Rome Tuscany and cinque terrain September

[Lianne]

Can you help me, we are planning to travel from Australia to Rome and Tuscany.
I am using your fantastic website as a guide to book hotels and itinerary

Are you able to help me with an itinerary and recommending places to stay)?

We want to fly in to Rome , and spend 4 days in Rome seeing sights and the Vatican
From Rome we will travelby train to Florence for two or 3 night night stay ( we have been there before) we intend go to Luca from Florence on a day trip?
Then drive from Florence to Tuscany country region via Greve to stay in Sienna for 5 nights as a base to explore the medieval towns and Chianti region.
Then drive from sienna to cinque terra region for 2or 3 nights. Is this the best option or should we go by train

Can you recommend where to stay outside of cinque terra so that can get there by train
We would like to go to lake Como and fly out of Milan

Can you recommend where to stay and what sequence we should do out trip in

[Lourdes]

Ciao Lianne,

I'm glad you found us and are finding the site useful!

I think the order you have your itinerary is actually the best: I assume you're renting the car out of Florence once you've decided to head out of the city, that's correct? I agree with that since you don't need a car in Florence at all, nor in Rome.

I would likely do Lucca as a stop as you drive from Siena to CT instead of from Florence, and instead just concentrate on those 2 nights in Florence.

As far as CT, since you'll have the car, I suggest staying in either Monterosso or better yet, Porto Venere, south of the 5 towns. Porto Venere is very charming and can be reached by car only so it is often a bit less visited that the other towns, and from there you can take a ferry to Riomaggiore and from there also catch train to the other towns of the Cinque Terre.
Another option is Levanto, to the north of the 5 towns. This one is actually connected by train so it also gives you that option for moving around. Once you're ready to leave CT, you can drive to Lake Como, that way you keep the car since you'll need it for that area.
You won't use the car at all in CT, so definitely look for a place that has parking included.

Let me know if you have any other questions we can help with!

[Lianne]

Ciao Lianne,

I'm glad you found us and are finding the site useful!

I think the order you have your itinerary is actually the best: I assume you're renting the car out of Florence once you've decided to head out of the city, that's correct? I agree with that since you don't need a car in Florence at all, nor in Rome.

I would likely do Lucca as a stop as you drive from Siena to CT instead of from Florence, and instead just concentrate on those 2 nights in Florence.

As far as CT, since you'll have the car, I suggest staying in either Monterosso or better yet, Porto Venere, south of the 5 towns. Porto Venere is very charming and can be reached by car only so it is often a bit less visited that the other towns, and from there you can take a ferry to Riomaggiore and from there also catch train to the other towns of the Cinque Terre.
Another option is Levanto, to the north of the 5 towns. This one is actually connected by train so it also gives you that option for moving around. Once you're ready to leave CT, you can drive to Lake Como, that way you keep the car since you'll need it for that area.
You won't use the car at all in CT, so definitely look for a place that has parking included.

Let me know if you have any other questions we can help with!

Hi Lourdes
Thank you for your reply.
Can you recommend some hotels for us to stay in in porto venere or Levanta?
Something that is 4 star standard
Also do you have hotel recommendations for Florence , siena and Rome

Regards
Lianne

[Lourdes]

I really enjoyed our stay at Borgo Scopeto Relais outside Siena in Chianti, you could consider that or anything else you find here for Siena:
http://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/siena/

Search through the site for more suggestions in Florence.

It has been a while since I've been to Rome so not sure what to suggest for there.

As for Porto Venere, check out l'Arcora - putting link to general search since it won't show if dates are not added.

As for star ratings, the places we've stayed at along the coast near CT never seem to be rated as they generally are B&Bs and residences, not classified as hotels..... so check out ratings/reviews instead to get a better feel of the quality of service and place you're looking at.

Enjoy your planning!