Tuscany to Cinque Terre - Daytrip

Amy - If you plan on hiking the trail that connects the 5 towns (heartily recommended), then I would suggest you spend the night. Monterosso, which is the northern-most of the 5, has decent hotels and restaurants. Do the hike, and then rest.

There's not a whole lot in San G. I would suggest taking one of those nights and doing two in CT. That gives you a full day in CT. There's a big parking lot in Monterosso. You could keep the car, drive to Rome and drop it there.

I agree with Ron, spend one day in SG is enough. Is it better to spend more time in CT.

We are staying in SG as our base. I understand the that it can be crowded during the day, but we have a car and plan to explore the Tuscany area during our 3-4 days there. As I understand, by the time we return in the evening, the crowds will have eased up. We found a great apartment to rent in SG and could add an extra night on if needed. We certainly don't plan to spend all of our time in SG! My family has heard other friends talk about the CT and feel that it at least deserves a short visit. I don't mind a 2-3 hour drive to and from CT but I am not really excited about packing up for 1 night before moving on again. Because we are a family of 4 the rates for 1 night that I have seen n CT are rather high.

I'm surprised at the recommendation to not stay more than 1 night at San Gimignano. It is a great base to explore Tuscany and you can easily spend many days doing that. Lots of great day trip destinations within the area that are much easier to do than a day trip to CT. But if you really want to see CT I'd also recommend to stay overnight.

And if you like the crowds in SG during the day, you won't mind the crowds during the day in CT. Although, in early April the crowds anywhere may be less than in May to Oct.

Personally, I would not go back to the CT if you held me at gunpoint and paid me. It's nothing but a clusterf*** of tourists and overpriced, mediocre restaurants. Your precious vacation time is better spent someone else. I'd spend the extra day or two checking out more of Tuscany. Siena is an easy trip from San Gimignano and quite beautiful and very worth staying an overnight (or 3). In fact, there are tons of tiny towns around Tuscany that are well worth a day trip. Otherwise, an extra day in Rome isn't a bad idea. Plenty of day-trip options from there as well.

We just got back from a two week stay at a farm house we rented near Siena. We also thought it would be fun to take a trip to the CT but quickly learned that there are no quick trips to anything by car. The roads require careful and slow driving so what might take 20 minutes in the states could take you an hour in Tuscany and that assumes you don't make a wrong turn. Driving to train our bus stations was not easy and parking was very expensive. I say explore the hill towns and forget long drives.

What John said. So true of driving in Italy. Maybe you gotta do it once, before you believe it.