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Cinque Terra Parking - La Spezia or Reserved Parking in Vernazza

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Thank you in advance for your advice. We will be renting a car from Florence to visit Tuscany for 4 days and then visit Vernazza for 3 days. Due to our need of a car to visit family friends at the end of our trip, we will be keeping the car during our Cinque Terra stay. We will be driving from Montepulciano to Cinque Terra and plan to make a short "tourist" stop in Pisa on our way.

My question resolves around the most predictable way to arrive in Vernazza and keep a car. Our Air BNB in Vernazza recommended a paid lot outside of Vernazza with a shuttle service into town, but the reviews are not very good. I believe the other option is the drive into La Spezia and park in a lot at the train station and take the train into Vernazza.

Since I don't know how my travel day from Montepulciano will actually evolve, I don't want to get into an issue where I can't arrive by train or, if its dark, the roads into Vernazza are difficult to navigate.

Any suggestions and possible links to: a) parking in La Spezia; b) Train schedule from La Spezia to Vernazza; c) real driving experience into Vernazza parking area?

We will be traveling in late May 2026.

Thank you!

Posted by
2870 posts

hey hey CHarrisUNC
are you using your rental in florence (where) and have parking already? as i'm sure you know, having a car in florence, cinque terre, vernazza can be a real PITA.
you will need an IDP/aaa.com which is mandatory in italy, get before you go for each driver. use both IDP & DL while driving, read laws/rules, ZTL zones, take pictures of car before leaving and at drop off so no "surprise $$$ ticket" later, speed zones, drop off fee to pick-up one place and return to another. rental agency may or may not ask for IDP but if stopped by the cops for any reason they will and if none, big fine of 400E+ on the spot. look at size of car with people and luggage, pack light.
you have to decide what's good, bad or ugly, check-in times are 3-4pm check-out times 10-11am, and may is a busy month. so many travelers nowdays (not a shoulder season in italy nowdays) check how many cruise ships will be in the ports which adds to the thousands roaming around & wanting to get on crowded trains, bus/vans tours adds more people during day tripping hours. what are the policies/hours and costs of parking and if full then what, pulling/pushing luggage on rough/cobblestones, how many stairs/steps to airbnb, cost of shuttle. so much to think about
many posters here will give you more info, you may like it or you may not, about parking and driving. hopefully all works out for you
aloha

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