Pisa - Cinque Terre - Florence - Venice

Are you planning to stay one night in Pisa or just store your luggage and then do a bit of touring. That could be a bit ordeal after a long international flight.

A few questions and comments.....

• Which of the five Cinque Terre towns are you planning to stay in? I'd suggest getting hotel reservations well in advance.
• No, one day is not enough in Florence (IMO). If you're planning on just one night there after travel from the Cinque Terre, that will only allow a few hours to see the city.
• A night train from Florence to Venice??? That's absolutely not necessary as the trip is only about 3 hours via high speed Freccia or Italo trains.
• When is this trip taking place?

For things to see and do in Slovenia, you might want to pick up a copy of that guidebook as well.

How many days total? Does this include travel days?

Why not visit Pisa on your way to Florence? That way you're not wandering around jet lagged.

Train from Florence (Firenze SMN) to Venice (Venezia S. Lucia) is 2H05m.

1 day is Not enough time for Florence.

Since we land in Pisa it seemed to make more sense to do our touring of the few things we wish to see then and head out to Vernazza afterwards, still arriving before evening. We land in Pisa very early in the morning. Although we are coming from the west coast we rarely encounter jet lag until going back home.
We will be there a total of 13 days, 3 of which will be in Cinque Terre. We do have hotel reservations for CT.

Seems to be most feel more than a day in Florence; we can do that.
I do have the book on Slovenia and was hoping there are also others who might have opinions on what not to miss and length of time to devote to Slovenia. We spent some time in Croatia and loved it.

Thank you for the tips and responses.

Florence alone will require at least 2 days, even if you visit only one museum.
The train trip to Venice is too short (2 hours) to be done on a night train.

I would say 3 nights in each - Cinque Terre, Florence and Venice. That leaves 4 days for Slovenia - Ljubljana, Lake Bled, Piran

Florence is wonderful. We did two nights there last week, but arrived early (arrived at hotel by 10:30 and dropped our bags) and did not leave until 1:30 on the Frecce train to Venice so we had two full days to explore. You should at least go to the Accademia to see David - use the Rick Steves audio guide - quick and entertaining.

Your arrival day sounds hectic but you will sleep well on first night!

I would give Venice at least 3 nights. Stay in the City but not near San Marco or Rialto - Dosodoro is my favorite.

Another vote for allowing more time to Florence. I'll probably receive a sound flogging for this but with only a couple of days, and galleries not being high on your list, I'd skip the Uffizi and Accademia entirely. I'm an art-lover who would not have dreamed of doing that but I also understand that it's not everyone's thing. Instead, do some of the churches. Along with being good bargains (a fair number are free; others have small entry fees) they're all architecturally different, and you can take in a bit of Renaissance art in situ (in its original place) besides. The context can make paintings and pieces much more interesting than if they'd been removed to a gallery.

I love architecture as well, and there are oodles of wonderful structures in Florence. Museum-wise, you might enjoy the excellent Bargello, which is located in a former 13th-14th century palace/prison. The church of San Miniato al Monte above Piazza Michelangelo is even older, and affords a wonderful view over the city. The duomo, IMHO, is more interesting outside than in but the interior of the nearby 11th-14th century baptistry is a marvel. Palazzo Vecchio is at its Medieval best when looming over Piazza della Signoria at night. My favorite piazza? Lovely little Piazza Santissima Annunziata with its church of the same name (nice frescoes), Brunelleschi's Ospedale degli Innocenti, and eyeful of his greatest achievement - the duomo's dome - from the south side of the piazza.

The list goes on! So don't shortchange this one if architecture is high on your list?