My sister in law and I are going to Europe starting on 4/22. Here's our itinerary:
4/22 Stuttgart to visit friends
4/23-24 Munich & Dachau
4/25-26 Salzburg
4/27 Innsbruck
4/28-4/29 St.Gallen/Appenzell (overnight train to Venice)
4/30 Venice
5/1-5/3 Somewhere in Italy - orginally thinking Florence & area
5/4-5/6 Rome
5/7 Fly home

So what we're trying to figure out is where do we go in Italy? I have a friend flying in to meet us in Pisa on 5/1 at 11:00am and back out from Pisa on 5/3 at 11:00am.

We were originally thinking about going to Florence and maybe spending a day near Pisa and Lucca area, 1 day in Florence and maybe a day around Siena. But then I learned about the Cinque Terre area and how beautiful that is. I'm looking for some advice on what to do. If we went into the Cinque Terre area we could do an overnight train from Venice, I'm just concerned that this may be too much travel and that Florence/Tuscany area is too much to miss.
What do some of you who have traveled the area think?

You have some interesting places to visit. I loved Apenezell & it remains one of my favorite mountain towns!

I think you have a lot of short stops. I would definitely stay more than one night in Venice. It is a place to wander and savor, and it's hard to feel the magic with a quick stopover.

And Rome has so much to offer; two nights is not much. I think you should pick just two places in Italy for the time you have.

What do you want to see the most? What are your interests? Renaissance art and architecture? Ancient Rome? Hiking above the sea? All 4 areas you mention are great, depending on what your vision of Italy is!

We are actually staying 3 nights in Rome 5/4-5/7 so hopefully that will be enough for us to at least see the highlights. I think that part of our problem is that we're interested in just about everything. My only concern is that with going to Rome after going to Florence I'm wondering if we spend a lot of our time in Florence seeing a lot of the museums that we'll be kind of tired of them by the time we get to Rome. So I was thinking that if we stay in the Tuscany area that we would spend about 1 day doing the museums/church in Florence and then wanted to get away from that type of thing. We were debating on if we are going to be around Florence for 3 days, do we rent a car to see some of the smaller towns in the area or do we focus on the larger ones we can get to by bus?
We're also concerned that we'll be pretty tired by this part of the trip due to all of our moving for the first week that we may need to calm things down a bit in this area. There's just way too much cool stuff to do that I'm not sure what to plan.
I was also wondering if we did rent a car and were going to wander around the smaller towns are we best to book a hotel in Florence to go back to or bring our stuff and stay wherever we end up?

I think Cinque Terre would be a nice relaxing change from the rest of your trip. Are meeting your friend in Pisa? (You'll have to leave Venice pretty erly to do tht---it's about 4.5 hours by train). But then from Pisa it is a short hop to Cinque Terre---1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour to 40 minutes to get to Vernazza, for example.

Hi J,

I would suggest staying in Venice. You will need some time to rest a bit.

Have your friend fly into Venice instead of Pisa.

Thanks for all of the tips but we already have the tickets for her to fly into Pisa. As much as I would love to go to the Cinque Terre area, I think that we are going to stay in Tuscany. We were thinking of spending 1 day in Florence and then 2 days around the countryside there, probably renting a car. The next issue that we've run into is that the first day we get in, May 1st is a holiday so everythings closed. I'm thinking that maybe we'll start out with a car that day and just go to see some of the countryside.

I would personally skip whatever I can to do Cinque Terra. The five villages have some of the prettiest trails - varying degrees of difficulty. It is the sort of place that can be relaxing if you just chose to hang in the villages, or you can fill it with beautiful hikes.
I have been to Sienna and Florence too. You get different experiences out of each, so it depends really on what you are in mood for. Florence - city/museums. Sienna - medieval town. Cinque Terra - natural wonder.
That being said, I easily vote for Cinque Terra over those two.
Hope this helps.

Ive done both areas and If I could bpick one to go back to, it's definitly be Cinque Terre! And, it's very close to Pisa!

You might want to check and see if the museums etc. are open while you are in Venice. I remember how we lost an entire day in Florence because things are closed on Mondays.

Since you are going to visit Rome, I would suggest that you go to Cinque Terre for a totally different experience. You're going to see a lot of the beautiful countryside between Venice and Rome. Explore Tuscany when you have a week to 10 days to do it justice. I also agree that one day in Venice is frustrating but it's better than not visiting at all. So again...my vote is Cinque Terre - it's unique and breathtaking.

You can plan day trips with a guide out of Florence to see the sites in Tuscany. We did a day trip to Siena and then to a wine vineyard all in one day. It was a short visit but convinced us to make another trip back, to only Tuscany, at another time. Driving the hill towns is beautiful but hectic in such a short time period. I highly suggest staying in Florence, touring the city and then planning on doing one or two day trips into Tuscany with a driver so you can see the sites but not have the worry about maps and finding your way around. I drove when we went back to only Tuscany, but honestly I missed so much of the scenery because of the stress of driving. If you are tired of museums take the bus up to Frisole for a lovely drive and have a meal overlooking the city of Florence it is breathtaking. I think Florence and Rome are completely different cities. I wouldn't worry that you will be doing so much of the same things in both cities.

The Cinque Terre is beautiful and would be a seaside stop unlike any of the other places you are visiting. It would be a relaxing time. We aren't big on hiking but did the easier hikes and totally enjoyed the natural sites. It is a quiet place with not a lot of things to do but relax and enjoy the sea and cafes, and a little shopping. If you feel you need a few slow days to relax and unwind, the Cinque Terre is the answer.