Itinerary help: Venice + Florence w/side trips
 

Hello Friends

Pondering a 35th anniversary trip to enjoy Venice and Florence--with hopes of taking in Cinque Terre (and more?). We did an Italy trip on our 30th--taking in Rome and Sorrento areas with our 3 adult children. This time would be just us.

Trick is that we are trying to do this on a bit limited time and budget (booking our own travel through Expedia, etc., which we did last time and worked well.) How (un)reasonable is the following itinerary for summer 2020 (yes, I know it's VERY hot and INSANELY busy, it's the only time we can get away):

1. Day 1 arrival in Venice (easy get-acquainted day as we struggle to stay up until bedtime)
2. Days 2 and 3: Best of Venice (sufficient time for the MAJOR highlights?) TOTAL = 3 nights in Venice
3. Day 4 depart to Florence via early train (hoping to hit a couple MAJOR highlights on arrival day)
4. Day 5 take guided 1-day tour to Siena, Pisa and 1 other place that escapes (Viator coordinated)
5. Day 6 enjoy Florence
6. Day 7 take guided 1 day tour to Cinque Terre highlights (Viator coordinated) TOTAL = 3 nights in Florence
7. Day 8 back to Venice for 1 night (works best for RT travel) Total= 1 more night in Venice
8. Day 9 fly home

I know it's brief, hot, tiring, etc., and probably ill-advised on a number of levels. Go ahead and crush my naive thinking and set me straight as to better way to package 8+ days in Italy. Thanks in advance.

Hello! We also went our first time on our 30th. Venice-Rome-Positano. We are going again in September for our 36th.

i would absolutely not spend 4 out of 8 nights in Venice. We found it lovely and enjoyable for 2 nights. We could have done 3. There was just not enough to do there for us.

Why can’t you fly open jaw and leave from Florence? I’d do 3 nights Venice and 5 nights Florence with some day trips, then leave from there.

if you need to leave from Venice, then I’d do 2 nights and then one night before departure.

It is surprising that you found it more costly to fly into Venice and home from Florence. This is usually not the case. Do you search for multi-city flights? (not two one -way flights) Also Pisa might be a good option as well for your return flight.

I have found much to interest me in Venice across many trips over the years--it depends on your interests.

If you absolutely MUST round trip through Venice (open jaw is almost always preferable) -- then do not stay in Venice twice. That builds in an extra hotel check in /out. Upon your arrival in Venice, immediately travel on to Florence - get to your farthest point on what is essentially a lost travel day anyway. Then when, you are done in Florence, travel to Venice and have all your Venice nights together.

But -- only if you still plan on doing the R-T in/out of Venice

I actually think your plan is fine. I agree with janisj that it's usually preferable to not split your stays in one city into two different stops. I would probably take the train that first day to Florence and put all your Venice nights at the end. I assume that the deal you found RT in/out of Venice is sufficiently better than into Venice or Florence and out of the other - even after paying for the extra train trip. But it's really not that big a deal.

How much time you need in each city is totally up to individual opinion. Personally I love Venice more than Florence so 4 out of 8 nights would be fine. But I do agree that you can get a good 'taste' of it in only 2 or 3 days. But if you decide to go straight to Florence on arrival day, and only have 3 nights at the end for Venice, that leaves you with 5 for Florence. Maybe you could do some of the day trips on your own instead of with the organized tour. The only advantage to those are they allow you to go more places than you can independently on pubic transportation. On the other hand, you have less time. It's very easy to do a day trip to Siena from Florence (go by bus rather than train), also easy to do Pisa (and combine with Lucca) - that one you would do by train. But now you are talking two separate day trips. Given the fact that it will be hot and crowded I'm not sure Cinque Terre day trip is worth while.

But, despite the fact that it is hot and crowded, I've been to Europe (and usually Italy) every summer for the past two decades. That's when I have the time off but I actually love traveling in summer. Longer days, lots of flowers. You just have to know to take it easy mid afternoon on hot days and get up and to popular sites early in the day.

