Still no easy way from Paris to the Cinque Terre? (even with Lyon to split the journey?)

(My edit to my original advice based on your original question:
There is still no "easy" or quick way to get from Paris to the CT, or from Lyon to the CT.
The fastest way to get from Paris to the CT is flying.

Kent's right. If you want the fastest way from Paris to the Cinque Terre, fly from Paris to Pisa, then train from Pisa to the Cinque Terre.

Look at Skyscanner for flight options: http://www.skyscanner.com/

As the others have suggested, flying would be your best option. Either to Pisa or Genoa, which frequently has some inexpensive flights from Paris, depending on how far in advance you book the ticket. From either city, it's a short train ride to the Cinque Terre. See www.skyscanner.com for options.

I agree. Unless youre set on spending time seeing more of France on the way and/or spending time in Lyon, just fly. Easyjet flies non-stop from Paris Orly to Pisa, flight time <2 hrs and cheaper than the train (depending on when you're going and how early you can purchase your ticket).

It looks like you've modified your original question to include Lyon as an intermediate step in getting from Paris to the CT.
This complicates the advice given to your first question re Paris directly to the CT.
A stopover in Lyon complicates the trip planning.
You could take the TGV (high speed train) from Paris to Lyon.
But I don't know what to advise regarding then getting from Lyon to the CT, as I've never done that route.

Kent,

I apologize if my post has been modified. But yes, I do want to include Lyon in the itinerary. I say this because, I thought Lyon was a more attractive mid-way point than say Turin...

Lyon is a better stop-over than Turin.
However, adding a stopover in Lyon complicates the advice originally given to your question about how to get from Paris to the CT.

There's still no quick way to do what you want to do. The distances and travel time are a given and you can't change that.

You have 3 choices regarding getting from Lyon to the CT:
fly
train
drive.

For possible air connections, use the website Harold gave you.

Hopefully you will get additional posts that address your modified itinerary.

HI MI Traveler,

If you want to include Lyon, then there's no way to get to the Cinque Terre that doesn't involve a long train trip. It might be faster to go back to Paris and fly. There are some direct trains from Lyon to CDG airport (taking 2 hours), where you could take an hour and a half flight to Genoa, followed an hour train ride to the Cinque Terre. You can save some money by booking the French trains ahead through www.tgv.com or www.capitainetrain.com and the flights via skyscanner.

It's a long day and a change of trains is unavoidable. I would suggest travel via Turin, with a perfect hour for lunch stop/connection.

TGV9241
0831 Lyon
1224 Turin

RE2517
1330 Turin
1757 La Spezia

The main problem with using Lyon as a stopover between Paris and CT is that it's not a mid-way stop. It's quite close to Paris so the bulk of your travel to CT is still left after leaving Lyon. Basically your choices are: 1. give up Lyon and fly from Paris directly to Pisa and train to CT; 2. go to Lyon but take the TGV back to Paris to fly to CT as in option 1; 3. go to Lyon and then deal with the long, indirect, train ride from Lyon to La Spezia (@9 hrs and 4 changes).

MI,

If you want to keep Lyon in the Itinerary, one option you could consider is a budget flight from Lyon to either Rome or Pisa. EasyJet operates to Rome and Vueling to Pisa (although they have a layover in Barcelona). From either Rome or Pisa, the rail trip to the Cinque Terre will be fairly easy.

Another option would be to travel by train from Lyon to Nice (about 4.5 hours using a direct train) and spend one or two nights there. From Nice the trip to the Cinque Terre is about five hours.

Years ago, before there was a TGV, we took the train from Avignon to Nice to the Cinque Terre. At least now you ca take a TGV to Nice, with a slower train ride from there towards the Cinque Terre. An added bonus are the potential seaside views as you travel along the coast.

Flying would move you faster, but factor-in getting to the airport (Lyon's is several miles east of of town), checking in, getting thru security, etc.

How do individuals get to places like Annecy from Paris? Is it usually a day trip? I thought that Lyon would be a great midway point between Paris and CT.

It seems that the fast way to get to the Cinque Terre really involves either a plane ride in to Pisa and trains up to La Spezia and connect. Or your train route must include the Gotthard Pass in Switzerland. I don't mind Switzerland, but I really want to experience more of France.

