Our first ever visit to Europe will be three weeks planned for Italy in May. After a week in Rome and a week in Tuscany, we leave the Villa in Tuscany with six more days in our schedule. Our priority list includes Venice and Cinque Terre. We are torn whether to try and see both, or to pick one area or the other. How realistic would it be to drive to Venice, then drive Venice to Cinque Terre, and then back to our rental car drop in Arezzo before we take the train back to Rome to depart. Are the MapQuest driving times realistic? Should a novice use freeways to cross the country? Any advice is most welcome.
Posted by
Secaucus, NJ, USA
148 posts
Have you booked your flights yet? If not you may want to consider flying out of Venice, or even Milan to avoid backtracking. Also, when you say six more days I'm assuming that you mean six nights. In any event, I would get rid of the car when your stay in Tuscany is over. You would have no need for a car in either the Cinque Terre or Venice. You could drive to Pisa and drop off your car there if you spend all of your nights in CT. If you decide to only see Venice, or divide your time between Venice and CT, you could drop your car off at the Florence airport and then train to Venice from Florence. If you're leaving from Rome you should take the train back to Rome the night before you leave, not the day of your flight.
Posted by
Spokane, WA, USA
18 posts
Three days in each city is sufficient as well. Much more in Vernazza (or another city in the CT) is too many and while you could spend a week in Venice you might have to sell something (like your house!) to afford it. I'd split the time and also think about ditching the car in Tuscany and taking the train as well. Flying out of Venice would also make sense.
Posted by
OP
Cameron Park, CA, USA
25 posts
Good advice. Learning curve, and mistakes made. We have the flights booked and the car paid for from Auto Europe. But based on this input my take is to return the car early, take the train to Venice and overnight, take a train to CT (which station?) and then a train to Rome on the afternoon before departure. Any other thoughts out there? Thanks again.
Posted by
Chicago, IL, United States
120 posts
I believe to get to Cinque Terre, you'll have to stop at La Spezia and transfer from there. Regarding which town to stay, I stayed in Riomaggiore, and loved it, though most of our free time was spent exploring Vernazza (though we did hike the entire trail, and enjoyed each of the cities).
Posted by
Madison, WI, USA
153 posts
I think that's your best bet. If you can use the savings from having the car less on a drop off in Venice or Pisa/La Spezia, all the better. Those will be some hefty train trips, but with six days, quite doable. Or... You could keep the car and see things like the Dolomites, Verona, Lake Garda and Venice.
Posted by
Fremont, Mi, USA
74 posts
Hello David,
We visited Rome, Venice and the CT three years ago and loved all three. We stayed the first 4 days in Rome took the train to Venice for 4 days and than the CT for 5 days. We stayed in Vernazza in the CT and love it. We hiked all the trails and just had a relaxing stay. I would say get an early train out of Venice since it will take a big share of your day to get to the CT. We had to change trains in Florence and La Spezia. Have Fun.