Rome & Florence with Mom (3 days)
 

My mom and I are traveling to Europe (for her first time) at the end of August. At this point I have all of our flights, trains & lodging arrangements taken care of, and I'm trying to finalize an itinerary that covers the most possible attractions in the least amount of time, with the least amount of strenuous activity for my mom. (I'm aware this is practically an impossible combination, yet, alas...)

Paris (3 days, 2 nights)
Flight to Rome (2 days, 2 nights)
Highspeed train to Florence (1 day)
Regional Train to Cinque Terre (Manarola home base 3 days, 4 nights)

Neither of us have ever been to Italy so I'm a little intimidated by the thought of navigating by myself. In Rome, we have a private taxi arranged to take us from the airport directly to our airbnb in Trastevere. Is it best to take cabs or brave the bus? Obviously we will walk where we can. Are group tours through the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica worth the time/money? Or should we explore at our own pace? To take a tour at the Colosseum or just take a quick walk/picture inside?

We are taking a pit stop to spend the afternoon in Florence on the way to Cinque Terre. Leaving our luggage at the train station and embarking on sort of a pseudo-walking tour before hopping back on the train to La Spezia to catch the sunset. What can we absolutely not miss? Is the Statue of David really that magnificent that we must go inside?

Any and all suggestions are much appreciated!!

So - what time do you arrive in Rome? If your '2 days' includes a travel day from Paris then call it 1.5 days.

You won't have enough time to do anything much at all. Choose one or the other - Colosseum OR the Vatican Museums. If you're interested in art, then the Vatican Museums is the obvious choice.

Where are you in Trastevere? It's a big area. I just hope you're near the Ponte Sisto bridge rather than out in the sticks near the train station.

I wish you would have asked before booking everything. Hopefully you have been to Paris before. Consider booking private guides to maximize efficiency.

OP: "I'm aware this is practically an impossible combination, yet, alas..."
It is not "practically" impossible. Your itinerary proves it "is" impossible. You will not be "covering" many attractions. It will be kind of a flyby.

Your listed time can't be right. You can't have 3 whole days in a place with only 2 nights, etc.
You will certainly not have even a whole day in Florence if you are continuing on to Cinque Terre.

You mentioned " the least amount of strenuous activity for my Mom." How much hiking are you planning for in the CT?
Have you been to Paris before? Do you or your Mom have any kind of jet lag after long flights? If not, great! If you do, or she does, and Paris is your first stop, don't be surprised if your first day is not that productive.

Where are you going after the CT? Logically, if you don't want much hiking, consider taking time from the CT and adding it to Paris and Rome.

With such extremely limited time, tours might help you see things on a more efficient schedule.

No point going to the Accademia at all if you have no plans to go inside.

I assume from one of your other posts that this trip is in the summer, or maybe one of the months on either side of the summer. If so, and if you're trying to avoid strenuous activity for the sake of your mother, I wouldn't visit the Vatican Museums unless you can either make a very early visit (see the Vatican's various "Breakfast at the Museum" offerings) or if you can go on a Friday evening. At all other times, it's a very crowded and unpleasant experience, with a walk (really a shuffle) along a very long and crowded corridor to the Sistine Chapel. Here's what it's often like in <b> low </b> season. Imagine many more people, in a corridor with no air conditioning.

You really have one day in Paris and one day in Rome. The number of full days in a place is one less than the number of nights. I can't imagine why you're devoting so much time to the Cinque Terre, where the scenery is the only thing to see, and expecting to see anything at all in Rome and Paris in one day plus bits of another day. At least there you got the count of days right.

It takes an hour and a half to get from Rome to Florence and two and a half to three hours to get from Florence to Manarola (which you mentioned in another post as your Cinque Terre destination). This won't leave you much time to see anything there. Forget the David. You could walk around the center of the city, seeing the Duomo from the outside, the Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria. Then you could visit the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, right by the train station, which has at least three Renaissance masterpieces, a very beautiful frescoed chapel (which a young apprentice called Michelangelo helped to paint), and a lovely cloister.

All of the afternoon trains from Florence to the Cinque Terre require two changes of train, passing through at least two stations where you may have to carry your luggage up and down steps. Pack very light!

By the way, I wouldn't go into the Colosseum, either, if your mom isn't in tip-top physical condition, unless you can find a time of day when not many people are there. Last June, I waited almost an hour in line, under a broiling sun, even though we already had our tickets. There were too many people inside, so we had to wait.

Not to pile on, but I agree that 2 nights in one place really means one day. Yes, I would get a guide at each for some sort of highlights tour. You can't see it all.

In Rome, Trastevere is close to some things, but you might want to take a taxi to maximize your time.

You are asking the forum what you shouldn't miss, but the real question is: What did you think you wanted to see when you chose these places?

Based on what you have said about your mom I would definitely drop the CT and add those days back to Rome and FLorence, which can definitely use more time. Perhaps you want to visit Siena from Florence (the bus goes to the top of the top so take that rather than the train, which has a station at the bottom of the town).

R: "David". Yes he is so magnificient that you ahould go inside. The replica outside is nothing like the original " David."