Johnnlilian

Hi to all Fodorites, You are all so awesome! i appreciate your help in planning our vacation.

We are going to Venice for few days then we would like to visit : Cinque Terre for couple nights, Florence, Pisa, Luca, Siena for 3 or 4 nights before going to Rome.
What would make sense? take the train to Cinque terre from Venice then go to Tuscany?
or vice-versa? What is your recomendation for where to stay while visiting Florence, Pisa, Luca and Siena?Should we stay in one place and do day trips?

Thank you in advance for your advice. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

ellenem

I don't know how many are in your group or if you plan to rent a car or use public transportation. I would stay in Florence and visit Pisa and Lucca (note spelling) on a day trip from Florence by train. Siena is also easy to visit from Florence as a day trip by bus (the bus stops is more convenient to the center of Siena than the train station).

twoflower

We stayed around Cinque Terre, then drove to Lucca and stayed there. From Lucca we visited Pisa & Florence on separate day trips by local commuter bus. It worked for us. Then we drove to Venice (Treviso actually, visiting Venice from there by local train).

Treviso turned out to be the highlight for us. Not only a good base for Venice, but great for driving day-trips to places like Asolo & Bassano del Grappa).

All I would say if doing Florence on a day trip, however, is you need to organise entry into the Ufizzi etc in advance of going there.

Juhamaba

Cinque Terre are, as you probably know are a collection of small towns, so you won't find a direct train from Venice. I was in Italy in 09, stayed in Florence for six days and did day trips to your destinations, not including Cinque Terre.

Lucca and Pisa (there is not a lot to see in Pisa) can be done in one day from Florence by train. Sienna can be reached by either train or by bus. The bus station is just outside the historic center, but the train station is a few miles outside of town, so you would then need to take a cab the rest of the way. We took the bus (the bus station is just behind the train station, Santa Maria Termini), it took an hour and a half. Five minutes after getting off the bus we were in their famous plaza.

We looked at hitting Cinque Terre, but ran out of time, although I did do the research on travel. The train with one transfer would have taken around 2-2.5 hours from Florence.

We stayed at a small family owned hotel in Florence named Hotel Porta Faenza. It was a five minute walk to both the train station and the Duomo. The Ponte Vecchio was maybe a fifteen minute walk, and the bus station was about ten minutes away. They offered free breakfast and all spoke English very well.

Johnnlilian

Thank you so much for your suggestions! Staying in Florence and do day trips sounds great!