Best way to get from Cinque Terra to Venice??

The train works great. IMHO, the best run leaves La Spezia at 7:52am with one train change to a Eurostar in Bologna. My wife and I have taken this run. There are several earlier and later train runs but you will will usually have 2 train changes.

CLICK HERE to see the morning train schedule out of La Spezia.

Depending on where you are staying in the CT, you will have to catch an earlier train to get to La Spezia in time for the 7:52am train. Or, you can take a later train.

About how long does the trip take? We'd probably leave later in the morning or early afternoon-does that make the trip a lot longer?

Lyn....if you click on the link Larry provided, you'll see the schedule and journey times. It's about 400 kilometers (250 miles) so not conducive to hiring a private driver.

Thanks for the information. Sounds like it will take all day to get from CT to venice. Is that doable?? How unpleasant/pleasant is the train ride. Would it be easier to go noth from CT and leave from Genoa? Grazie!

Lyn - How do you see it will take "all day"? It takes six hours.

I might be misunderstanding the premise of your question, but if you are worried about how "pleasant/unpleasant" a train trip might be as an alternative to hiring a private driver (which is probably impossible) to take you from one side of Italy to the other, you might be a good candidate for an all-inclusive bus tour.

Lyn, what are you expecting over there? You're going from one side of the country to the other. And, most Italians do this by train. Italians travel extensively by train. Trenitalia has over 8,000 train runs a day in Italy. It's not like the U.S. where you're lucky to see a train or two a day. The Eurostars are very fast and very comforable. You will not save time by going via Genoa and Milan or by Pisa and Florence.

As my link above says, the trip takes about 5.5hrs. On our trip on the 7:52am run out of La Spezia, we were standing on the side of the Grand Canal in Venice at 2:00pm. That's not "all day". We checked in and had the remainder of the afternoon and evening to tour around. If you want to take a later train and use up more of your day, it's your choice.

In Europe, train travel as well as time spent in train stations is a completely foreign experience for Americans who are used to airplanes and the car. They can go years and years without going into a train station. Surprise! You now have to get used to the European train system to get around. Forget a private driver.

Thanks for educating me! 5.5 hours, I agree, is not all day. Looking forward to the trip. Grazie!