I am looking for input on the itinerary for a trip to Italy/France in May. We are two parents and our two boys (ages 18,20). We all are active, adventurous, like culture, food and scenery, and we are quite well travelled. We would really like to see Cinque Terre and are looking at what else we can combine with it. We’ll have about 10 days on the ground We are on the east coast of the US and haven’t booked flights yet.

The options I’m looking at are:

Option A
Nice/ Villefranche (to see friends)
Cinque Terre
Venice

Option B
Venice
Cinque Terre
Rome

Option C - 2 locations
Nice or Venice
Cinque Terre

I feel like just doing the 2 locations makes the most sense in that time period but I can't decide which to drop.

I am looking for input on the itinerary for a trip to Italy/France in May. We are two parents and our two boys (ages 18,20). We all are active, adventurous, like culture, food and scenery, and we are quite well travelled. We would really like to see Cinque Terre and are looking at what else we can combine with it. We’ll have about 10 days on the ground. The boys may do Rome for 2 days afterwards (day 11 and 12) on their own. We are on the east coast of the US and haven’t booked flights yet.

The options I’m looking at ar

Option A
Nice/ Villefranche (to see friends)
Cinque Terre
Venice

Option B
Nice or Venice (choose one)
Cinque Terre

I am torn between Venice or Nice/Villefranche. I love both and have friends to see in Villefranche, but feel Venice would be a bit easier logistrically to combine with CT. I worry doing all 3 in 10 days is too much travelling and packing/unpacking.

No bad choices there!

For my tastes, trying to visit all three locations in 10 days would be too much -- not because of changing locations, but because I'd want at least 5 days in Nice and at least 5 days in Venice, leaving no time for the Cinque Terre. YMMV.

I trust you know that the CT can be crazy busy with tourists. Try to check the cruise ship schedules and plan around them if possible.

If seeing friends was not involved, clearly Option B with Venice. But meeting up with people can be supremely satisfying depending on the circumstances. So that's the wild card.

Please see your other thread:
Northern Italy itinerary

and ask the moderators to merge your two threads. You can do that by clicking the orange triangle.

What are your and your family's interests?

Without knowing more about you and your priorities, we cannot decide for you.

If seeing friends has the highest priority, see you friends. If not, go to Venice. But again, depends on what all of you want and the trip you want.

If you truly only have 10 days on the ground (excluding flights to/from home), then I would agree limiting it to two bases would be a wise choice.

Personally, I'd skip CT and maybe do both Venice and Nice, albeit would be a long travel day between the two. But I am not you.

Fly open jaw, into one area and home from another.

Duplicate theads merged

"feel Venice would be a bit easier logistrically to combine with CT"
5Terre (Corniglia) - Nice is about 5 - 5 1/2 hrs by train with 2 train changes
5Terre (Corniglia) -Venice is about 6 1/2 - 7 hrs by train with 2 train changes

Venice and Cinque Terre appear in all 3 of your ideas, so to me that indicates that they are the "must do-s". Nice seems to be a nice-to-do (or a Nice-to-do.... see what I did there?) but not critical. I'd then focus on just Venice and CT, flying open-jaw into Genoa or Pisa and out of Venice. In addition to doing all of the traditional stuff in Venice/CT, doing 5 days in each place allows for time to explore to other nearby areas like Rapallo/Chiavari/SML, Treviso, the eastern Dolomites, etc. and still have downtime. Trying to do 3 bases, especially as spread-out as Nice, CT, and Rome/Venice are, will make you lose effectively 2 days just to travel.

(While you could do open-jaw into Venice and home from Genoa/Pisa, you'd likely need a positioning hotel the night before in either place because flying back to the US from those cities require an early-morning intra-Europe flight to a European hub first. Venice has direct flights to the US.)

It is very, very difficult to combine Nice, Rome and Cinque Terre. You will spend all your time on the road and will not be able to enjoy any of the cities. A more or less normal option is Nice, Cinque Terre and something near them. Better to visit Turin - it is an amazingly beautiful and interesting city.