Venice/Florence/Rome
 

Hi,
We are traveling from Venice then Florence then Rome and then to Greek Islands. We have a total of 24 nights excluding travel from Canada. We would like to stay at an Agriturismo in Tuscany and other villages in Tuscany as well as some time in Florence. Where should I rent a car? Florence? Then we are thinking of dropping the car off in Rome. We also want to go to Cinque Terre as well.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Would like to avoid going back 'n forth if possible. Starting in Venice and ending in Rome.
We are thinking 2-3 nights in Venice - 2 days in Cinque Terre, 1 night in Pisa/Siena, 1-2 nights in an Agriturismo in Tuscany, 2 nights in Florence?
We are very flexible but having difficulty planning...so much we want to do. Thanks again for all your help!

What time of year is your trip? You could take the train Venice to Florence, have your couple of nights there, then pick up a rental car for your agriturismo stay. Do some Google research on ZTL- zona traffico limitato- almost every town and certainly cities like Florence have this. Basically to ease congestion only locals can drive in certain parts of the town, so you need to be aware and look for the signs. So get your car once you are finished in Florence and get it somewhere like the airport to avoid hassles. I would not do a separate night in Pisa or Siena, pick a centrally located agriturismo and do day trips to all the places you want to see.
Cinque Terre is extremely busy in the nicer months of the year and there are other lovely towns along the Ligurian coast not as congested. If you just wanted to see Cinque Terre some people enjoy just doing a day trip tour there from Pisa or Florence.
Also, remember that 2 nights really gives you one full day in a place, 3 nights gives you 2 etc.

It is easier really to take the train between Florence and Rome, but if you drive have it all mapped out in advance and be prepared. We did this only once…lol it was quite the experience. Or- drive to Fuimicino airport, get rid of the car there and taxi to your Rome hotel. That would be easiest.

We just came back from a month in Italy, it really is one of my very favourite places. I hope you have a great trip.

It's more realistic to set forth an itinerary reflecting nights in each place because some days are impacted by transit to the next destination. Including the transit times between points will also give you a better idea of how much time you actually have to sightsee.

For me, all those short stays would be a drag, particularly in Venice and Florence where there are so many things to do/see/experience (and I don't just mean museums). You basically wouldn't unpack for almost the entire first half of the trip! My advice would be, if you can't take some days away from the Greece portion to ease the pace of the first 10-11 days, eliminate one or two of your hotel destinations.

Consider: Both Pisa and Siena are easy day trips from Florence. Some Florence-Pisa trains take just one hour. The Florence-Siena bus takes 75 minutes, or you could add a night to your agriturismo stay and make a day trip to Siena.

You can drive Florence to Rome. There are several interesting things to see along the way. Or you could drive part way, turn in the car in Chiusi and train to Rome from there. But be prepared for a possible one-way rental charge on top of already very high rates.

Welcome to the Fodors Europe forum Joanne!

That's an awful lot of places in not that long of a time! :-)

24 nights might sound like a lot but you mention... Venice, Cinque Terre, Pisa/Siena, Tuscany, Florence, Rome, and the "Greek Islands" (where exactly and how many days and how will you get there). Remember every time you change locations you can likely subtract at least 1/2 a day from doing anything else. And you have 7+ changes.

Where do you fly in and out of? As far as planning your first and last days.

My suggestion: Fly into Venice. Spend 2-3 nights. Train to Florence. Stay 3 nights, 4 if doing day trip, then rent car and drive to your Tuscan sites. Return car to Florence (avoiding one way drop off charge) and train to Rome. Stay at least 5 nights then fly to Greece.

Thank you for the info. We are traveling in October. We have decided to take the train to Cinque Terre and stay there 2 nights. Still undecided about renting a car from Florence to Rome. We don't want to spend all our time on trains or in a car.
Is 4 nights in Rome too much?

I think you are right - too many places. We fly into Venice and fly out of Athens to go home. We are going in October. We really want to go to Cinque Terre, so we might do 2 nights there and then just do 4 nights in Florence and 4 nights in Rome and skip the car altogether,

Wow, And I thought I've heard it all. You need to get a guidebook. I can imagine that there are people in the world for whom 4 days is too much, but I don't know any of those people.

Anyway, I suggest looking up Villa d'este and Hadrian's villa just outside Rome in case you get bored while in Rome.

You've said you "really want to go to the CT," but you've also said you don't want to spend all your time on trains. FYI, Venice to, say, Vernazza will take 5:16 hours on the fastest train combo (2 changes, 3 trains total). To salvage part of that day, you'd want to leave Venice at 7:26 a.m. The fastest train combo from Vernazza to Florence takes 2:50 hours (another 3 trains). To get the most sightseeing out of that day, you'd want to leave Vernazza at 7:11 a.m. Two very early trains. Not my preference while on holiday, esp. for such a short stay on the CT.

If your days in Florence include Sunday and Monday, you may have trouble seeing all of the main sights which aren't open every Sunday and Monday.

