Hi everyone,

My daughter and I will be touring France and then heading to Florence for 3 days. We have briefly been to Florence before but wanted a day there again. We also wanted to take advantage of one of the Viator tours one day to go to either Rome or Cinque Terre. We love the beach and hear Cinque Terre is beautiful. We also would love to visit Vatican City to see the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican museum. We are not interested in seeing the Coliseum, the Forum or anything else in Rome. We are really torn about which to do - Vatican City tour or Cinque Terre tour. Can anyone help us decide which might be better for us to do? Need to decide and book something soon so opinions would be really appreciated! Thank you.

Which day of the year would this be?

The train to Rome takes 1.5 hours while CT is a lot further away. Also there is a crowd issue. particularly with other day-trippers, depending upon when you are going.

What you are asking is a matter of taste. It also depends on your future plans. A few thinss to ask yourself.

If you have already been to Florence before, but needs a day, while you want to visit elsewhere, why would you not stay elsewhere and visit Florence as a day trip?

I don't know when was the time you were in Florence before. Over the years the number of visitors skyrocketed. I felt the city was incredibly filled with sea of tourists last fall. I shorted my stay in Florence because of this.

CT as a day trip means dealing with incredible amount of tourists. I stayed overnights and still got to experience tranquility before the mass tour groups and day trippers arrived. If I come back to CT again, I would not do it as a day trip. It felt like being in a subway station in a big city during the rush hour during the day.

If you plan to visit Italy again, especially the middle to South, you will probably stay in Rome sometime during your visit due to flight consideration even if Rome is not an explicit destination of your future trip. If this is the case, catching up visiting Rome later would be much easier than the out of the way place like CT.

Time of year would, I think, be worth serious consideration. If during high season, the Cinque Terre and the trails there can become so packed with other visitors that it can even verge on the unpleasant. (JMO.) If outside of high season, there is a risk that weather would cause closure of the trails.

If you opt for the Cinque Terre, you should consider making sure you have appropriate footwear (and other clothing) for hiking. I don't believe they do so all the time, but when I was there, the park rangers were not letting anyone onto the trails unless they had appropriate attire.

I trust you know that the Cinque Terre aren't really known for their beaches? A few of the villages have beaches; not all do.

Given those considerations, the option of Rome might make better sense. Again, JMO.

Also, you don't need to join a tour to visit either Rome or the Cinque Terre. If that's your preference, go for it! I just wanted to make sure you know that you can visit either place perfectly easily on your own.

CT on your own is probably less fouled up than a tour, but plan on 6 hours on trains and 4 trips going back and forth from stations.

Could you stay in Lucca and do a day to Florence and then have a day for Cinque terre? You would not need a tour just get on the trains. I would pick Cinque Terre over Rome.

Agree that time of year and day of week matters (Vatican museums are closed Sundays except for the last Sunday of the month).

And you don;t ant to go to the CT is it's raining. And are you up for the hiking - if you want only a beach you need to check with the tour company how much time you have for that.

"I felt the city was incredibly filled with sea of tourists last fall. I shorted my stay in Florence because of this. "

I'm glad I'm wasn't the only one who noticed this.

Thank you everyone for your advice. We are not hikers and the thought of all that train travel doesn't seem like a good idea as we will be traveling by train a lot before reaching Florence. Reason we are staying in Florence is my daughter absolutely loves it and I would like to shop the many gold stores on the ponte vecchio. I am thinking Rome day trip to Vatican City would be our best bet - less travel time and after touring The Vatican we will just go right back to Florence as we are not interested much in the coliseum or any other attractions in Rome. Thinking we will save the CT for another time when there are less tourists and have more time to appreciate it. Thank you all again!