Be aware that Monterosso al Mare is only one of the 5 towns that make up the scenic "five lands" of le Cinque Terre, and 3 of those five towns were left completely undamaged by the recent storm. Even in Monterosso al Mare, only half of it was significantly damaged. So if you wanted to see le Cinque Terre, you could book into Riomaggiore, Manarola or Corneglia. In addition, there are many other nearby options for lodgings, like Levanto or Portovenere, that will have transportation up and running to visit those parts of le Cinque Terre that have been fully repaired and brought by to normal, which should be more than 70 percent of the area by next May.

What does the rest of your itinerary look like? Switching to Lombardy/Swiss Alps (which is a much larger area overall) for only three days may not make sense depending on where you're coming from and heading to next.

thanks jean,

starting in venice for 3 nights, then the change (possibly) to lombardy lakes area for 3 nights, then down to san gimignano in tuscany for 4 nights, then down to rome for 3 nights ........ i understand that the lombardy region is large and cannot cover it all (and i'm not trying to)... i was considering spending a good portion of the time in the como lakes area with maybe a trip down to milano to get some shoes for my wife. ????

With three days, go to one of the Italian lakes such as Lake Como,or go to Milan. You really need more time for the lakes to make it special and worthwhile.
Also,read what Zeppole wrote.. Portovenere is a beautiful place to stay and you can take a ferry to the Cinque Terre.

Lake Como is easier to reach from Venice, but San Gimignano is closer to the Cinque Terre. You might want to investigate train and driving times and car rental locations to compare the logistics of the two itinerary options.

If a short stop in Milan is a priority, Lake Como makes more sense than the Cinque Terre, but it will still take you half a day to get from Venice to the mid-lake area and about the same to get to San Gim, so your time is limited. If you're traveling by train from Venice to Lake Como, you'll transit through Milan in both directions. Where were you thinking of staying on Lake Como?

Where/when you plan on picking up the rental car might change my thinking.

Recent trip for me up there that was beautiful

Venice-tourism.com bauervenezia.com otel.com

2 hour train to www.sirmione.com Garda BEAUTIFUL

Hotel Eden there Orwell/Pound stayed there

Up to www.bellagio.info through Bergamo Lecco Varenna

Hop the mid lake ferry across www.hotelflorencebewllagio.it

(Twain stayed there) or Residence D'Ulivo 120 euro

hotelscombined.com 120 euro for me last.

End up in Milano up to Stresa if time not far

Isola Bella AWESOME there.

Hotel Grand Dino best prices for me up there...

tigercarentals.com would work also but more expensive

Flying RT into Milan(MXP) cheapest for us usually

cheapoair.com aa.com has some great AAdvantage CC deals

right now my wife and I got 80000 FF miles

free flights recently so might check on that.

Happy Planning!