It looks like to get into Italy from Lyon is not as easy as I would prefer. But if there is even a TGV from Lyon to Turin; I would even consider renting a car in Turin. It is only....a 3 hour drive from Turin to the Cinque Terre.

In theory now a train ride from Lyon to Turin is what; 4 hours?

Obviously the logistically challenges come into play around Turin. I know you have to connect in La Spezia if you are heading into CT from the south (heading north).

I am pretty sure you can head south from Genoa in to the CT. But I know that the travel is just painfully slow around here. Anecdotal, but I spent like 30 minutes on the tracks around Genoa doing nothing. I completely understand why the travel becomes challenging.

Hmm...considerations now...

TGV is French, so that engine won't go into Italy. Italy has a range of faster and slower trains, but you're on the Italian railway system getting to Torino.

Sometimes, the convenience of speed has a price, in monetary cost and also in missing some of the towns/countryside you might get to experience on a somewhat slower train. This might be one of those times where it's about the journey, in addition to the destination!

Is there a reason you don't want to fly.. I find train travel wears thin after about 5-6 hours.. no proper dining cars.. so you eat the picnic you bring( which is what we do ) or eat the very basic offering you can get in the food concession car( sandwiches and chips, a pasta salad or two maybe ) .. eat standing up or back in your seat.. Picnic is way to go.. but food does not stay cool for more then 4-5 hours .. even if you pack in an insulated bag ( since most mini fridges in hotels do not have ice box you can't freeze ice packs)

I would just grab a flight to Pisa.. then take the much shorter train trip to CT.

Ps scenery through central France is not that great..

MI,

Travel from Lyon to Torino is relatively simple, and trips from Lyon Part Dieu to Torino Porta Susa are only a few hours. There's a direct (no changes) train leaving at 08:31, arriving 12:24 via TGV.

Regarding travel to the Cinque Terre from Torino, there's no reason to go to La Spezia. If you're travelling from the north, the C.T. is more easily accessed via Genova and through Monterosso. One of the shortest travel times on that route is a departure from Torino Porta Nuova at 10:50, arriving Monterosso at 14:00 (time 3H:10M, one short change at Sestri Levante). The travel time from Torino to Sestri Levante is only 2H:34M, and I highly doubt that driving would be any faster.

If you want to do that trip in one day, it will probably mean an early departure from Lyon and a late afternoon arrival in the C.T.

"How do individuals get to places like Annecy from Paris?"

Annecy is a bit far for a day trip from Paris, almost 4 hrs by train, so I don't know anybody who's done that. Annecy is a wonderful town and it makes a nice 1 or 2 night stay. Some stop there for a couple of days between Paris and Switzerland. It's not a likely stop between Paris and CT so not sure why you threw it in here, unless you were thinking of going there from Lyon. It would be decent day trip from Lyon.

Nancy,

I did in fact want to actually check out Annecy. As I give everyone more context; the goal is Paris to the CT. But ultimately we want to see more of France. And we ultimately do not want a 10hr+ day in the train. This was going to make Lyon a attractive midway point, with the ability to day trip to Annecy.

I am strongly considering the morning trains out of Lyon in to Turin, and would even consider taking connections to get in to Turin earlier.

For a moment, it seemed Switzerland was becoming more logical as its routing was better. But I just want to get into CT earlier

It looks like train frequency between Lyon and Turin/Genoa is the problem somewhat.

I can see there is a 8:16 PM Departure out of Lyon, connect in Dijon (overnight Thello train to Milan), connect in Milan, morning train from Milan to Monterosso, arriving at 11:03 AM. A long 15 hour journey almost.

Basically we can stay in Paris longer and fly to Pisa and go to the CT much faster.

Or I can do Paris -> Lyon (2 hour train ride...not much help compared to the length of time it takes to go Lyon -> CT), and then do the above itinerary. Or drive some distances if I found the schedule to be much more beneficial (Lyon to Turin or Genoa in a car for instance).

Or I could kind of scrap the whole idea thus far and consider a more logistically appropriate place than Lyon. Since I am reading some people talk about midway points of Zurich or Nice at this time. It seems that strategy is to basically crawl along the coast or take the Gotthard Pass to a regional train.

MI,

As I mentioned earlier, you can easily travel Lyon > Torino > Cinque Terre in a reasonable length of time. I'm not entirely clear on why you're looking at Lyon to Dijon and then a 15 hour journey through Milan to Monterosso?