I will be travelling from Cinque Terre to Salzburg and can't decide the best way to get from one place to the other...train vs plane. Has anyone done a similar trek? Any suggestions?
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
There are dozens of flights from Cinque Terre International (CTI) to Salzburg every day. Well, maybe not. Going by tain would be too long. But you are very astute to realize that there is nothing worth seeing between Cinque Terre and Salzburg. Legions of so-called experienced travelers waste time seeing unimportant things like Milan, Tuscany, Venice, Alto Adige, the Alps, Innsbruck, the Salzkammergut, when they could just whisk their way from Cinque Terre to Salzburg.
Ok, in all seriousness, there is no CTI. If you go by train, you are looking at about 12 hours, at best. If you try to fly, by the time you go from CT to Pisa or Genoa, spend time at the airport going through check in and security, fly, find ground transportation, and get into town, you're probably looking at another 7-8 hours. Anyway you look at it, it's going to be a lot of travel time.
Europe isn't just a few well-know cities. There is so much to see between Cinque Terre and Salzburg. Spend some time seeing it.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
Tina,
The analysis provided by Lee in his second paragraph is spot-on. For travel by air, you would first have to find an airline that covers that route to Salzburg from Genoa, Milan or perhaps Pisa. By the time you get to the airport, go through the usual routine at each end, it would probably be at least 6-8 hours.
The quickest trip by train I could find was about 11.5 hours, with 2 changes. Given the circumstances, I'd probably find an intermediate location to stop for one night to break-up the journey. One location you might consider is Verona. It's a wonderful town and would fit that trip well as the trip from the C.T. would be about 5.5 hours and the trip to Salzburg about the same.
Good luck and happy travels!
Posted by
OP
ANNAPOLIS, MD, USA
8 posts
Thank you both for your input! I know the trip sounds kind of strange, but my sister is doing a semester abroad in salzburg and we only have enough time to see a couple of towns in Italy before meeting up with her. (Cinque Terre has been on our list for a long time.) Anyway, thanks for the advice- it's obviously a lot longer journey than we originally anticipated and it seems like we'll be rearranging our plans a bit!
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
I drove from Salzburg eventually to CT (stops in Hall in Tyrol, Verona, Venice and Modena between). It really is a long, and inconvenient, trip between just the two with no stops.
Since air isn't really convenient from CT, you will have to use some train to get there. I would probably do the whole thing by train but schedule a few long connections (three or four hours) along the way to stretch your legs get something to eat and look around.
This might be a good trip to consider using a rail pass since it's such a long ride.