Hi,
My husband and I are traveling to Europe, more specifically Italy, for the first time this September. We will be there for 2 weeks and will be visiting Venice, Florence and Rome. We want to break up the trip a bit by visiting either Cinque Terre or Lucerne. We would like to get others opinions on which place is a must see – Cinque Terre or Lucerne. We’ve heard and read good things about each. We know Lucerne would require more travel time, which we are willing to do, if it's worth it.

Our planned itinerary is:
Venice – 3 nights
Lucerne or Cinque Terre – 3 nights
Florence – 3 nights
Rome – 4 nights

I'd go to the CT for the beach option. Always set aside time on vacation to lay around in the sun like an old dog.

FWIW, the fastest <B>rail</B> timings between Venice-Luzern and Luzern-Florence are going to take between 6 and 7 hrs. You could fly from Venice to Zurich in one hour and take the train from there to Luzern in another hour.

I like Luzern but for three days I think I'd simply stay in Italy.

My vote is stay in Italy - yes CT would be nice / beachy / hikes. Another option of mountains and lovely scenery would be one of the lakes - much more convenient than Lucerne.

What other lakes would you recommend?

Mid-lake Como is nice and fairly easy to reach by rail from Venice through Milan. Lake Maggiore is even easier to get to from Venice or perhaps Garda.

Stay in Santa Maria Ligure or Camogli and take the train to the Cinque Terre for a day.

We preferred Garda over Como (bit too touristy for our taste). Fairly easy to reach from Venice.

Having been in both, I would skip Lucerne and go to Cinque Terre, no comparison.

You will spend long train rides, better to do those in Italy. Lake Maggiore is gorgeous, but a little out of the way if your next stop is Florence CT is closer.

http://www.rome2rio.com/s/Venice/Cinque-Terre

If the choice is Lucerne or Cinque Terre, and I had access to a car I wouldn't hesitate one second, i'd go for Lucerne. Depending on which way you choose from Venice it can be spectacular. I'd drive through the Dolomites. To avoid driving too long I'd consider staying in St.Moritz though, and from there drive to Lucern via the San Gottardo pass (not the tunnel). A quicker alternative would be to drive to Lugano and sleep there. Lugano is wonderful and so is the lake.

Without a car my choice would be Santa Margherita Ligure, and from there take a train for the day to Cinque Terre. But not before having explored the Parco di Portofino, and Portofino.

It depends on where on the shore of Maggiore you end up, actually.

Thank you for all of your opinions! We decided to stick to Italy and will be doing Cinque Terre.

I have been to both & i would go to CT. without any doubt.
we based ourselves in Santa Margherita Ligure and were able to visit CT & Portofino. just gorgeous.