bowen

I'm reaching out to all you experienced and knowledgeable travellers familiar with this part of the world and hope you can help. This our first trip to Italy and I'm finding it confusing figuring out the trains and logistics of visiting Florence and Rome in a mere 5 days (possibly 6 or 7)

1. Our daughter will be with friends in the Cinque Terre region (Aug 10 - 17) and we plan to meet her at the end of her stay (I'm thinking Pisa makes sense as we can fly non-stop from Amsterdam (visiting family there from Aug 13-16/17).
2. Once reunited with our daughter in Pisa, we would like to visit Florence for a few days and then travel together to Rome for a few days.

QUANDRY #1 (on behalf of daughter): Is there a train from Vernazza to Pisa/Florence?
QUANDRY #2 (me and husband): For economy of time, would it be best to meet daughter at the trainstation in Pisa and depart for Florence together - or should we make our way to Florence from Pisa and suggest she depart from Vernazza and take a train straight to Florence and meet us there?
QUANDRY #3: If we have only, say, 6 days to visit both cities, I'm wondering if we should stay in either city longer (e.g. Florence 2 days, Rome 4 days or vice versa)?
QUANDRY #4: If you have time, your suggestions/recommendations on apartment-type accommodation in Florence and Rome would be greatly appreciated ... though this topic isn't as high priority since I'm having better luck checking out our options via the web.

Thank you to everyone out there for your time and responses!

Best regards,
Susan

bobthenavigator

# 2 makes more sense. The train to Florence will likely stop in Pisa via La Spezia.
Make it 2-4 giving Rome more time
Forget apt. in Florence--too little time. In Rome look at Palazzo Olivia.

travgina

Trains run frequently between the villages of the Cinque Terre and on to La Spezia. From there your daughter would take the train that goes to Pisa (1 hr.) and on to Florence (another hour.) As far as meeting up with her in Pisa or Florence, either one would work out fine.

Personally, I think two days in Rome would be too rushed, so I'd opt for four days there and two days in Florence.

Have a great trip.

Connie

In Vernazza, you get on the regional train that runs amongst the CT villages to La Spezia. At La Spezia, you change trains to Florence. It may or may not go through Pisa, depending on which train you choose. The La Spezia and Pisa stations are small and easy to navigate--just a few tracks. You can easily buy all these tickets once you get to Italy.

Definitely spend much more time in Rome than Florence. IMO, unless you are a serious art lover, there's not all that many must sees in Florence. You will hear otherwise but you will also hear a lot of people that agree with me if you do a search. You will certainly want to see David at the Accadamia--there's not much else to see there. I could have done without the Uffizi Gallery. The city center isn't all that large and you can easily see it all in one day. One thing I really enjoyed was going up to the Michaelangelo Palazza just before sunset. It's on top of a hill overlooking the city and the sunset over the city and Arno River were beautiful.

kybourbon

Are you flying in and out of Pisa or flying out of Rome?

If you are flying into Pisa from Amsterdam, you are likely on a budget airline and there is a bus shuttle service from the airport to Florence.
http://www.terravision.eu/florence_pisa.html

bowen

Thanks everyone for your responses! We're tweaking our itinerary with your suggestions in mind.

kybourbon: Yes, we'll fly into Pisa from Amsterdam and meet our daughter (who will be travelling by train from Vernazza) either at the train station or the airport ... not sure about logistics of this, but if there's a shuttle from Pisa all the way to Florence, it sounds like it would be easier for us than the train and perhaps cheaper (would you know approximate costs)? If that's the case, then I'll ask my daughter to meet us at the Pisa airport and we'll all take the shuttle together. With tight time constraints, a drive to Florence sounds like a lot less hassle.

Thanks again!

kybourbon

The cost is on the link I gave for the Terravision shuttle - 10€. The Pisa airport and Pisa Centrale train stations are only 5 minutes apart by train. If you train, you will have to go to Centrale and change trains for Florence. The train will cost 5.60€. On Trenitalia, enter Pisa Aeroporto and Florence with a date in the next 7 days to get schedules.

bowen

You all have no idea how much I appreciate your advice! Many thanks!