Ciao!!
What a wonderful site you have here! Hubby and I are coming to italy next Sept/Oct. We are just starting the planning. We plan to see Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence and we will have about 10 days. We both wish to hike the trail between the Cinque Terre towns. I would like to fly into Venice, stay 3 nights, train to Riomaggiore, secure somewhere to stay, ferry to Monterossa al Mare and hike back to Riomaggiore. then finish the trip in Florence with a couple days driving around the Tuscan country side, hopefully getting lost at least 3 times.
Hello,
Regarding the hike through Cinque Terre, it will depend on whether or not you are planning to stop in each town and explore, or just do the hike with virtually no stops. I finished the hike within 5 hours, but I only stopped in Vernazza for lunch and of course small breaks for pictures and resting. (I went from Riomaggiore to Monterosso, then took train back to Rio.) I hope that gives you a good idea of timing.
I stayed in a hostel in Riomaggiore (hostel Mar Mar), so I can't give you any advice if you were looking for a hotel.
I hope I've been somewhat helpful!
smallstar - any info it helpful! Thanks...will look up Mar Mar for accomodations. 5 hours huh..not bad! thank you
This itinerary is a little awkward, as getting from Venice to Cinque Terre would most likely be via Florence. Route-wise, it makes sense to do Venice - Florence - Cinque Terre so you won't need to backtrack too much, but perhaps that's irrelevant if you need to track it back to Florence for your outbound flight.
Answering your questions:
1. Yes it is possible to walk between the five villages within a day (it takes about 5-6 hours), and Sept/Oct still have reasonable daylight period (better in September of course). Walking in the direction you've plan is the easier direction to tackle.
2. I don't have any specific accommodation recommendation but you can check the to look for something to your preferences.
3. The Venice historical regatta is held on first Sunday of September if you want to catch it. You will get lost more than 3 times in Venice, even if you have a map. Train tickets bought in advance are discounted, and you can buy them from Trenitalia. Tickets bought up to 15 days in advance can be discounted at 30% (up to 7 day - 15%), but only if the option does not have any R regionale train in the itinerary. R trains are not eligible for discounts. ES, ES* and IC trains are eligible for discounts. You can always buy the tickets in stages so those on ES/ES*/IC can be bought with a discount.
Route-wise, it makes sense to do Venice - Florence - Cinque Terre so you won't need to backtrack too much, but perhaps that's irrelevant if you need to track it back to Florence for your outbound flight.
My thoughts too.
Note that Florence doesn't have an airport, the closest international airport for flights within Europe is Pisa and the closests intercontinental airports (for flights to USA) are in Milan, Venice and Rome. A typical Italy trip from the USA usually involves flying into Venice and out of Rome or vice versa.
There is an airport in Florence but with limited service. I didn't know if the OP is flying in straight back to US, or somewhere in Europe (which then some destinations such as Paris and Munich are serviced from Florence Airport).
Hi,
I did a very similar trip last year (Milan - Cinque Terre - Florence - Venice). If you're going to the cinque terre from Venice you will more than likely pass through Florence which isn't that far from the cinque terre (around 2 hours I think). You could do the full hike in a day but I'd recommend spending a few days in this region as its beauty is really out of this world! Just south of the Cinque Terre there is the Gulf of Poets (can't remember the Italian name but this is the English translation) and Portvenere and Lerici are well worth a visit. Also as they are focused more on the Italian tourists, I found that the food was much much better than in the Cinque Terre. When we stayed in the Cinque Terre we lodged in La Spezia which is 15 minutes by train from Riomagiore. It is a great point of departure but definitely isn't as nice as the Cinque Terre towns.
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