Venice and Cinque Terre itinerary advice please!

The Cinque Terre are not a city but 5 very small villages along a rugged coastline. The villages are pretty and romantic, but there's very little to do except hiking and perhaps boating. March is also not a great time to visit as spring is just starting and the coastal ferry operates only toward the end of the month. You should keep looking for a 2nd city. How about Lucca which is historic and is a characteristic Italian city? From there you could do a day trip to Pisa or Florence, if desired, and your transfer to Genoa or Venice would be straightforward.

The largest of the 5 (cinque) towns is Monterosso al Mare and is the best bet for finding a hotel. The other villages are very small, but may have small hotels. If you use Monterosso as your home base you can take the train to each village or the boat- either a boat tour or the tourist ferry.
Or you could stay in La Spezia and take the train to visit each village or get a boat tour.

As for Venice, I agree that you should stay in the heart of Venice. There are lots of hotels in Venice that meet your criteria. What's your price point? The hotels along the Grand Canal will be expensive, but there are other hotels on side canals that would meet your criteria. The thing to remember about Venice, is that you will have to carry your luggage to your hotel, so consider how you will get from the airport or the train station to whatever hotel you choose.
We stayed at the Hotel Olimpia near the Piazzle Roma and walked from the train station and took the Vaporetto everyday down the grand canal to the sights we wanted to see. Have fun planning your vacation!

In Cinque Terre, You can either stay in Vernazza or Monterosso. Both are charming Villages.

For your 3 days in Venice, Enjoy the canals and do a day trip to either Padua or Verona.

This hotel is nicely located near the canal

https://www.alponteantico.com/

our budget is moderate to high for hotels. We are willing to pay a little extra for accomodations to be able to have the most authentic experience.

This Venice Hotel might be a good fit

http://www.hotelmetropole.com/en/index.html#home

If your cruise ends in Genoa I would go immediately to Venice. That will take most of the day (it's a five or six hour train trip) so if you have three nights there you will a first evening then two full days. But that is a good amount of time for Venice.

Since the Cinque Terre is not great at that time of year I suggest you actually do go to Florence. The fast train from Venice to Florence is only 2 and a half hours. Some people even do day trips from Florence to the CT but you could either do all three nights in Florence or just do two and the last night near the CT. The fast train from Florence to LaSpezia (near the CT) is 2 to 2 and a half hours and that puts you close to Genoa to fly out. If you left Florence early you'd have most of the day at the CT which is probably enough at that time of year.

As for hotels, in Venice you'd be hard pressed to find one that isn't on a canal, Venice is pretty much all canals. Spending more money will NOT get you a 'more authentic' experience. It will get you the opposite. This is Rick Steves forum, he's constantly telling people that. Find a nice medium priced small hotel run by a family. Although Venice is wonderful, it is not a place people usually go looking for 'authentic' experiences. What's your definition of 'authentic'.

I suppose by "authentic" experience I'm meaning that we don't want to stay in a "chain" or namebrand hotel. Family run boutique style hotel with some luxury amenities, view of canal with patio from our room is my "dream".

We've also been told that we shouldn't miss Rome on our trip but I feel like we are tight for time to do Venice, Cinque Terre and Rome. If you had to just pick two stops what would they be? I didn't realize the train ride is so long from Genoa to Venice! Online I was seeing it come up closer to 4 1/2 hours.

I'm tempted to do the 30 min phone consultation with Rick Steve's travel advisers. Has anyone done this to help plan your itinerary?

Rome and Venice would actually be more efficient that Rome and the CT. My strategy is typically to select places in the same region, so I would peruse a guide book chapter or website devoted to the Veneto or one of the neighboring regions. You not only save time that way, but you also learn about the variety within Italy's regions.
If you are not a hiker, I would choose somewhere other than CT anyway--there are plenty of other riviera towns. Since you thought that Cinque Terre was a city, I am thinking you were not that wedded to the idea anyway.

I don't see how Venice and Rome could be a good idea if starting and returning to Genoa. And Venice and Rome are about 5 hours apart. You can easily check train times on trenitalia.it Just put in a date in the next week or so, you'll get to see the length of the trips. With only six nights and having to start and end in Genoa I would try to limit your selections to less than 4 or 5 hours (preferably 3 or less). If you really want to see Venice it would be doable but just Florence and around there would be even better. You could include Siena, Lucca, etc. Are you planning any time in Genoa itself? There are also lots of great towns in the region. I personally would split the time between Florence/Siena and one of the towns south of Genoa (between there and the CT) - my favorite is Rapallo but Camogli and Santa Marguerita are wonderful too. And you could do a day trip to see the CT villages.

