5 Nights in Italy = Sisterly Squabble
 

Eek. My sister and I head to Europe for a full month starting April 12th. We are trying to balance spending time with family in Southern France and traveling out on our own. It is my first time to Europe at 25. My sister is 22 and traveled over with our grandma for a summer, but did a limited amount of traveling outside of France. We don't want to skimp on family or France time and know we want to spend 8 nights in Spain. This gets us to Italy - we plan to fly to our destination in Italy from Sevilla. My sister had in her head to do Rome, Florence, Venice and Cinque Terre. I broke it to her that by the time we want to spend a couple days and nights taking the train and stopping along the Med Coast out of Italy as we make our way back to Narbonne where our family is at, and 4-5 nights with our family before we depart - that we have 5 nights in Italy. I thought it was a good idea we try to get in two places in the 5 nights and she had selected Venice and Cinque Terre. However, I just got a call letting me know that she had spoken with her roommate and "Rome is essential." I suggested we trade in either Venice or Cinque Terre for Rome - but those are "essential" as well. She is now back on the idea of getting Rome, Florence, Venice and Cinque Terre in the 5 nights. Granted we are young, but the thought of traveling that much within 5 days makes me exhausted. Has anyone spent an abbriviated amount of time in Italy? If so I welcome any suggestions on an "essential" but pleasant itinerary.

You can't possibly enjoy four places in 5 days in Italy. You will have very little time to do much besides travel between the locations and barely have time to see anything once you get there. I would try to limit your choices to two locations at the most (and would probably first eliminate the Cinque Terre.) If your sister has to see all four locations, you will have to change your plans and add more days to the Italian portion of your trip.

Good luck!

You do not need any suggestions. You and your sister initially agreed that two places are to be visited even though SHE wanted to do more.

IMO now she is using the roommate's advice to help persuade you to change your mind.

Remind your sister of the agreement. Make her decide which TWO are to be visited. Stand your ground or you'll be resentful and regret not doing so for a long time.

Dukey & kttravel are both correct - too little time to do justice to one location, so stick to your plan of maximum two. Venice forst and work your way West if you are taking train all the way then Cinque Terre/Genoa/riviera en-route seems to make some sense.
Not wanting to take away from Spain - but 8 days Spain, 5 days Italy seems unballanced.

Rome, Florence, Venice, and the Cinque Terre are all worth seeing, but it would IMHO be a shame to try to cram all 4 destinations into 5 days. As others have already said, you would end up seeing far too little of each and paying too dearly in time and energy in the effort. To do all four on even a reasonably fast pace could take two and a half weeks! Maybe you can talk to your sister about what it means to visit a "must see" destination - if she means actually seeing it (as you seem to want to do), that will mean choosing which "must see" destinations to visit on this trip. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy yourselves whatever you decide!

To try to see all four locations in five days would be (IMHO) crazy. Sis agreed to two locations but now "must see" three or four? If she is not able to decide on only two, I would recommend that you not let her bully you. You're both adults.Start out at the same location in Italy, split up and travel solo to do your own thing, meet back at the relatives for your visit before returning home.

I have been in Cinqueterre and although it is charming, there is no comparison with Rome or Venice.
If I only had 5 days in Italy for the first time I would probably stay in Rome and do a day trip to Florence. If it is a "must" to sleep in 2 cities I then would pick 2 nights Venice and 3 nights Rome. Venice is very special.

There are probably at least 15 destinations in Italy that some people would consider "essential," perhaps even more. Read the posts just on this board and it's obvious that some people ADORE Rome while others hate it. Same for Flornce, Venice, Milan, Sienna, Sorrento, Positano, Capri...I could go on. They're all essential to someone but not to another.

It makes no sense to spend less than even a day in a place just becase someone says it's "essential." There are essential nutrients we need for our health but we have to have enough of them or there's no point. We don't cut our vitamins into little pieces and only take a portion.

You guys are young! You'll go back to Italy and see many parts of it if you really want to. Insist on focusing on one or two places and really see them. Otherwise you really might as well just stay in Spain for another 5 days.

Hi K,

If your sister and roommate insist on doing 4 destinations in 5 days, let them! You don't have to go with. Once you arrive in Italy, let them go! You split off and do your own thing.

You can plan a place to join up again later or in France. I can guarantee you will have the better experience!

Buon viaggio!

I think 5 nights for four destinations would be a waste. The Cinque Terre is beautiful, but I think I'd opt for a stay in two of the cities instead. For one thing, if the weather is rainy or cloudy at the CT, you'd not enjoy it because the trails would be too slippery and the views impaired.

Here's another idea: take a close look at your entire month-long itinerary, and sketch it out so you have a visual aid. Count up how many days are family days, how many are travel, how many are sight-seeing days. I'm thinking 4-5 days with family is a bit too long. Three nights might do it, unless you're traveling on day-trips with your family. And can you take one night from Spain?
:)>-