Boscobern

My daughter and I will be going to Italy. Our main cities are Rome, Florence and Venice. I would love to see Cinque Terre. Is this doable as a side trip from one of those cities?

Hitashi

How long is your Trip for ? What month are you going in?

bobthenavigator

I wwould allow 12 days for the big 3--do you have more time?

Boscobern

We will be there from June 18 to June 28.

zeppole

There are no "fixed" days you "need" to spend anywhere. Plenty of people visit Rome, Florence and Venice in 7 days --- but that is because they are very selective about what they want to see and don't fall for the trap of believing "everybody" needs to see a set bunch of tourist sights. That's travel by formula, not intelligent travel for you.

How many things do you personally want to see in Rome?

How many things do you personally want to see in Florence?

How many things do you really want to see in Venice?

Do you think can handle switching hotels every other day?

It will take you 4.5 hours from Rome on a train to get to le Cinque Terre. If you spend a night or 2 there, it will take you 3 hours minimum to then go on to Florence. It will take you 3 hours to get to Venice by train from Florence.

So draw up your sightseeing basics, add up the hours it takes to see them. You should do what you want to do -- which may mean spending 4 days in Rome and no time in le Cinque Terre, only half a day in Florence -- whatever.

Take the trip you want to take as best as you can. Ignore the "you must follow my rules" approach. Italy isn't about rules.

Jean

June 2012? If so, I would be making your decisions ASAP and getting on to booking hotels.

I generally don't count arrival and departure days but consider any available time on those days as a 'bonus.' So, for my thinking, you have nine full days. Moving from one city to another can use up a half-day, and in a relatively short trip I try to minimize the moving around and keep the distances as short as possible.

All things considered, IMO (which is all this board is, opinions), adding the Cinque Terre to such a narrow time frame without dropping one of the three cities is short-changing all.

If it were my trip and I "really want to see Cinque Terre," I'd drop Rome. I would arrive at Pisa, head immediately to the Cinque Terre for 2-3 nights, move to Florence for 3-4 nights (take at least one day trip to a smaller town), and end in Venice for 3-4 nights. How the nights/days are allotted depends on personal interests.

But, if you've already booked the tickets to Rome and can't change them, then I'd consider dropping Florence or skipping the Cinque Terre altogether. JMO.

rolohof_duvall

Once again zeppole provides sage advice. Boscobern, I too support the " do what you want to do" and take the "if I were you " advice lightly. For example flying into Pisa to go to le Cinque Terre may not be your best option. Perhaps flying into Genoa is or Milan. These choices obviously are dependant on from where you are flying.

KMacK_ca

I understand from friends that Cinque Terre may not be back at 100% capacity after the devastating floods of last fall. I can't comment on it first hand but it might be a good idea to check the current situation.

Boscobern

Thanks for the replies. It's all great info. And yes it is this June. This trip was a big surprise from my brother as a gift for my daughter's graduation from middle school. I need to get moving on my plans!

Connie

Only Vernaaza was heavily damaged by the floods and many businesses are back open for business. ONly a small part of Monterosso was damaged and they are almost done with their reconstruction.

www.savevernazza.com has the best and latest updates. They sure could use your tourist dollars.

Personally, one full day/2nights in Florence would be enough for me. It isn't all that large and everything is within walking distance.

Same with CT. The villages are tiny and it doesn't take long to see them. We really enjoyed buying a day ticket and taking the boat from village to village. The view of each village from the sea was incredible.