We will be traveling to above cities during latter part of December 2016, spending Christmas in Florence, New Years weekend in Venice, going on day trips to cinque Terre and surrounding areas the week between 26th thru 29th. We are planning on taking train to Venice and back. Is it advisable to get a Eurail pass to also use to go to cinque Terre and other cities we may want to visit? Or...if anyone has hired a driver for the day trips? We have been to Europe other times, first time to Italy (other than going to Rome) prefer not to go on tour groups. (Unless a suggestion of an excellent small group tour can be made
Anyone out there made this trip during Christmas time?

Lucky you. Christmas in beautiful in Florence. Check out the picture gallery on their local newspaper to see what you are in for...
http://www.lanazione.it/firenze/natale-albero-1.1554146

Cinque terre will be beautiful too at that time of year, partly because there will be so few tourists.

Don't bother with rail passes in Italy. Book on the trenitalia site which has an english version. If you book far enough in advance tickets between major cities will cost you 20-30 euros each way. Make sure to use the "Freccia Rossa", fastest trains, not the ponderous Regionale. You will not get the value of any EU rail pass in my opinion.

Best small group tour/ driver in Tuscany? I would advise asking for Simon at the "Slow day in Tuscany" vineyard tour. You'll have to check if they run over winter as many tour companies shut down during the off-season.

Hi edea,

I haven't used this firm but many people have spoken well of them and they get good reviews on TA too:

http://www.hillsandroads.com/inflash/index.html

TA also has a page of things to do in Florence - if you scroll down you'll see links to private tours, wine tastings, etc. etc.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attrac...e_Tuscany.html

Siena is a good day trip but take the bus, the train station is not that close to the center but the bus station is right there.

http://www.duomofirenze.it/attivita/liturgical.htm

Check this schedule closer to your visit so you can attend mass during Christmas.

I've used hillsandroads.com for Tuscany/Siena. Highly recommended.

Keep in mind that a Florence-CinqueTerre day trip requires up to 6 hours on trains and 4 trips going back and forth from stations.

where is SL when you need her?

I've never been to the CT at any time of year but from what I've read it is essentially a spring/summer/autumn destination where the main attractions are the villages as seen from the water, and the walks. So visiting in the winter, particularly as a day trip, seems to me to have two big disadvantages - the time it takes to get there and back, the weather [which may not be conducive to walking] and the lack of daylight. [oops, that's 3, shades of Monty Python there].

There are so many great things to see in Florence which are not weather dependent, and so many much easier day trips, I think that I would put an excursion to the CT well to the bottom of my wish list for this trip.