Cinque Terre Trek Tour
Along the rugged coast of the Italian Rivera, Cinque Terre (meaning "Five Lands") comprises five colorful cliffside villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. It is about a 2-2.5 hour-long car ride from Florence although it's not recommended to go by car. The roads into the villages are difficult, and parking is very limited. Most travelers to Cinque Terre arrive by train and then hike or boat from village to village. A new train line called "Cinque Terre Express" was introduced in 2016, which goes back and forth between La Spezia (which is a major train hub that you can find connecting trains to many other cities) and Levanto every 30 minutes.
We found a lot of helpful online guides on hiking in the Cinque Terre area but it still seemed overwhelmingly complicated to plan a visit ourselves. Then we came across Walkabout's Cinque Terre Trek Tour. Hitting ALL 5 villages in a day from Florence, this is a long yet well-organized tour starting at 8am and ending at 830pm. There is a lot of walking involved but they break it up with plenty of resting stops for lunch, ice-cream, wine tasting, afternoon snacks, a dip in the sea, a boat ride, souvenir shopping, or simply relaxing and appreciating the gorgeous views. It was a great way to explore this hard-to-get-to area without worrying about all the planning details and logistics. We highly recommend this tour!