I think 3 nights in the CT is fine. September-October is a good time weather wise although you have about a 1/3 chance in rain. I think 2 nights or one day in Florence is almost a waste of time. We did it once and a few years later none of us remembered much of the city. You will need a car in Greve. Personally I liked being based in Siena with a car as we could come home to a city with lots of restaurants and stuff to do in the evening. 3 nights in Venice is reasonable.

Sounds like a wonderful trip! You will love it!

I also vote for flying into Venice first, but you sound like you are set. We were in Tuscany and CT last October and didn't have a drop of rain until the day we left. Obviously, it can change from year to year but it won't necessarily be a problem. It was also a lot hotter than we were anticipating.

We did a 3 hour tour of Florence the first morning, which we thought was great. I don't think you need one in Venice, but if you enjoy the advice and commentary, a tour would be easy to find.

We didn't go to Greve and whether to just stay there and relax or to venture into different towns depends on your style. I would prefer to go on a tour one day, that included a winery and a couple of other towns. The area is so beautiful, it would be fun to see more of it. It doesn't sound like you want to rent a car, but in that part of your trip it would be nice to have one.

In CT, we stayed in Manarola, which we loved .Enjoy!

Haha, mjs! Typing at the same time

Where would you go to Siena or San Gimignano from? Florence or Greve? You only have 2 nights in Florence - meaning only one full day devoted to it. You may have overdone your time to even fit in Siena or San Gimignano, which both are worth going to.

Hi. Thanks!!

The plan, if we were to visit Siena would be to do a 1/2 day max from Greve.

We basically are narrowing down our planned activities so that we may have some to relax and/or do what we want, I agree that only 2 nights in Florence is tight but we are not city or artsy people yet a morning walking tour of the main attractions including the Academia Gallery sounds good enough for us. That leaves the rest of the day and night for us.

We decided to limit our activities in each of our destinations:

CT: Sunset 3 hour boat cruise. I love sunset cruises and was told this was a nice way to see the CT towns from the sea view.
Florence: Morning walk including the Duomo and Academia. We decided against the Ufizzi galleria based on time and preferences.
Tuscany: Our plan is to visit a winery. After that possibly a 1/2 day visit to Siena.
Venice: Morning walk including St. Mark's square and Doge's palace and yes a Gondola ride. Last time I did that was about 50 years ago and I remember loving it!

Thanks again, W

A day in Florence... a half-day in Siena... That timing is tight regardless of your priorities. You seem locked into this plan, but you might not have fully considered the time needed just to get around, move from place to place. Renting the car takes time (airport or Florence city center?). Returning it (in Venice?) takes time. The drive from Greve to Siena would take an hour or more each way... not counting time to find parking outside of the ZTL and get to/from the Campo area.

Considering your comments about this trip, I'd skip Florence and stay in a smaller town than Greve. If you're OK with a one-way car rental surcharge, pick up the car as you're leaving the Cinque Terre and return it in Venice. If you're not renting a car, the public trans options are better from Florence and Siena than from Greve. Exploring "Tuscany" by bus from Greve would be difficult, and getting to Venice would take more than half a day.

I have to agree with Jean. You have left your time in this area too tight with too much transit and hotel changes. You're underestimating how long this all takes, and it would ultimately end up a very rushed portion of your trip.

I take it you are flying OUT of Venice? I hope you were able to get a later flight...

Hi everybody.

Our plan is to walk/hike the number 2 trail (the most common trail) at the Cinque Terre to visit all of the 5 main cities. Do we need hiking boots or can we use sneakers that have good tread on them?

Thanks, Warren.

The "Path of Love" between Riomaggiore and Manarola will reopen in a couple of days after being closed for 12 years. Capacity will be controlled and tickets are required. By the photos, this renovated path doesn't require anything more than walking shoes.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/2...after-12-years

I haven't walked any of the CT trails in several years, and they have sustained damage/deterioration since then. You can go to images.google.com and search for photos of the CT Blue Trail #2. Whether you "need" hiking boots or can get by with sneakers is largely based on your physical condition. (Do you do any trail hiking at home?) I would probably take trail runners which have more stability and support than the typical street/fashion "sneakers."

Thank you!

We're trying to pack light and will most likely forgo our Merrill Moab hiking boots and use our Brooks Ghost walking/running sneakers instead. Especially since the rest of the trip will not involve hiking as we know it.

Thanks again, W

Hi. As we are nearing our trip I wanted to reach out for restaurant recommendations for:

CT
Florence
Greve, Chianti
Venice

We like basic italian food, not rabbit, squid, whole fish, or anything like that. Based on some of the menu's I have looked at online it appears most if not all restaurants have some great choices that would work for us.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks, W

You should be a bit more specific about the locations. There are five towns in the Cinque Terre. Chianti is not a town, but an area in Tuscany. Greve is in the Chianti area, but did you have some other town in mind as well? In any case, I can't help you with Greve.

Florence and Venice are large cities with thousands of restaurants. You need to pick an area. It's like asking us to recommend a restaurant in New York. That said, restaurants in both cities serve a lot more tourists than residents, so most of them have plenty of options for the squeamish. You could ask for a recommendation at your hotel, although sometimes they recommend their brother-in-law's restaurant.

HI. Fair response.

In terms of CT, any of the 5 villages will do. We are staying in Manorial and I know a lot of reviews recommend Trattoria Dal Billy which we will probably make a reservation considering it is sin the same town that we are staying. We are also thinking Osteria a Cantina de Mananan in Corniglia (next town over) based on other recommendations and also since the owner has been extremely responsive to my inquiries. Looking for other recommendations to cover the 3rd night regardless of which village or even to replace one of the two we already booked.

For Florence, I realize it is a very big city but would love to hear any favorites. I checked Fodors and one that appealed to me was La Giastra which turns out to be only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. I did make reservations but I am looking for another night. I was told it is best to make reservations based on recommendations although we do love to walk around and explore and then just happen to find something.

In Tuscany we will be staying in the Chianti region not far from Greve or Panzano so if anybody has any recommendations for these areas that would be great.

For Venice, similarly to Florence, I would appreciate any recommendations regardless of where in Venice. I don't have anything booked at this time for restaurants but actively looking.

Thanks and again if anybody had a favorite in any of the above areas please share.

Grazie!

One of my Italian friends is just back from CT (his first visit). He said apart from the Germans, French, British, Americans there it was a lovely visit. He spoke strongly about the quality fish in the restaurants and found the local restaurant staff appreciative of having customers who knew what the food should taste like. So watch out and chose your restaurants carefully. It is a busy place and it is too easy for them to serve up sub-par food to foreign customers.