Rome-CT-Florence-Venice Itinerary Help

Well prioritize what is a priority but you don't have time for 4 places in only 12 days. I'd split it between the big 3 or would drop one of those if you must do the CT. We did the CT before Rick Steves turned it into a tourist 'must do' and there were no souvenir stands and tourist tat -- it was pretty spectacular. I am not sure crowded with tourists it is as wonderful but if you really long to go there, I'd drop another stop -- If you have 12 nights on the ground I assume that is 11 days - in which case you could do 4 in Rome, 4 in Florence, 2 in the CT and 2 in Venice and have time for a taste of each. You can see a bit of Venice in one full day days and if you travel early in the morning after the second night in the CT, you may capture the late afternoon/evening in Venice as well. 3 full days in Rome and Florence is sort of minimal to see the top sights those places. One full day to hike the CT is plenty.

Don't skip Venice.

CT fits between Florence and Rome and you have time within your 12 nights.

Fly into Venice, stay 3 nights.
Train to Florence, spend 2-3 nights.
Train to CT, spend 2-3 nights ( 2 if you spend 3 in Florence, or 3 if you spent 2 nts there)
This leaves you 4 nights for Rome.

You can do it! You have as much time as you have. Your other travel days are relatively short by fast train, so if you have to spend most of a day getting to someplace you really want to see, you have my blessing!

Hi raneyam. I would second Sasha's itinerary. Do some thinking about how many nights in each place; for instance, if you love museums, give Florence three nights; otherwise maybe only two. There is a lot to see in Rome, but for many people, three nights would be enough. It would be silly to be that close to Venice or CT and not see them. Enjoy your trip!

As you probably know, Rick does believe that you can enjoy all four in the time that you have, and thousands of travelers have done so, even before the mainline trains became as fast as they are now. Sasha's plan shows you how, and I think is generous for Rome (my personal least favorite of the 4 destinations). Prioritize them how you like. If you added a day to Florence, you could also daytrip by bus to Siena.

Whatever you do, don't skip Venice.

Agreed - Definitely don't skip Venice. There's no other place like it.

Sasha's plan also works for me.

We did this in May 2015 and I thought it worked out pretty well. We started in Rome for 4 nights, then 2 nights in CT, then 3 nights Florence, and finally 3 nights Venice. We took the train between cities, the longest of which was from Rome to CT. That leg takes around 5 hours out of your day, so I suggest getting an early start. We used VRBO for 2 bedroom/2 bath apartments in Rome, Florence and Venice as there were 4 adults traveling together. We just got 2 hotel rooms in the CT (we stayed in Monterosso). You can check train travel times on trenitalia.com. You may also be able purchase the train tickets early (120 days in advance) and save a bunch of euros.

I have done a trip that is very similar to the one you listed. We flew into Rome. We rented a car when we left Rome to drive to CT. I don't mind the driving and the roads are pretty good between Cities. Once in CT just park the car you won't need it. The trains along the 5 towns make travel between the towns easy. they are not prompt but they do run fairly often. Unless you are doing a lot of hiking you really don't need a ton of time to see the towns of the CT. In fact we stayed just north of it in Levento and thought CT should really be called seis terre or 6 towns. We spent 2 days there and were very happy with that time. We don't go to italy to lay on the beach but to see sites. We than drove to venice and dropped off the car at the airport and took a taxi to the apartment we were staying. Fly out of venice. You just need to understand you can see Venice and CT in a fairly short amount of time, but you will never experience everything in Rome in one trip. So just prioritize what you want to see there and plan on a second trip which you won't mind doing once you see it.

I also think Sasha's plan would be perfect and would cover all the locations you want to see. However, I would definitely stop in Florence for 3 nights, even if that means dropping one night in Rome.

You can easily reach all the places on your list by train, and using the high speed trains where possible is by far the most efficient travel method. They travel at up to 300 km/h so will get you from one place to another in the minimum time possible. If you haven't travelled in Italy before, there are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains and other public transit. If you need more information, post another note here.

I would not recommend renting a car, especially for the Cinque Terre. As I've often said, a car in the C.T. is about as useful as a boat anchor.

For your stay in the Cinque Terre, have you decided which of the five towns you want to stay in? In any case, it would be a really good idea to get lodgings booked soon. Note that you may not get fast answers from hotels there at this time of year, as many are closed for the season.