La Spezia trains

I would stay the night in La Spezia. The Continental is only a block or so away from the train station. It is very nice and reasonably priced. We enjoyed walking down to the harbour and walking along the promenade.

linda, It would help to have a bit of further information.... Are you planning to stay in Vernazza for several days? If so, my preference would be to continue on to Vernazza, even if you will be arriving late. It's only about 12-minutes by train from La Spezia to Vernazza, so not sure why it would be necessary to spend a night in La Spezia??? However, be sure to mention to your Hotel that you'll be a "late arrival". I'm not clear on why you need to buy a "CT Pass" when you arrive in La Spezia? If you're referring to the Cinque Terre Card for hiking the trails, you could easily buy one the following morning. Happy travels!

It probably depends on time of year too. I think the local train has limited operating hours but probably run a little more in summer than winter. I can't recall how late they ran but I do recall waiting at the station for the first train of the morning.

There is a regional train that leaves La Spezia Centrale at 21:23 and arrives in Vernazza 20 minutes later. If you arrive in La Spezia on time, you'll have no trouble making the connection. Buy your ticket at the station from which you will leave to go to La Spezia. The fare is €2.10. Don't forget to validate the ticket in one of the yellow machines at La Spezia. The next train doesn't leave until 23:10.

Linda, If you have reservations, take the next train North to the CT town in question. If you don't have reservations, stay in La Spezia for one night.

LaSpezia is a nice place to stay over night. We have stayed two different times at the Hotel Firenze just down from the Train Station in LaSpezia. They have online booking at hotelfirenzecontinentale.it. ng

Do you already have tickets that have you arriving at La Spezia Centrale at 9:00pm? If yes, buy a ticket at the originating end of your journey. For example, you may be coming from Milan, Genoa, Florence or Rome. I'm not sure. But, you can buy the ticket from La Spezia to Vernazza at before you board your train. At La Spezia Centrale, you will be boarding a Regionale train. No choice here. No seat reservations permitted. It's an open ticket with no train number, departure time or seat reservation on it. The ticket is good for 60 days. Even if you decided to stay in La Spezia, the ticket would be good the next day. But, arriving at 9:00am, you have two trains remaining to get to Vernazza. As Tim notes above, the first departs at 21.23. You have plenty of time to make this train. The second train departs about 2hrs later at 23:10. If you are going to be arriving this late, make sure your hotel or place to stay is aware of your late arrival. The small places in Vernazza are not open all night.

Thank you everyone----our accommodations in Vernazza agreed that we should come on --- and not spend the night in LaSpezia----