Venice to CT to Florence makes no sense - since the CT is much farther from Venice than is Florence - you would be going past and then returning.

You don't say how many days you have - so it's not possible to give very specific recos - but IMHO it's easier to stay in Florence and go into the countryside (since there are many options of train, bus or tour) rather than traveling from a small town - which may have very limited service.

nytraveler, thanks for the quick response.

We are in CT for one night, Florence for 2 or 3 nights (TBD). If there is a CT-equivalent closer to Florence that would be better. Or is it an option to go Florence to CT? My daughter has a strong inclination for CT and Amalfi Coast...I got her to drop Amalfi if we could do CT.

I agree with your comment about staying in Florence since it might give us more time to experience things. On the other hand, would we be basically experiencing mostly tourists?

Wow, it sounds like you are where I was last week (wanting many destinations on limited time) Unless, I missed it, I don't think you mentioned how much total time you will have total in Italy to try to conquer what you want to conquer. That information would be helpful to know.

Unfortunately, there is no way to simply "catch" Cinque Terre or the Amalfi Coast from Venice, Florence or Rome. I had really wanted to squeeze these into our trip but found it just isn't realistic. It is roughly a 6 hour train ride between Venice & Cinque Terre & 3 hours between Cinque Terre & Florence (if all the stars align). Thus, the logistics of trying to go there for 1 night would leave very little time for enjoying the area.

If dead set on Cinque Terre, an option might be a private excursion to Cinque Terre from Florence, but even that will have you spending more time in a vehicle than on ground but it is a little quicker than the train & you won't have to drag luggage from place to place.

Not sure about your question about experiencing "mostly tourists". All of the areas you mention are tourist destinations

Happy planning ... That is half the fun of the experience!

Hi KidsMom and thanks for the information about the trains. We actually land in Venice early on June 15 and fly out of Rome early on the 25th. So two nights in Venice, 3 in Florence, 4 in Rome. Florence has a side trip to Pisa; Rome has a side trip to Pompeii, each by train.

You mentioned about the "fun" of planning. Actually, all these years I've been pretty anal about the vacation planning. But this year I have way to much other stress so the kids agreed to take over the planning. Well, it's less than a month before we arrive and guess how much is planned? My daughter is not worried since she spent the summer in China two years ago with nary an advance plan more than 1-2 hours. However, I think traveling alone is a bit different than a family...harder to yell at yourself (though I suppose that is possible). Maybe it's my Catholic upbringing, I dunno.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Why don't you take a train from Venice to Pisa, and use Pisa as a base? See the tower the afternoon you arrive, visit le Cinque Terre the next day, visit Lucca the next day to bike around the walls, and then go to Florence, park your luggage at the station, do your touristing, then take the train to Rome?

Remember, too, that you can day trip to Firenze from Rome if that works better (meaning, just train from Pisa to Rome and then day trip to Firenze on one of your Roman days).

Believe it or not, if you stay in the historic center of Pisa, which is slightly removed from the tower, you will actually experience Italy outside of the tourist mob. Food is much cheaper and Pisa is a university town with an open ambience. The historic center is actually quite pretty, with authentic markets and cafes near the Borgo Stretto.

Tripadvisor can steer you to good hotels near the train station.

I am planning similar itinerary with more time (3 weeks). I thought I read it was reasonable and fairly easy (although long) to train Venice to CT via Milan or Bologna. So far...
Venice 3 nights, train to CT
CT 3 nights, train to Florence
Florence 2 nights, rent car, drive to Montepulciano
Montepulciano 6 nights, train to Rome
Rome 3 nights, train to Sorrento
Sorrento 4 nights, back to Rome,
Rome, 1 night airport or other.

Before I book any more hotels... is Venice to CT doable... what is the best route. It seemed going Venice to Florence/Tuscany and then CT seemed like we'd be backtracking.
Thanks in advance to the experts on this forum...

changemaven,

There is no good way to fit in Cinque Terre. It is out of the way of your other destinations and because of its location on the coast backed by mountains, it will always require a roundabout or backtracking route to reach it between Venice and Florence. You get to decide if adding it to your itinerary is worth it to you, based on all the logistics.

The "best" train route will be recommended by the Trenitalia (Ferrovie dello Stato) website based on the day and time you hope to travel. You can check each suggestion for total trip duration as well as number of connections and decide which features are most important to you. Train schedules here:

http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html

Travelfrenzy,

Zeppole's suggestion to stay in Pisa is actually a good idea. Pisa is one hour closer to Cinque Terre than Florence and would be a good spot for visiting a number of your desired destinations.

Honestly, the train may not be the best option for all of the things you're trying to do. It would probably be better to hire a private car or van, or take taxis on some of the legs of your trip. This would allow you to go the exact routes you wish to go and make stops when you'd like, rather than having to work around pre-planned stops. Otherwise, you'll have to do a lot to fit everything in. There are plenty of taxi and private car companies that travel throughout Italy and can give you both tours and better rates for extended trips. Hope that helps!