I'll let you figure out the flights, but I agree with the others... esp. if you r/t Venice, head to Florence immediately on arrival.

You have almost NO time in Florence. If your days include Sunday/Monday, you may have trouble seeing the "major highlights" as most are not open every Sunday and/or Monday. Even if you're not terribly interested in the Renaissance masterpieces, it does take some time to see the top sights. Timed entry tickets are recommended or required for some things. If you haven't done much research on what might interest you in Florence and how much time you'd need, I suggest you start here:

https://www.fodors.com/world/europe/italy/florence

Viator is an easy way to see things outside of Florence, but I don't like either of the tours you mention. Siena and San Gimignano are a better pairing than Siena and Pisa. Just the drive to Siena, Pisa and back to Florence would take more than 4 hours, so adding a 3rd stop makes for almost no time anywhere..... The tour to the Cinque Terre involves even more time sitting on a bus. When you get to whichever town(s) the tour covers, it will likely be crazy-crowded.

FYI, Siena is an easy trip by direct bus. Pisa is an easy trip by train, and you can also visit Lucca in the same day.

I wish I knew how to book it the way you suggest, which makes more sense. However, the only way I've found that it works most economically is to book as "flight and hotel" packages (selecting I only need hotel for part of my stay). Booking as even a partial package is far cheaper than booking flights and THEN hotels. In this case, I can get a package (4-star) for at least $600 less total than booking separately. If you have tips on how I could do what you appropriately suggest, please share. Thanks again for your reply!! Best

This is great advice! I recall now how we did that with our first trip. Landing in Rome, but pressing on to Sorrento to begin the stay, before returning to Rome for our ending stay. Thanks for the reminder!!

Thank you, Isabel, for your very thoughtful and in-depth advice--same to the others who have posted. You've all been very kind and helpful!!

Thanks to you, Jean, for more great counsel. I'm learning a lot quickly on best way to do things. How would you recommend doing Cinque Terre?

My advice is not to rely so heavily on booking thru Expedia, Viator, or other 2nd part websites. I use them for pricing but then go directly to the airline, hotel, etc. to actually make the reservation, buy the ticket

If all I had time for in CT was a daytrip on a tour group, I'd probably just skip that idea.

I wouldn't include the CT on this trip unless you can add more days to the overall itinerary.

in my opinion too much cities in few days. I would do less going deeper. Otherwise you'll spend more time travelling then enkoying the beauty of italy.
Rosa

Thanks, everyone! I am coming to appreciate your collectively wise counsel. Either add days or cut back the wish list! Time to reflect and prioritize what really is most prudent.

Thanks again to ALL for your thoughtful replies.

Cheers!

I’m sorry, I don’t. I never book 3rd party. I like to book directly with the hotel. Good luck! I still say do 2 nights at the beginning in Venice and then just go back for one last night before departure.

Have you already purchased the plane tickets going in and out of Venice?

If yes I agree with the idea of landing at the Venice airport but then going directly to Florence. Stay 3 days. Train back to Venice stay 4 days. Fly home.

There's your trip :-)

A few thoughts, some of which no doubt have been noted by other posters (and some of which opposes other posters):
-- I would train to Florence on the 1st day and save the Venice days for the end of the trip when you're headed back there anyway. The first day is kind of a wipe out anyway, so use it for getting from Point A to Point B.
-- The day trip to Cinque Terre seems ill advised. Given the time it takes to get there and back and that it's not the kind of place one goes to in order to take in the quick "highlights," I'd kill that idea.
-- I've used Viator a few times (but not for hotels) and would do so again. The last time was the "Secrets" tour of the Doges Palace. Their prices are competitive and they vet the tours and guides for you, meaning more often than not, it's a good experience and you don't have to do the research. Sure, sometimes when in a city, you can use a local person, but you're pretty much getting a local person when you book with Viator.