My husband and I will be celebrating our wedding anniversary in Italy, flying into Venice and out of Milan (smaller airport). At this point, we are looking at this itinerary and we do travel fast.
--2 Nights Venice
--1 or 2 Nights Florence (if only 1 night, then head to Siena or Tuscany)
--1 Night Levanto (to park car)
--1 Night Cinque Terra for hiking
--1 Night Santa Margherita to explore and see Portofino
--1 Night Piedmonte area (husband loves good wine)
--1 Night Milan before departing to airport

If we cut off a night somewhere, we could do 2 nights in Piedmonte but that either leaves Florence or Cinque Terra short. We will be doing trains until Florence and then renting a car for the remainder of our trip. Thank you for any suggestions -- our flights are in place and now just fine tuning an itinerary.

Too many destinations, too much checking into and out of hotels. Research the travel times between points to understand how little time you'd have for sightseeing. Two nights gives a full day, and one night night less than a day.

Having a car in this itinerary doesn't make sense for the time you have unless you're willing to pare down the destinations. What you skip is up to you, but you can tell your husband there is good wine everywhere.

One-night stops take time packing up and relocating - many of your one-night stands are close together - with such limited time I'd consolidate some. anyway trains - Venice to Florence book early as possible at Acquista il biglietto con le nostre offerte - Trenitalia or www.italotreno.it/en for nice discounts over full fare - check www.seat61.com for sage advice on doing that yourselves online. General info trains BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

Like stay 2 nights Levanto and day trip by train to car-less for most part Cinque Terre.

Yes traveling fast is fine with your but travel times between stops means less than a full day in those places.

what time of year are you traveling? Because of parking difficulties in nice weather months, you might be able to move more quickly if you take trains to the Riviera and wait to pick up a car In Rapallo (5 minutes from Santa Margherita Ligure) and then head on into Piemonte.

If your husband wants to visit wineries in Piemonte he will need to make appointments to visit the most important ones.

Why park in Levanto for the Cinque Terre when you can park in a public lot in Monterosso in the CT?

I do have one more night that wasn't included in the itinerary but will revise to spend 2 nights in either Levanto or Monterosso and day trip to Cinque for hiking. But which of these destinations is more charming? Also, Piedmont is my husband's top choice as he loves barbarescos and barolos -- not just any red wines. Is Santa Margherita a pass? A friend loved this area and the hiking into Portofino. Lastly, we are very fast travelers no matter where we travel; one trip we combined Singapore, Sri Lanka & Maldives together for a 2 week trip, including flights. As we both work full time, this is the norm for us when traveling and have been doing this for the last 30 years.

Well I'm a lover of the occasional one nighter but I usually like to intersperse them with 2 or long night stays. Anyway, it really would make much more sense to base in somewhere like Santa Margherita or Rapallo for three nights and one day go down to the CT and another day hike into Portofino. And really the only part of your itinerary that makes sense to have a car is Piedmont. The rest is much easier done by train. If you do decide to have a car for the Riviera part, there are hotels in Rapallo with parking.

SMLigure is a neat seaside town - we based there and day tripped to 5 Terre and did yes a lovely walk thru forests to Portofino - there there was a huge tourist mob - the hike was neat but Portofino way too mobbed.

People have varying opinions about which towns of the Riviera are most charming. Often it depends on what time of year you will be there -- which specific days. The easiest locations for hiking on the Portofino promontory are either Santa Margherita Ligure or Camogli. There is parking associated with hotels in every Riviera town, but generally you must pay quite a bit for it, especially in the nice-weather months.

It is also the case that if you will be in that part of the Riviera on the weekend or in a very popular time of year, traffic on the roads and in and out of the towns can be intense and very slow going. That is why it is suggested, if you want to move speedily, that you travel to the Riviera by train, and use the trains and ferries to go sightseeing on the Riviera, and only pick up a rental car when you are leaving.

Also, wineries and the more famous restaurants in Piemonte may close for extended periods during the summer months. If your husband has a specific agenda for Piemonte, you want to check in advance that what you want to do will be open on the days you want to be in that area.

https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/hi...san-fruttuoso/

Great hikes to San Fruttuoso which many find more amenable than over crowded Portofino.