Hi! I just booked a flight to Italy from 2 -18 October. My friend and I will be going to Cinque Terre, Florence and Venice. We've both been to Italy before but not these areas. I would love to hear from anyone about what their recommended number of days in each place are and which town in the CT to stay in. I've heard good things about all of them and just can't decide. Also if you have any particular places to stay in Florence or Venice, a quiet place would be preferable. We don't want to spend too much but on the other end do not want to do hostels or the like as we're in our late 30's/40's, so somewhere in the middle.
Thank you for any input in advance!

Hey This is a great time to visit Italy. Early October should be fine for walking around and still with a good amount of heat.

For the Cinque Terre, although I've never been, you could try this website that combined info with accommodation: http://www.arbaspaa.com

For Florence general information on what to do and places to visit, you should visit: http://www.tuscany-villas.co.uk

Some personal recommendations on places to stay in Florence are:
http://www.hotelcasci.com (2 star very central)
http://www.hotel-florence-montebellosplendid.com/ (4 star, very nice!)

Have a great trip.

hi tem,

In Florence, I can highly recommend www.bedinflorence.it.

We were in Florence and CT last October. We stayed in Vernazza at Albergo Barbara which is right on the harbor. The place is spotless, owners speak fluent English, and the cost for a double was under $100. Vernazza is absolutely beautiful and charming with a number of very good restaurants (be sure to try the pasta with pesto). We stayed two nights and wished we had stayed for a few more nights. We hiked between towns and we took the boat that along the sea which stoped at each town. We will definitely go back. Website: www.albergobarbara.it.

In Florence we stayed at a Bed & Breakfast, Il Salotto di Firenze, located near the Duomo. It was a great location, convenient to everything, and the room was large with a very modern (and large) bathroom. As I recall the rate was about $120 per night. See reviews on Trip Advisor. Website www.ilsalottodifirenze.it.

Thanks for the tips, I will check them all out.
I'm v. excited, I've been wanting to do this for ages!

Hi Temashana,

Myself and my boyfriend spent went to Florence for 3 nights, Cinque Terre for 3 nights and spent our last night in Pisa (for an airport connection) last May and had a fanstastic time, you'll love it! The trip was my birthday present to my bf, as I was paying for 2 I was on a budget and didn't want to do a hostel. Even budget hotels in Florence are shockingly expensive but I came across Hotel Aline near the train station, the Duomo and the Galleria www.hotelaline.com If you're looking for somewhere in a safe area thats clean with no frills to crash then this is a good choice. With everything to see in Florence you won't spend much time in your hotel!

As for the Cinque Terre - after many hours researching I picked Manarola for 3 nights and we LOVED it! We were so pleased I had decided on it over the other 4 towns, as lovely as they all are there was something very special about Manarola. Its so authentic, the restaurants are amazing, the view is amazing and it was less touristy than the other towns. We found it was nice to hop on the train/boat and go to the other towns but so lovely to go back to Manarola in the evening and sit by the sea with gelato A daytrip to Portofino is highly recommended!

I'm sure you will have a great time where ever u go, I'm very jealous x x x

Thank you carolemg. Thank you for your input. It is so hard to decide where to stay! What hotel did you stay at in Manarola?

Here are my recommendations for CT, Florence, and Venice

CT..
http://www.cinqueterre-laposada.com/...partments.html
Email and ask for Sole Y Luna Apt. My sister and I loved it.

Florence..
www.sanlorenzohotel.it
Simple, clean, and safe.

Venice..
http://anticocapon.altervista.org
In Campo Santa Margarita.
My room was across the square in another building.
It was a big and clean room, with shared bath.
It had a huge tub.

Also have stayed at this lovely apt.
http://www.knowital.com/veneto/venic...partment1.html

You are going to 3 wonderful places and I wish you all the best.

You're very welcome! We stayed at Locanda Guiliana, it was really lovely and very reasonable. I think we paid 70 euro a night for the room. If you look up Manarola accommodation on trip advisor you'll see my review under dinkydoll, I would def stay there again. Anything else you need to know just ask x x x

I second the suggestion to stay in Manarola while in CT. It is absolutely one of my favorite places on earth...
We enjoyed both Marina Piccola (2006) and Ca d'Andrean (2008).
http://www.hotelmarinapiccola.com/
http://www.cadandrean.it/englishindex.htm

In 2006, we stayed at the Relais Grand Tour in Florence, and I cannot recommend it more highly. Beautiful, quiet, conveniently located, and very special. The owners are both artists and designers, and the care they have put into this place is extraordinary. They speak perfect English, also, which makes communication a piece of cake.
http://www.florencegrandtour.com/

t-have you decided on this yet? if not, I will post some tips.

We are spending 4 nights in Santa Margherita Ligure to enjoy CT. I thought I read somewhere that it is 70 miles to CT from there so wonder if we've made the wrong choice. I checked into Manarola but thought the restaurant choices were very limited. As we leave on the 13th I'd really appreciate timely advice. Thanks in advance.

We stayed in Santa Margherita Ligure. As I recall it was around 50 minutes by train to the CT (Monterosso). We liked staying in SML, it allowed us to see both that area as well as the CT. We went to Camogli (they have a fun fish festival in May, although I think it is the Sunday before you arrive), Portofino, San Fruttuoso Abbey, and Chiavari in the SML area, then also spent a couple of days hiking and sight seeing around the CT. Lots of restaurant choices in SML.

The Cinque Terre is really lovely, with great seafood and pasta with pesto - oh, and limoncino (their limoncello). Another option for the Cinque Terre is to stay in Levanto. I thought each of the five towns had its own charm, so I don't think you can go wrong with any of them, but we stayed in Levanto because we liked the location (just at the edge of the Cinque Terre Nat'l park, so minutes from the towns by train); more eating and lodging choices; market; wide beach; when we were there, a little less crowded than the five towns.

We stayed at the Europa.

In Venice, I loved both of these places on two different trips:

Casa Martini:
www.casamartini.it
Utterly charming little inn. Run by a really nice couple (it has been in his family for generations) who will send you to local restaurants and give you a taste of the Venice Venetians inhabit. In Cannaregio not far from the Ghetto.

Ca'Turelli, booked through:
www.veniceby.com
Look in the B&B section. Small, clean, nice large bathrooms on a quiet little canal, or rio, I guess; in Dorsoduro, so a good location.

We spent a week in Cinque Terre in October, and were surprised how packed it was on the weekend. If you can, time your visit for a weekday.

We stayed at Hotel Metropole in Santa Margherita Ligure and found this was the right choice for us. We wanted to see Cinque Terre but we are not hikers so one day was perfect for us. A one day train pass was 7,80 euro per person return and the hotel was minutes from the train station. We took the train to Riomaggiore, bought a Cinque Terre card for 5 euro which allowed us to walk the Amore Trail (a very easy walk with nice views). We then took the train between the other villages; Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso having a nice little walk around at each stop. We took the electric bus from/to the train station in Corniglia (included in the price of the Cinque Terre card) and we were so glad we did. There is no way we would have been able to manage that climb. We had lunch at a little bar steps from where the bus let us off with great views and enjoyed watching a school outing of young children enjoying their pizza lunch. We had our daily fix of gelato in Vernazza. I read many recommendations on the "best" gelato in various places but our experience was there is no such thing as a bad gelato so I wouldn't waste time looking around for a special location. Just check for the flavour you like and go for it. We left the SML train station at 8:34 am and returned at 4:06 which was a perfect, leisurely day for us. I'm glad we went to Cinque Terre but, in our opinion, Amalfi and Ravello were nicer.