Travelfrenzy,
On our trip in 2001, we took the train from Venice to CT and stayed two nights. Our train left Venice at 10 a.m. and got in to Vernazza at 6:00 p.m. We stayed in Vernazza two nights, and I must say it was a highlight of our trip. The one full day that we had there, we hiked from Vernazza along the coast through the charming villages to Riomagiore and took the boat back to Vernazza. The next day, we took the train from CT to Sienna. However, we stopped in route in Pisa, left our bags in a locker at the station, walked to see the Tower and Duomo (as I recall, it is about ½ hr. walk). We stayed about an hour at the Tower area, had lunch at a charming café, then headed back to the train and continued on to Sienna. It was a long day with lots of train transfers, but looking back on it, we were glad we got to CT and to Pisa. If you decide to do this route, remember to pack light—as there are many steps at the train stations. We enjoyed staying in Sienna. You can daytrip from there into Florence.

Thank you main1 and others who chimed in. Since we have 3 weeks... and my hubby's birthday is when we'd be in CT (and he really wants to hike it) we will likely do it... we fully know it will take most of the day to get from Venice to CT via Milan. It looks like we can arrive before 4pm and can stay 3 or 4 nights. Maybe there's another train route - someone mentioned Bologna. Then where?
Or we could take the train to Florence and tour Florence first, then CT, then Tuscany. Is that a better idea??
This is so confusing! Thank you for your insights and thoughts. I hope we can finalize the plan soon and get back to real life!

changemaven,

You might want to start your own thread, and include when your travel dates are, but my inclination would be to head from Venice to Florence, Florence to CT -- then pick up the car in La Spezia (near CT) and drive it to Montepulciano. From Montepulciano, drive it to Sorrento, then after that finish up your trip in Rome.

You are spending such a short time in Florence, you might consider doing Florence as a day trip from Rome. In which case, I would take the train from Venice to CT, pick up the car in La Spezia, tour in Tuscany, onto Sorrento, back to Rome -- but add a day to Rome so you can day trip back to Florence one of those days.

Sorry-- it probably wasn't clear from my previous post that if you drive your car to Sorrento, I recommend that you drop it off there and use trains for the remainder of your trip.

Cinque Terre is worth the getting there!

You would pass through Bologna on the way to Florence from Venice. It is not a different route. The only other route I know is a small line that features only regional trains that goes from La Spezia to Parma--not a useful route if traveling from Venice.

I was in Florence for 2 months, and all weekends I use to travel to some different places for a day or too, it is very centric to use it as a base. (I do recommend going to CT)

Whatever your desicion is, I just wanted to give you a petit advice.
Italy's trains are not like the rest of Europe, you have 3 different prices, the cheaper (which I always took) was inneficient, it was slow and made stops in every little town.
Also it can run veeeery late.
Be sure to book the medium price train or the most expensive if you want to get really fast.
Check the return times, because if you miss the last train you'll get in that city until the next day.

Thanks to you all, definitely very good tips. I think it is terribly hard to assemble a trip, lots of factors to consider. This is what we have so far:
Fly to Venice, arrive early morning
Two nights in Venice near St Marks but not directly on a canal. (Tough to get those last minute.)
Vernazza (CT) for two nights. Lots of variety possible in accomodations. Do you pick stairs, ducks, or train? Breakfast is not always included
Florence for 2 nights (we pulled 1 day from the original 3 nights in Florence plan and 1 day from the original 3 nights in Venice plan to get 2 days in CT)
Rome for 4 nights (still looking for accomodations)

Of course, we still need to make train arrangements.

Some lessons learned so far:
1. Google maps comes in very handy to determine if you might have potential construction (or other disadvantages) to the places you're considering
2. It appears that many accomodations are actually what we in the US call "condos"...sometimes owner-occupied but sometimes rented out
3. Don't be surprised to find a shower in the middle of the room (with no walls)
4. There are deals to be had and last minute arrangements are possible (some websites even feature those)
5. Learn to identify "areas" in the town that you might frequent and consider accomodations accordingly.
6. Sometimes being close to the train can be good and sometimes bad. The surrounding neighborhoods may or may not be nice.
7. If you're a light sleeper consider earplugs. There are many sources for noise, some natural and some manmade. You can't always anticipate.
8. Air conditioning is not a given (nor are fans) and sometimes it is not free
9. Decide whether you want to be an American abroad or to experience the country you visit. Sometimes you need to compromise one thing for another.
10. Email seems to be the current preferred way of making accomodations. I think in the US, websites are the most common. But Italy seems to favor email. And credit cards may only be used to book the stay, with cash for payment. (Though some places give discounts if you pay at booking...often these are nonrefundable.

I know this is old, but I am hoping Travelfrenzy you get this...as I am looking at a very similar trip just starting in ROME (flights were better with airmiles) ..I was curious if this all worked otu for you and how your trip ended up. what would you do different etc.

bgsnmky, the OP hasn't posted since before taking this trip, so it's possible he/she will never see your question. You should start another thread...

Unless the itinerary changed, the family spent only one full day in Venice, one full day in Vernazza, one full day in Florence and three full days in Rome. Would that be enough time for you to see what you want to see in each of these places?