Now that you have the framework of an itinerary, you should fill in what you will do each day and include the travel times between points. Check the open days and hours of museums, churches, whatever, because you may have to juggle things around to fit into your days. Also check locations on a city map and try to group activities together to avoid wasting time crossing the city multiple times. Note whether timed reservations are either required or recommended. Usually, recommended really means essential.

Definitely do not rent a car just for Florence to Rome. Too much trouble bothering to get a car when the train goes city center to nearly city center in both cities. We actually walked from the stations in both cities to our hotels.

Would not rent car from Florence-Rome, nor would I plan so many 1-nighters, which are killers actually. I need at least 3 nights in Venice and would strongly suggest staying across the Grand Canal in the Dorsosuro, not near St. Marks, which is always way too commercial and crowded. I'd do 2 nights in Florence, it is more compact a city than we find Venice, and never loved the islands of Burano or Murano either, can be skipped I'd say.

No four nights is not too much for Rome, it’s too little time there!!
If you are going to the Greek isles, cut out the Cinque Terre. Or cut out Greece and add more time to all your destinations in Italy. This a jumble of places rushed together.

I think it's better to skip the car. There is a fast train between Florence and Rome, I think it takes an hour and a half. There is probably a similar fast train between Venice and Florence. You could do a day trip from Florence to wineries if you are interested in that or to one or two of the smaller towns in the Tuscan countryside.

Four nights in Rome is certainly not too much time, there is so much to see there it boggles the mind. I have been to Rome 5 times and still haven't seen it all. It's a fantastic city.

Is 4 nights in Rome too much?
No. You will barely scratch the surface.

and skip the car altogether
Yes. Excellent idea. Do Venice/Florence/Rome by train.

I guess I already mentioned, one thing you are missing in the way you are writing our your schedule is the time it takes to go between places. For example, Venice 4 days, 1/2 day to Florence, Florence 4 days, 1/2 day to CT, and so on. If you change locations 7+ times as you originally mentioned, you'd "lose" 3-4 days to travel. Also the arrival day and departure day for the trip are never much, so a "24 day" trip really is closer to 18 days of actual available and enjoyable time.

The whole one night in Pisa/Siena and then Tuscan agriturismo needs sorting out

As several people have mentioned, the fast (nonstop) train from Florence to Venice takes a hair over 1 1/2 hours. For comparison, the drive takes over 3 hours with normal traffic conditions. So the train saves you time as well as hassle. It also costs less than fuel and tolls.

If you're leaving from the Tuscan countryside, you'd have to consider also the time to get to the main train station in Florence, where the fast trains depart. If you were to take a train from Chiusi, as suggested above, the train journey time would be closer to 2 hours, and often would require a change of train somewhere.

Remember that if you plan to take train journeys with changes of train, you should reduce the amount of luggage as much as possible. In some smaller stations there are no escalators or elevators, and you might have to haul your luggage up and down steps. (This is not the case in larger stations.)

October is still high season in Tuscany and the Cinque Terre. I was there once with my husband on a drizzly day in October, and I remember saying to him, "Can you imagine what this place is like in August?" However, it may not be much different.

​​​​​​I've been to the Cinque Terre a few times, and have no desire to return. There are other, less crowded, places with great scenery. I've heard that there are some great hiking trails there, but they are mostly the higher trails, which require stamina and decent hiking shoes. Most of the sea-level trails have been closed for over 10 years because of the risk of landslides. In any case, there are fabulous hiking trails in nearly any of the Italian regions. However, I don't think you have enough time for a hiking holiday. It wouldn't make sense to pack clothing for a serious hike for one or two days.

I hesitate to say this, because famous places are famous for good reasons, but a three-week holiday devoted to famous "must-see" places means you spend three weeks hopping from one crowded expensive tourist hub to another.

I agree with everything bvlenci posted, but I wouldn't discard the idea of driving Florence-Rome. When you explore by car (not speeding along on the autostrada, but meandering on secondary roads), you break the cycle of hopping from one crowded tourist hub to another.

Having said that, though, I don't know how I would plan this itinerary for a trip in 2022. Car rental rates are sky high and top out higher with one-way rental fees. From all news reports, European cities and their famous sights are insanely crowded, and even in "normal" years October IS still high season in most tourist destinations. About the only thing that might improve by then is the weather... hopefully. If I had 10/11 nights, I'd stay in 3 hotels at most. I recommend dropping the Cinque Terre, but I don't think joannebritton can be persuaded on that. Maybe drop Rome and fly Florence-Athens??

Please note that all surface scratches are reportable to the authorities. If you leave the scene of the scratching (even within 4 days) then additional penalties for abandonment of the scene of the scratching can be charged.

Wow. Sorry if I used the wrong words.

When we went to Rome, Florence and Venice, we did a week in Rome before moving on, and then had another 2 days back there at the end of the trip. We still did not see all the usual visitor sites, to give you an idea. The train worked well for us between all of those cities, FWIW.