First congrats!

Go every year headed there in 2 weeks for 2 weeks

Betterbidding.com bid Priceline for great hotel deals

Hotwire.com has the Sheraton Roma for $69 around my flights

Intercontinental Ville 5* Spanish Steps for $180 bid Priceline

Florence is wonderful many nice places based on budget

Pitti Palace Hotel for me this time from $120 or so

Otel.com www.lucca.info beautiful on the way to the

www.cinqueterre.com www.torettas.com Manarola my fav there

My very fav www.metropole.it 120 euro

Car is expensive and a liability in big cities

fine in rural areas generally prefer training seat61.com

lots less hassle... my very fav romantic place is

venice-tourism.com my wife and I have a Grand Canal suite at

the Bauer where Angelina and Brad stayed last year

40000 FF miles per nite otherwise free for us.

Last year in May we got a grand canal suite by getting

www.spg.com Amex CC stayed at the Westin Europa Regina

$90/nt plus 4500 Starwood points it was AWESOME very romantic.

So might consider something like that...

Hope this is helpful insuremytrip.com cheap wise.

Have a wonderful journey!

Hey P,

Is there a reason why you are skipping Venice?

I think that 5 nights on the CT is 2 too many.

PS

Have you considered flying into Venice or Milan and leaving from Rome? It will save a day of travel.

pumzika - We did our honeymoon in Italy and it was also two weeks. We flew into Rome and back from Milan which was great because we didn't have to backtrack. We did Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice, Torino and Milan (in that order I think). We loved Venice so I would try to fit that in. 5 nights in Cinque Terre may be too much, but we went in the winter. Also, not sure you are giving Rome enough time - there is SO much to see. The train system is really easy - not sure you need to rent a car unless for Tuscany. Have a wonderful trip!

You don't want a car for the Cinque Terre, the road is inland. The 5 villages are connected by trains, boats and a walking path. You will just have to pay to park your car in a high-up parking lot and lug your luggage down and then up again.

Do check into open jaws flights, into Rome, out of Milan or Pisa. If you've already bought your tickets, maybe it wouldn't cost too much to change them.

Or maybe do as ira suggests and fly into Venice using a few of those excessive days from the CT. Venice is the most romantic of cities. To get a feel for it, read this trip report: www.fodors.com/community/europe/venice-a-magical-spell-came-over-me.cfm

Thanks so much for all your input!

Ira - I've been to Venice before (and loved it), but my fiancee didn't want to spend too much time travelling from one place to another, so we decided to save Venice for another trip and go to places neither of us has been to.

Does anyone know how the drive from Florence to the Cinque Terre is? We were hoping to be able to enjoy the scenic drive there and then maybe drive to the seaside towns around the area in the days we're there. We both love road trips and thought we'd try and incorporate a little of that in our trip - but is this unrealistic? Are the train schedules good enough? Does anyone know what parking is like?

We have unfortunately already purchased out tickets - we did look into going in and out of different airports to save the hassle of back-tracking but the cost difference was quite substantial.

I guess our reasoning for spending 5 nights in Cinque Terre was just to completely relax and take in the scenery/culture, etc, instead of 'sightseeing' per-se...we have found that walking, eating, people watching and just trying to be a local (as much as we can!) is the best way to enjoy what a country has to offer...anyone know what the weather usually is in that part of the country around mid-May???? Any chance of some real sun??

Thanks again and pls keep them coming - the comments are such a help!

and btw Mimar - that post on Venice has me itching to go back now!! time to start planning the next trip

For others who might be reading this thread, the cost of an open jaws flight should be about the same as round-trip. You use the multi-city option on the flight web page. I almost always fly open jaws, mostly using frequent flyer miles.

pumzika, since you want to drive, consider other parts of the Ligurian coast instead of the Cinque Terre. I'm not as familiar with the coastal towns as others here, but we enjoyed our stay in Camogli, a pretty, very Italian beach town. And Santa Margherita Ligure is often mentioned as a base. Both of these have train stations where you can train to the Cinque Terre.

Keep researching--though your idea of 5 days just chilling is fantastic, I would not suggest CT as the location. As said above, it is not a destination for a car. It was horribly crowded when I was there last May. If there is a lot of rain, the trails will be closed (as I believe they may be currently, perhaps for some restoration work). Look north and south of CT, and then you can train in and hike if the weather is good. I visited Lerici, just south of CT and loved it. I also quite liked the mountains inland from CT (stayed in Barga). Enjoy!
ps I had great weather mostly, but not "beach" weather.
Also, your scenic drive should be Tuscany. Then drop the car before taking a train to Liguria.

If you haven't already booked your hotels, consider grouping all of your Rome nights together at the end of your trip; that way, you'll have one less change of location. Then you can head straight for Florence upon your arrival.

I'd agree that you don't need a car while in the Cinque Terre, and that it's not the best location to drive from village to village; use the train, or hike, to do that. But we've driven to and from the Cinque Terre on several different trips with no problem. Hotel Villa Steno, in Monterosso, has it's own parking.