A good home base for Venice is, of course, Venice. And 3 nights is barely adequate.
Then the planning challenge will be how to get to the Cinque Terre. Obviously, you don't rent a car for your stay in Venice.
The above posts have already covered what you will want to consider in planning this trip.

There are various trains from Genoa to Venice. Looking at the current schedule, there's a 7.05 direct train that takes 4 hours, and at 7.21 (one change) that gets to Venice at 11.40. After that, the next option is the 9.18 train (one change) that gets to Venice at 2.10 pm. Allow another hour from the train station to your hotel to drop your luggage. So if you can get to Genoa station early in the morning, you will have 1/2 day in Venice. Oops, I just looked at the MSC cruises and it appears that you are taking the March 23 cruise, which docks in Genoa on March 30 at 8.00. That means it's going to be 3 pm at best before you can start your sightseeing in Venice, possibly with lunch.

The best of the Cinque Terre are the views of the colorful towns clinging to the cliffs. Presumably you will see plenty of that from your cruise ship. If the weather is rainy, hiking, if possible, isn't likely to be very pleasurable and the views aren't nearly so charming without sunshine.

Choosing a Tuscan town makes the most sense, being more or less half-way between Venice and Genoa.

We have booked a room at Palazzo Cendon in Venice for early June. I can't comment on it yet since we haven't stayed - but the reviews are good, it's in a quiet neighborhood near the train station and a vaparetto stop, and we were able to book a very large room with private balcony for a reasonable rate.

...so we are thinking of sticking to staying in Venice and Cinque
Terre only. 3 nights in each place. We will fly in and out of Genoa.

Question, pak: are 6 nights the total of what you have to work with or do you have one additional night for Genoa the night before your flight home (what is your departure time?).

CT for three nights is too much if you want to sightsee. Florence is not to be missed. Venice you can do in two full days.

CT and Venice are on the opposite sides of Italy, not sure how you would find a home base?

Since you are fling in and out of Genoa you could save Florence and Venice for another trip, as well as Rome.

Consider doing CT, Pisa, Lucca and perhaps Milan.

If your dream is going to Venice, then go! I would stay the 3 nights.
Are you staying in Genoa on your last night? If not, make sure you can get to the airport in time from wherever you are staying. I have stayed in Vernazza, and to fly out of Genoa, I had to leave very early to catch the trains. That was a few years ago, though.

So our cruise arrives back into Genoa on March 31 early morning. We plan to depart right from cruise and take a train to Venice. We are still flexible with how many nights we spend in Venice but we are thinking 3 nights minimum. the Al Ponte hotel looks amazing, sadly they don't have any rooms left with canal views for our dates but the hotel has informed me that their dining patio has awesome views of canal and the Rialto Bridge. I'm still looking for a hotel with a patio overlooking canal but Al Ponte would be my first pick so far. thank-you for the recommendation.

The feeling I get from most of your comments is that we might not need to stay in CT overnight but rather take a day trip there as we will be there while the weather isn't ideal to hike or enjoy the beaches. I'm feeling torn about our itinerary. Venice is a sure thing.....now to decide on our second stop. I really appreciate all of your advice and info.

So no interest in Genoa itself?
If weather worries scare you off the CT, then I would focus on somewhere to maximize efficiency and minimize travel time. It just takes SO long to travel between CT and Venice, that is why I would look for an alternative to not waste that time. You can toss a stone and find somewhere beautiful in Italy, so I say why spend precious time on a train?
On the riviera near Genoa, Camogli is a delight, and that gives you the option of Rapallo, Santa Margarita Ligure, and Portofino. If weather is nice, Portofino park is lovely and not gorged with people.
Between Genoa and Venice, you have Verona and Padua, which look pretty nice to me!

thank-you for all of your advice and tips. After much research and debate we are going to skip CT for this trip and try to find another city closer to Genoa to maximize vacation time and minimize travel time. We've decided on going straight to Venice from Genoa and staying March 31-April 3 at the Gritti Palace as I'm able to get an amazing rate there with my points. (we were torn between Hotel Danieli and Gritti Palace but location for Gritti Palace wins!) Then we have to decide on our last stop city for 3 nights before heading back to Genoa to catch our flight home. I would love your recommendations. Florence, Portifino, Verona?? what would be our best choice. Portifino looks like a mini version of Cinque Terre?

