A 5 day tuscany trip, please help
 

Hello, I have a lot of questions! I will be flying in to Pisa in Late May. From there I wish to see Cinque Terre, Florence, and Seina. I am struggling to coordinate this, so thank you for any help...
- Would it make sense to rent a car for the duration of this trip? I am told we may not park a car in Cinque Terre?
- Also, How long Does it take to get from Pisa to Cinque Terre?
- From there we would go on to Florence. How long with this take? Does it make sense to then go on from Florence to Siena or is this stretching the trip to thin?
-We will arrive into Pisa on Monday Afternoon (5/20) and from there we have until Friday 5/25 to circle around back out of Pisa.
I am thinking renting a car might allow us to stop places we wish along the way and also if we feel like skipping one place or another we might have more freedom to do so. The whole trip would make much more sense if we were flying into Florence so if anyone knows of an inexpensive airline that might allow this, I am apt to skip Pisa all together!

If you are arriving on 5/20 in the afternoon, most of that day is shot. When is your flight out on 5/25? Probably, most of that day is gone too.

Have you been to Pisa? If not, go the the Field of Miracles on your arrival day. Late afternoon is very good for picture taking there with the sunlight at that time of day. Stay the night there or take the train to Lucca and spend the night there and look around.

Tuesday move on to Siena for a night or two and then to Florence for the final night or two. Hard to say how to break up those nights.

Or maybe 2 nights in Siena and 1 night in San Gim!

I loved all of these towns.

It's hard to be restrained when you get to Italy but you really only have fours full days so you'll be whizzing through these places at light speed. Try to see the Field of Miracles in Pisa as suggested by joannyc. The Cinque Terre require a day to reach and hike and are a 1 1/2 - 2 hour trip each way from Pisa. You could do that on your first full day and then get an evening train on to Florence. Alternatively, Pisa to Florence is only an hour or thereabouts by train so you could return to Pisa and go on to Florence early next day. I would base yourself there for the rest of the time and do a day trip to Siena. You won't even scratch the surface of Florence in the time that remains. No need to get a car, as parking in Florence is difficult and there are reasonable train connections to Siena. Have a look at Trenitalia http://www.trenitalia.com/ website for information on timetables and so forth - type the names of the cities in in Italian!

With the short amount of time you have, I would eliminate one destination. Otherwise, you will see very little. Cut either Cinque Terre or Siena from your itinerary. I guess I would cut Siena, great though it is because it is a bit outside the geographic area of your other stops. Fly into Pisa, see the Field of Miracles, stay overnight, train to CT, hike, stay overnight, train to Florence, stay for 3 nights and return to Pisa.

That will give you two full days in Florence - not nearly enough but the best you can do.

Do not rent a car. It will be a liability in all of your destinations. Use the trains.

thank you all so much. do any of you recommend anywhere to stay in cinque terre? i do not have much more than 60euro for a nights stay but would like to stay in vernazza to help with the econemy/flood releif if possible.
also, can anyone recommend things to do and see in florence?
you are right about taking advantage of our landing in pisa, what else is not to miss there aside from the campo dei miricoles?!

Try this highly-regarded (tripadvisor.com) tiny inn in Vernazza - rooms are 60 euros per night: http://www.ivocamere.com/