Visiting Rome?? Florence is only an hour away by train, let’s add a day trip, or even a couple of days. You’re headed to the cradle of the Renaissance, Florence. So much to see, let’s make it happen!
Perhaps you thought you’d have to skip that quintessential Italy vacation photo-op in Pisa, the one where you’re standing with your hands held up so that it looks like you’re propping the leaning tower of Pisa from falling over, but you’re in luck. The best way to get from Florence to the Cinque Terre often includes a stop in Pisa – so you can get your photo and be back on the train in an hour or two.
Linking the Cinque Terre and Florence isn’t that uncommon – in fact, some people do day-trips from Florence to the Cinque Terre. (We recommend allowing 2 to 3 days when visiting Florence & Cinque Terre )
The Cinque Terre (pronounced CHEEN|kweh TEHR|reh) consists of five small villages (“cinque terre” means “five lands” in Italian) which cling to the Ligurian cliffs along Italy’s western coast. They are usually thought of and visited collectively, mostly because they’re so close to one another that you can walk from the first to the fifth in a matter of hours, but there are five different towns and each does have its own personality. There was a time when guidebooks would recommend that you not even bother to make reservations in advance of visiting the Cinque Terre, because you could get better deals by just showing up and chatting with any of the women who would hang out in the train stations with signs advertising rooms for rent. Those days are, sadly, mostly gone – at least in the high season. Anyone who’s visiting during the busy season and knows when they’re planning to be in the Cinque Terre is advised to book ahead of time so as to avoid the disappointment of having to take the train from town to town searching for a bed. In the off-season, you’re more likely to be able to score a room on the spur of the moment.
