Best Family Cinque Terre Ticket ?? Kids may be too old

The trains are fairly inexpensive. According to Trenitalia.com, 2 adults and 3 children would cost €14.00 from Vernazza to Monterosso. There are also passes which may appeal, info here.

Caroline,
You will need to do the math to figure out if the Cinque Terre Card will save you money or not.

Given your itinerary, perhaps the 2 day card may work for you.

Unfortunately you don't qualify for the "Family" card since all your children are over the age of 12.

Keep in mind that this is a family vacation... Enjoy your children and make wonderful memories together!

Check with your hotel as the park's website states that visitors staying within the CT are eligible for discounted price on passes. I would assume this would apply to either the Cinque Terre or Cinque Terre Treno card:

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Ecinque-terre-card.php

"From 1st April 2017, visitors staying one or more days at accommodation facilities in the municipalities of Riomaggiore, Vernazza or Monterosso have the possibility to buy the Cinque Terre Card at a discounted price, by using a voucher provided by their host."

For anyone else interested, Manarola is in the municipality of Riomaggiore, and Corniglia is in the municipality of Vernazza so discounts should apply for guests in accommodations there as well.

You might also look at doing your swimming right in Vernazza instead of Monterosso? There were quite a number of people doing it from the pier and off the rocks around the shore when we were there. Looked like fun!

Laurel,

I may be incorrect, but I don't think
Caroline's children qualify for the 50% discount train tickets offered by Trenitalia (in the Liguria Region) since they are all over age 12.

thank you for your replies. I think I did understand it but was surprised at the cost as one of the days we are moving around quite a bit and it could cost upwards of 80 euros for one day of trains between villages . Two round trips for five people is very carrissimo !! I will ask my host about the reduced cost to see if it applies to us.
Thank you everyone ,,

Carol,

Normal tickets are 4E. You're showing seven trips. 5x4=20E
20x7=140E. You have to do the math to see if the CT card will,as Laurel suggested,save you 6 euro/trip.

I think this is the big train day:

Day 2 Vernazza to Monterosso (beach day)
Monterosso to Vernazza
Vernazza to Manarola ( sunset cruise )
Manarola to Vernazza

So 4 trips total @ 18 euro per trip for 4 adults+ 1 age 12 or under = 72 euro
Again, I'd look maybe at just doing your swimming in Vernazza if prices of passes or individual tickets are too steep. You could also look at hiking Vernazza> Monterosso one or both ways.

I'm not surprised at the cost in individual tickets, which has risen since we were there. The CT is taking a beating from too many visitors to little towns not built for that so prices are reflective of demand. I believe there are different lower-priced annual, monthly and weekly passes for residents who must use the trains to get to school, medical appointments, services, etc. not available in the CT.