Hello All,
I am spending 2 days in Cinque Terre with my new bride. I plan on traveling there from Florence on the morning of 10/6/18 and leaving to head to Rome on the morning of 10/8/18. Should we try to see all the towns? We want to hike some and relax some. Should we stay in one town on Saturday night and another on Sunday night? Can we get back to Rome from any town? Accommodation and restaurant recommendations would be helpful as well.
Thank You,
Patrick
Patrick,
Stay in the same town for both nights. It's very easy to get between the towns using the local trains. Each trip is usually less than 10 minutes.
Monterosso has the greatest number of hotels, restaurants, etc. so have a look there first.
If you're planning to hike the popular Sentiero Azzurro trails, only two are currently open and a park pass is required to hike those (passes are easy to get and only cost a few Euro).
Yes, you can easily get to Rome from any town. Take the local train to La Spezia Centrale, and then connect with a direct (no changes) intercity train there. Check the details on the Trenitalia website.
You can get back to Rome from any of the towns. Most likely you will need to connect to a train at La Spezia anyway no matter which town you start in. Check the train schedules on the Trenitalia website.
See all five towns if you have time - should be easy to do. There is frequent train service between towns. One pass covers both hiking and local trains for the day (it's possible to buy just a hiking pass, but obviously having the train pass makes it easy to get around at random). You can even take a boat between them. (I think that still runs in October.)
The towns are unique from each other. Manarola is the smallest and, some would say, the most charming. Corniglia is up on a hill above the train station, and you need either to walk up some steep steps to get up there or take a shuttle bus. The benefit of that is that fewer people may choose to stay there vs. the other towns which can get crowded - even in early October - so Corniglia may be more peaceful. Vernazza is maybe the most popular - I think Rick Steves proclaimed his favorite of the villages, so naturally many wish to stay there. Monterosso is the biggest and most "resort like" of the towns. Riomaggiore (a picture of which hangs on my wall at home) is a little bigger than Manarola and Vernazza. I've actually never stayed in any of them - on my first two visits I stayed in Levanto (one town north of Monterosso) and last year I stayed up in Camogli but day tripped for half a day down to the CT. There's probably no bad choice - all depends what you want.
hey pc
have you booked hotel yet and can you check into hotel early in the morning and if not what are you doing with your luggage? you really only have one full day (sunday oct 7), you are expecting to do more than feasible and moving toooooo fast, you may hike some and relax, have dinner, then pack up for next day's train ride to rome. get yourself a guide book of area, train schedule from trenitalia.com, italo.com or trainline.eu , make sure you validate ticket before boarding, name of train stations. you are traveling during a busy time of year, it will be crowded, count that into times of doing things you want to do, standing in long lines.
congratulations on your wedding, stop and enjoy a glass of wine to celebrate. enjoy
aloha
The Cinque Terre is a cery small area so yes, certainly see all five towns. The only one not on the water is Corneglia, high above. You can climb up or take a shuttle bus.
Yes, if you get into the CT late morning on the 6th, you can do all 5 villages. Drop your luggage at your accommodation (stay in the same place both nights) and just take off.
You could, say, knock off two villages and a hike on the afternoon of the 6th, weather permitting. If you stay in Monterosso, you could hike to Vernazza on the 'Blue', explore the town and take a train back. Do it in reverse if you stay in Vernazza. Next day, take a ferry to Riomaggiore, a train to Manarola, train to Cornigila, and hike the 'Blue' from there to Vernazza. Take a train back to Monterosso. There are any number of ways to cover cover ground so this is just one suggestion, and some flexibility might be in order in case the weather doesn't cooperate for hiking.
Corniglia is up on the cliffs above the train station so it's reached via a long switchback stairway or a little bus (small fee) that's timed to meet the trains: the fee is covered by the Cinque Terre Trekking Card which you must have to hike the 2 open sections of the Blue Path (SVA2 Sentiero Azzurro.)
If you only want to buy a 1-day trekking card, then do Monterosso>Vernazza>Corniglia on the 'Blue' on 8/7, weather permitting. There are many other trails in the park but 'Blue' is what most tourists come for.
If you haven't found it yet, this is the park's website:
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Eindex.php
Info on the trekking card:
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/page.php?id=157
Ferry schedules for Oct. aren't out yet but keep an eye on this site:
https://cinqueterreinsider.com/2018/03/22/cinque-terre-ferry-schedules-2018/
(Edited to correct an error)
