Transportation from Chamonix to Cinque de Terre

Yes, Sunday means fewer transportation choices.
This is going to be challenging, you can do it but it will take some planning. And there's probably not one website that will make this easier, you'll have to cobble it together.

FlixBus from Chamonix to Milan and then catch the train there? Does that make sense?

You can schedule a train trip involvIng 5 changes and 11 hours. Plug in the cities and look at the options at https://www.sbb.ch/en.

You can take the shuttle to GVA and schedule yourselves on trains from there. The shuttle is 1.25 hours and about SF 20 per person.

From GVA you can take a train to Monterosso (just for example in the CT) with 2 to 5 changes required so select your route carefully (see here for options on a random Sunday.) The train schedule at 13:20 has only 2 changes but you get in kind of late at 21:05.

It looks like your best option by train is a departure at 12:54 that will take you to Monterosso in 8 hours 11 minutes, with 4 changes. There are earlier options but they take longer and have more changes on the way.

You can see this route on bahn.de or SBB.ch
Book from Chamonix-Mont Blanc to Milano Centrale on SBB,ch, and then Milano Centrale to Monterosso on Trenitalia or ltrainline.eu. If you take the route I mentioned, the train from Milan to Monterosso is direct, no changes. But then you will need a regional train to reach your Cinque Terre village, unless you are staying in Monterosso.

I do not see how a flight could make this easier, as you would still have to get to Geneva for a flight out, and then fly to where? Pisa might be the closest airport, but there may not be any direct flights between those two.

majeresj,

While it's certainly possible to travel by train or bus from Chamonix, the method I'd probably use to reach the Cinque Terre is.....

• use one of the many shuttle services from Chamonix to Geneva main station (about an hour as I recall).
• travel by express train from Geneva to Milano Centrale (about 4 hours)
• travel by train from Milano Centrale to the Cinque Terre town of choice (about 3 hours, depending on which town you're going to)

It's going to take the better part of a day, regardless on which method you choose. Travel by train will be much more comfortable than by Bus (IMO).

Scythian because a bus is a bus and a train is more fun!

scythian,

A few thoughts on the reasons for my suggestion.....

• Even the large coaches tend to be more "compact" than a train, with less room for hand luggage. I don't mind using the bus for short (~1 hour) trips, but I have a problem being "sardined" in one for several hours.
• Some of the roads out of Chamonix will be passing through mountainous territory on somewhat "twisty" roads. I've been on large buses with passengers who were, shall we say, "nauseous". That's not an experience I want to repeat.
• Travel by train from Geneva to Milan is via a Eurocity (express) train so the trip is relatively quick.
• Arrival in Milan is at the rail station, so easy to make the connection to the next train.
• Trains are larger than buses, and I find sitting in a train infinitely more comfortable than sitting in a bus. Aside from the "rocking motion" of a train, I can get up and wander around, perhaps make a trip to the dining car for a coffee or a sandwich.
• Trains have more-or-less "normal" toilets, although they're not always the most "sanitary". Using a shoebox-sized toilet in the back stairwell of a coach is not my idea of a pleasant trip.

Train would be my preference on that route, but YMMV.

Try looking at rome2rio.com. It will outline all of the possible ways to get from point A to point B.

Thank you all for the advice. I'm cobbling it together now. I think FlixBus to Milan and train to La Spezia will work best for my family.

scythian,

The route I suggested seemed rather easy to me. The route from Chamonix to Martigny will also work, but part of that route travels along the side of a cliff and is somewhat slower.