Cinque Terre and Amalfi...do one or both?
 

Planning a trip in late October. After Florence, we are trying to decide whether to go to Cinque Terre via Lucca (lunch stop) by car or skip CT to go straight to the Amalfi Coast (by plane or train) to have additional time (another two days) for the AC and Sicily at the end of our trip. Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated!

Can you give us more info...where are you coming from? What is the rest of your itinerary?

If you like hiking and rustic trails, cool rustic villages I would go to Cinque Terre.

If you like relaxing in the sun and seeing beautiful cliff towns I would go to Amalfi.

I will post the link to our Cinque Terre trip...

Oh - I would pick one or the other for a trip, here is our trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...dmont-2010.cfm

We did Amalfi coast in 2007 and loved it too!

Here is our potential itinerary...I have been to Rome before so planning on hitting only a few highlights there this trip. We would like to not be too travel-intense, but it is my boyfriend's first time to Europe. He is much more a beach guy than a city guy. However, he wants to incorporate some art & history...I've been to Florence and I think that will be more his speed than Rome. His family roots are Sicilian...that's why we are putting Sicily on the itinerary!

Day Itinerary
1 Travel
2 Arrive Rome early a.m.; tour city
3 Train to Florence a.m.; tour city
4 Tour Florence
5 Drive to Cinque Terre via Lucca
6 Tour Cinque Terre
7 Drive to Spezia; Train to Salerno; Bus to Positano
8 Tour Amalfi Coast
9 Bus to Salerno; Train from Salerno to Taormina
10 Tour Sicily
11 Bus to Palermo; Fly to Rome
12 Leave Rome (morning)/Return home (late evening)

With that short schedule I would skip either one. Cinque Terre can't be done in a day, we were there for 4 days and still didn't get to see all the towns completely, but we did all the hikes in between.

Cinque Terre needs time unless you know which town you want to see, or just visit each by train you will just have a little idea of how they are, forget about hiking them in a day unless you have knees of steel IMO.

Amalfi also needs time, we didn't get to see too much as we got sick, so we are going back next year. IMO after been a month in Italy if your boyfriend is a beach guy skip Cinque Terre and go to Amalfi or stay in beaches around Rome. I had a nasty fall in Manarola that put me in the Hospital so swimming in Cinque Terre can be very dangerous because is all slippery rocks and docks.

> We would like to not be too travel-intense

This trips sounds extremely "travel-intense" to me! Only 1 day for the Amalfi Coast? Only 1 day for Sicily? That is a LOT of traveling and very little time to see anything. I think it might be wise to consider trying to see far fewer places. Hope that helps!

Great insights...thanks...I'm soaking them up! Anyone with suggestions on the best town to be based for Amalfi...is it Positano? My boyfriend's family suggested Taormina for Sicily.

If this is not travel-intensive, I don't know what is. Definitely give up one or the other!! By the way, neither place is particularly a beachy place.

Why are you flying into Rome? Why not Florence? You save one move, and avoid backtracking. Go to Rome on the way to Amalfi and Sicily.

One day for Sicily? What?

I'd eliminate Florence AND CT. Or don't go to Sicily.

We are using miles for airfare...Rome is our only option. It's only a 1:35 hr train ride from Rome to Florence, anyway. I have revised our itinerary to eliminate CT adding time in both Amalfi and Sicily...

Glad to hear of your changes. You'll be better off for it.

I love your day 10---" tour Sicily". That took us 15 days--what do you have in mind? You have only 10 days in Italy--pick 3 destinations max. Go north or south from Rome but not both.

<pick 3 destinations max>

Let me stress MAX. If Rome is one of the destinations (which would be an obvious choice if you have to fly there), then add just one more destination. You need four or five days to get even started in Rome - anything less is just a waste of time. So while I'm completely with Bob "loving" your day 10, I "love" your day 2 even more: tour Rome in one day? Rome is a city that you need one entire year for if you want to see it; 365 days of most intense sightseeing, that is, and you'd still be far from having seen all of it. So actually, the best thing you could do is stay put in Rome for the whole 10 days. But for the sake of your boyfriend's roots, make it 5 days Rome, 5 days Sicily, and be aware that you'll have to go back to both destinations since you'll barely scratch both the Roman and the Sicilian surfaces.

I am definitely with Franco - I would pick 2 places MAX in 10 days. There is no way you can do your itinerary as it stands, well you can, but you wont actually see anything, you will be in transit 90% of the time!

Pick Rome and 1 other place!

My first reaction is to say forget Sicily - I don't think I have ever heard of anyone bothering to go all the way to Sicily for one day. That's just crazy. Taormina is very touristy and not all that different from Amalfi Coast towns and to go all that way just for one day there makes no sense.

However, you say your boyfriend is Sicilian and if he'd like to see Sicily, and you've already been to Rome and Florence - then I suggest you just go south from Rome. If you/he want a couple days of city then do Rome since you are already there, then either just go to Sicily or split the time between there and Amalfi Coast.

If you decide to do Sicily you need at least three or four days and include Siracusa as well as Taormina. You will get absolutely no "feeling" of Sicily with one day in Taormina. It's a huge cruise ship stop. At least Siracusa has a little bit of feel of Sicily. I would really suggest two days at each end of the trip in Rome and the rest in Sicily. Even with six days there you won't see all that much.

If Sicily is not absolutely necessary then just do Rome and AC. That's a real nice 10 day trip. I was just there in July and spent 8 nights in Sorrento and we felt that was perfect - we did day trips to Amalfi (twice), Ravello, Positano, Capri (where we commented that it had a similar feel to Taormina), Pompeii and Naples. Sorrento itself is a lovely little town with more to do and see than either Positano or Amalfi. We did a great hike from Ravello down to Amalfi. There are many more in that area.

Isabel & all...Thank you for your input...still tweaking on this end!

kd...

If you added up all the time you'll be either on a plane, bus or driving to get to some other place you might find you only have a few days to enjoy what you're going to see. Two places - excellent, three - max. As mentioned, travel in one direction from Rome - then return. In many ways the enjoyment of Italy increases as you spend more time in a place and you get to feel the life and the people (who know how to live more slowly). enjoy