Cinque Terre

Yvonne:

On both of my trips to the Cinque Terre (June 2004 and October 2007) I stayed in Monterosso. I had absolutely no problem with the car.

In 2004 I stayed at Hotel Villa Steno and that hotel has parking.

In 2007 I stayed at Hotel Margherita (in old town Monterosso) and we parked at the large public lot in the new town. The walk was about 400 meters. We pack light so the walk was no big deal.

Monterosso has easy car access. The other villages don't.

The drive into and out of the Cinque Terre can be a little hair raising but do not let that stop you.

I know that there are many on this site who scream from the rooftops that it is insane to drive to the Cinque Terre. I do not agree. I had no problem whatsoever. Have fun.

Thanks, Jon. I guess I am up for a little hair raising drive in my life now.

It sounds like you'll be okay if you exactly follow Jon's advice.

One thing you might want to check out: There are cautions in Rick's Italy book regarding specifically what needs to be done to get overnight parking in the Cinque Terre on weekends in the summer. But Rick doesn't address the Monterosso situation as specifically as Jon has.

As Americans we seem to be hard wired to get a rental car and drive when we go on vacation. Unless you are planning to get to somewhere between Venice and the CT that is not near the railway, I'd suggest you seriously consider taking the train.

It's a long drive from Venice usually with lots of traffic. While there is parking in the CT, in summer it will be crowded and you won't be able to use the car in the five villages anyway.

As you leave the CT by train, you can either pick up a car at La Spezia or in Pisa for you Tuscany portion.

Like Jon I had no problem driving there. It can get a little hairy but you can do it.
How long do you have your car rented? If you have it for 2-3 weeks you can get a better rate than you would on a daily basis so turning it in and renting another when you leave may cost you more.

Each Cinque Terre town has a parking lot and an hourly shuttle service to town, except Corniglia where parking is for residents only. Monterosso has a large guarded beachfront lot and parking costs €12,00 a day. There’s usually space during the week – Weekends but July and August would be more difficult.
Levanto is probably the most convenient non-Cinque Terre base town.

Monterosso has significantly more parking than any of the other towns in CT (which, we surprised to find, all have some). When you call potential lodging, ask about a place to park.

If you need the car from Venice, pick it up in Vicenza rather than in Venice. It's a short train ride and you will save time, money and hassle vs. picking it up in Venice.

If you don't really need the car between Venice and Monterosso, picking up in La Spezia works.

Myself and husband have rented a car each of the three times we have traveled to Italy. We made arrangements with the B&B in Cinque Terre and we parked at the top of the hill. We even drove in ROME...yes ROME...I saw Romulous and Ramous several times until I finally jumped out of the car ,I got into a cab with the hotel address and shouted in my loudest American-Italian Accent. don't lose that car!! We made it to the hotel ..safely..where-upon my hubby got pleasently intoxicated. We laugh each time we think of that experience...WOW...
Pat

Arriving in CT by train is part of the charm, imho.

...ah rental cars - not my idea of a relaxing European vacation. We prefer trains whenever possible.

I guess my first question is why do you need the car?

I agree with taking the train from Venice to the CT & then taking the train again to La Spezia & picking up your car there. Since you can't use the car in the CT to get from town to town, there's no use paying to have it. We did the opposite from you in that we drove from Siena to La Spezia, dropped the car off & then took the train to the CT.

Our family of 4 visited the C.T. in 2002 and trained in from LaSpezia parking our car at the station. In 2006 we were coming from France to Vernazza and had a rental car that was a stick, as most of them are over there. (we were working our way to Sorrento.) After we exited the autostrada the drive to Monterosso was very easy but the drive to Vernazza was very narrow with lots of hairpins. I was hugging the door ALOT! My husband said he would do it again. Was in the C.T. with my sisters this past July and we trained in--very easy. You should have no problem getting to Monterosso but it would be easier to train to the C.T. and pick up car at LaSpezia when leaving.