10-Day Italy Itinerary Exploring Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Cinque Terre and Venice
ITALY! Veni, vidi, vici! I came, I saw, I conquered! What an amazing country! My husband and I went on a 10-day trip to Italy last October to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary, and it was a trip to always remember. We had a fabulous time and traveled to Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Cinque Terre and Venice. We really packed it in and everyday was so busy but we loved how much we saw. Everything came together perfectly and the Fall weather was just right. I can’t wait to go back and explore another part of the country. After posting on social media, (check out my Italy highlights) I had many people ask for my 10-day Italy Itinerary because we did so much in really a short amount of time.
Make sure to check out these other travel posts:
When I was trying to plan out Italy trip, I knew I was in over my head, so I turned to many of my friends who had traveled to Italy before. They were so helpful to give me details about getting around on the train and what cities to see or not to see and the must-see landmarks or favorite restaurants. One of my friend’s had a very detail Excel spreadsheet with their Italy itinerary and hotel stays. I tried to follow their travel plans but the were on a longer schedule and hit different parts of Italy so it didn’t really work out with our schedule. But I really liked the idea of having an organized travel spreadsheet that listed hotel location, when the train leaves, museum ticket info, etc. I followed that same excel spreadsheet idea and it was very helpful when we were actually in Italy. We were able to both refer back to the spreadsheet to stay on time for our museum time slots, and make sure we didn’t miss any landmarks or train times.
While all my traveling friends were so helpful, I really needed an itinerary. Traveling to Italy was my first time in the country so I really didn’t know what landmarks we needed to see or what to pass on. My friend let me borrow her Rick Steve’s Italy Travel Guide book and it really was a must have. It’s broken down by the Italy cities and towns and gave a list of information, recommended restaurants, hotels and landmark. This was a great starting point and helped with where we wanted to stay or avoid. Many of listed hotels in the book were sold out the week we went but I tried to find an alternative hotel in the same area. Definitely take Rick Steve’s book to Italy when you travel there. It was so helpful to have it while we were on our trip and reference back too! I booked all of my hotel stays through Booking.com and it was really the best way to find hotels.
When planning our 10-day Italy itinerary, I really wanted to find an already pre-planned itinerary. There are so many online, but many of them didn’t include all the towns that we wanted to hit. There are also a ton of tour itineraries to sign up, which we were considering. But I finally found the itinerary I was looking for and I followed this Italy itinerary and schedule pretty closely to what was suggested with a few minor exceptions. The main difference is we flew out of Rome than Venice, so we had to cut our Venice time by a few hours because we had catch the train back down to Rome. I booked all tour groups through Get Your Guide and the ones we booked were all great!
We really loved all the Italy cities, but our favorite was Florence. The food was amazing and you can walk the entire city. We loved the shopping and we found many leather goods in the leather district. Florence is located in Tuscany, so then you have the Tuscany countryside right there.
Cinque Terre was so unique and beautiful! You are right on the Italian coast and it is an adventure. There are five fishing towns along the coast and they are all colorful and old. If you can squeeze in a day or two at Cinque Terre it is definitely worth it! One of the reasons why I followed this Italy Itinerary was because they include Cinque Terre, which is so close to Tuscany.
Of course, having never been to Venice, it was a must to make the 4 hour train ride. Venice was so cool and quite the site and so much history.
We love Italy and can’t wait to return!
