale train to get from whichever C.T. town you're staying in to La Spezia. Very easy as that trip is only about 10-15 minutes.

As it's been a number of year since you've been in Europe, it's important to note that there are some potentially expensive caveats to be aware of when using trains and other public transit in Italy. if you need more information on those, post another note here or send me a PM.

In order to plan the most efficient sightseeing and avoid potential problems, I would highly recommend having a look at (or packing along) copies of the RS guidebooks for each of the places you'll be visiting. There's an enormous amount of information there on things like avoiding queues at the Museums in Paris, which days different Museums are closed, etc. There are "Pocket" versions of some of the books which are cheap and easy to travel with.

If you'll be packing any cell phones or other electrical gadgets, don't forget to check the voltage range on the chargers and be sure to pack along Plug Adaptors.

Scott, my husband and I won't be too far behind you! We'll be in Italy in early April. Our itinerary goes like this:

Venice for 2 nights (flying into Venice)
Cinque Terre (Manarola) for 3 nights
Pisa for a few hours
Rome for 4 nights (flying out of Rome)

I agree with the other posters who are leaning more toward CT vs. Almafi Coast with your itinerary. I think that makes more sense geographically for you.

About a year ago when my husband and I started thinking about a trip to Italy, we spent hours watching a bunch of Rick Steves' videos. When we watched his 30 minute video on CT, we both said, "we gotta go there!" We're actually looking forward to CT the most! I don't know if you would find the videos useful, but it's worth a shot checking them out on YouTube. (He has an Almafi Coast video as well.)

Have fun. :-)

Thanks all for the awesome feedback, it's seriously great! After reviewing all and listening to your feedback, we have agreed that trying to the Amalfi Coast may be pushing it a bit. We can only hope that we can get back there again sometime and check it out then. We are still playing with the idea of checking out the CT, even if just for a day? We really want to see the(an) Italian coastline, beaches, etc. We're pretty aggressive mountain hikers, so we'd really like to do some of the hikes to the different villages in CT. We now arrive in Florence at 1pm on March 26th and plan to stay until March 30th, so that gives us 3 full days on the ground, plus a half day on arrival day. As suggested, we're thinking about an afternoon trip to Siena, Pisa or just around the Tuscany countryside.

If we roll out of Florence on March 30th around 10:30am, we can be in Monterosso(CT) by 1pm and then stay the night and take a late afternoon/evening train to Rome on the 31st. We'd then be in Rome, April 1st - April 6th(5 full days), flying back out to Paris on April 6th(one day before our departure out of Paris). I think this could work? :-)
I know it'd be quick in CT, but it'd really be nice to at least get a glimpse of it. I'll have to post another question or search the forum, but wondering about driving in the Florence area or even from Florence to Siena and back? I've backpacked for 3 months or more in Europe in the past years and have never ever driven and wonder what the thoughts are on that? Difficult? Not worth it? It'd be nice for flexibility access to Siena or just around the Tuscany countryside from Florence. Thanks again all...

If we roll out of Florence on March 30th around 10:30am, we can be in Monterosso(CT) by 1pm and then stay the night and take a late afternoon/evening train to Rome on the 31st. We'd then be in Rome, April 1st - April 6th(5 full days), flying back out to Paris on April 6th(one day before our departure out of Paris). I think this could work? :-)

If you have 4 nights in Rome (3 full days), you can add a night to Monterosso, if seeing the coast is important to you. Obviously it depends on your personal preferences, but with 11 days in Italy, spending 5 in Rome, I would consider it to be a "Rome heavy trip" in my book. If I had to allocate time on a 10-11 night trip, I would not give Rome more than 4 nights, otherwise I'd be shortchanging everything else.

wondering about driving in the Florence area or even from Florence to Siena and back? I've backpacked for 3 months or more in Europe in the past years and have never ever driven and wonder what the thoughts are on that? Difficult? Not worth it? It'd be nice for flexibility access to Siena or just around the Tuscany countryside from Florence.

If your intention is to visit just Siena, then a car is totally unnecessary. The bus will take you there in 75 min. A car might get you there in less than one hour, but then you have to add the time necessary for the rental pickup/paper work, the time to find your way out of Florence, the time to find your way to Siena city center and find parking. So in the end, when everything is said and done, the car isn't any faster. Don't forget that Siena also has a ZTL (Limited Traffic Zone) in the historical city center therefore you can't drive inside and must park outside the city center (only residents with permit can go inside the city center, in some parts of it). I think to visit Siena only (which will take most of your day), you are better off by using a bus.

A car could be a consideration if you intend to visit the Tuscan countryside or small villages, e.g. the Chianti hills, San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, etc. In that case, a car makes sense because buses to small towns are infrequent. Driving in Tuscany is not difficult. There is a freeway that connects Florence to Siena, but to drive to the small hill towns you'd be driving primarily on narrower two lane highways, which tend to be very curvy because Tuscany is not a flat place (more than 80% mountains and hills). If you are comfortable with that type of driving, then you won't have any problems. I don't know where you live, but here in the Bay Area we have similar roads (or worse) both in the Sonoma wine country and in the Santa Cruz mountains in the SF peninsula. Most small size economy and compact vehicles in Europe have manual transmission, so if you only know how to drive automatic, you might need to upgrade to intermediate size, where they have both.

It might be worth trying to research end-of-March climate in Italy. If Tuscany isn't yet very scenic, the car might be less valuable. The towns of CT will still be gorgeous, but will the hiking be as nice? Rainy season was a disaster for them a few years ago. I'm just asking, because I've only been to Italy in summers.

Marzo, marzo pazzerello, guarda il sole e prendi l'ombrello
(March, crazy March, look at the sun and take an umbrella)

As this famour Italian rhyme implies, the weather in March is totally changeable and unpredictable. It could be wintry and rainy, or it could be beautiful spring weather. Nobody knows and the forecast is good only for a week (and often wrong even then for March).

Hiking in March at the Cinque Terre may be an issue. If it's rainy, they close the paths for safety. The park is subject to mudslides.

I prefer the Amalfi Coast to the Cinque Terre
HOWEVER
If you only have 1.5-2 days that is not enough for the Amalfi Coast so would choose the Cinque Terre for such a timeframe and save the Amalfi Coast for when I had more time ; like 5+ days for the area.

Why fly back to Paris to fly home? It probably costs about the same to fly home from Rome. At least it does for me in Oklahoma, USA. Use the extra time in Italy.

I would've loved to fly back out of Italy, so we saved time traveling back to Paris, but the deal we received on the airfare from Denver to Paris and back was an unbelievable deal, so we had to jump on it. As it stands, we cancelled our intent to try and visit CT or Amalfi Coast. I agree with many of the replies saying it would've been too much of a push to try and do it, so hopefully we'll see it some other time.