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Camogli!
I am not fond of Portofino--it is extremely overpriced and geared toward a luxury market. Lots of day trippers come in for the day and I also find that unpleasant. You can find something just as pretty in Camogli or Santa Margarita Ligure, the small towns that flank Portofino.

Have you already booked your flights? If not, don't book them until you're sure of your itinerary. Flying round trip to Genoa works if your last stay in Italy is on the Italian Riviera. But if you're seeing (for instance) Venice and then Florence, you may want to fly out of Florence, Pisa, or even Rome, all of which are faster to get to from Florence than Genoa is.

On the other hand, if you have booked your flights, let us know what they are, so we don't set you up with a problematic itinerary. One post above mentioned something that's worth emphasizing: you want to be near your departure airport the night before your flight home. This is particularly true if you're leaving from an airport (like Florence, Genoa, or Pisa) that will require a further connection in Europe to reach the US. These flights can leave shockingly early.

We haven't booked our flights but we are listening to your advice and planning to book our flights roundtrip Genoa. We are planning to depart from Genoa after the cruise and head straight to Venice. Stay in Venice 3 nights maybe 4 and then end our trip near Genoa in a neighboring city like Camogli! (or any other city you recommend over Camogli but it looks amazing. :) It looks like Camogli is about 40 min drive to the Genoa airport so that should be doable?

Yes unless your departure is at an ungodly-early hour, 40 minutes should be fine--that is generally my limit for airport distance. Even if it is early, you could book a taxi so you don't have to contend with public transport so early or have to stay in Genoa the last night.

Camogli is very low key and a great place to base. You really do not need a car as the train service is terrific. It is one hour to Genoa. We stayed there a week in early October and enjoyed it very much, LMK if you need info on things to do near there, but I have to mention the abbey at San Fruttuoso, which is only accessible by boat or a tough hike. And great pizza at Bar al Teatro!

We haven't booked our flights

In that case look at open-jaw( multi city) routing rather than a r/t to Genoa.

Spend your 3-4 nights in Venice and then finish in Rome and fly home from there

Look at booking multi city flights, into one city and out of another to save time and money.

I suppose by "authentic" experience I'm meaning that we don't want to stay in a "chain" or namebrand hotel. Family run boutique style hotel with some luxury amenities, view of canal with patio from our room is my "dream".

Have you traveled much in Europe? When pursuing an “authentic” experience, I’ve found that money can be a barrier. The more you spend, the more isolated you’ll be from having meaningful interaction.

My wife and I can easily afford to stay pretty much anywhere we want to. We’ve stayed in various accommodations, from luxury chains to a rented room in a modest farmhouse. Our most memorable experiences have been in the more modest accommodations. We’ve sat around the Aga stove in a remote corner of Scotland helping our hosts make crab salad from a fresh catch. We’ve made friends with a very pregnant Clydesdale mare on a gorgeous farm. We’ve become fast friends with the staff at a small Tuscan winery while spending a week there. We slept in the studio of an artist who created WWI camouflage while we were in Paris.

If you want authenticity, search out clean but modest B&Bs or small hotels.

Here's another thought.....you said you wanted to see Florence. Why not go there after Venice, and fly home from Pisa? It is about an hour from Florence and usually has afternoon flights to US. Florence has an airport, too, but it is smaller.

We are SOLD on visiting Camogli before we head to Venice. Thank-you for all of your help everyone! Now just have to book a hotel in Camogli and we are set. Recommendations would gladly be accepted. :)

I can't thank everyone enough for your advice and especially for the recommendation to Comolgi! We spent 2 dreamy nights at the stunning Hotel Cenobio Dei Dogi. I felt like i was dropped into a movie set. The views from our private patio overlooking the quaint fishing town and ocean was something I will never forget. A dream come true. Thanks again everyone!

hey pak
how wonderful you had a fabulous time. how was your time in venice? when are you planning your next trip? :)
aloha