cinque terre as a day trip from Florence

Carol, It's a pretty fair distance from Florence to the CT. The train would be easy, though, and yes, you connect through Spezia. The viator tours work pretty well, but I've found them to charge a hefty premium for the convenience. I have not done this particular one. The hike is not so much a "one-hike" deal. It's really five hikes, so you can make some choices, and you could easily "hop on the train when we've had enough" I've posted a post here on Rick Steves about the hikes, which you can read at: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm?topic=85100 There is a reply from me that talks about the hills. Also, I posted some photos, to give you an idea of the steps, here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzdvZNj Cheers!

You really can do a 1-day visit to the CT on your own. Here's a suggested agenda for a 1-day tour of the CT. It includes hiking two of the four trails. First, buy your train tickets from Florence to Riomaggiore. I suggest departing on the 7:00am train to Pisa. Fare is 10.50Euro. For this run, you will change trains at Pisa and at La Spezia Centrale. On this run, you have a 30-minute wait for your train to Riomaggiore. While in the La Spezia train station, go into the TI office there and buy a Cinque Terre Treno card. Be sure its a Treno card. This will permit unlimited train travel and access to the coastal trails. Yes, there are trolls on the trails requiring money to pass. Board the 9:56 train to Riomaggiore. You will arrive at 10:03 by current schedules. You could go later but you wouldn't get to the CT until 11:18pm. Note that you will have three train tickets. One for each of the 3 legs. Since you are on Regionale trains, none will have a train number or departure time on them. You need to be aware of your departing trains. 2) Walk down to the water's edge and look for the Via Dell'Amore coastal trail. Walk the trail to Manarola. This takes about 25 minutes and the trail is very level except for a few steps. Tour Manarola. It's now about 11:15. Take the second trail from Manarola to the Corniglia train station. This takes about 45 minutes. You don't need to tour Corniglia as its high up on a bluff. 3) From the Corniglia train station, take the local train to Vernazza. Its now about 1:00pm. Tour Vernazza. Have lunch either in Vernazza or in Monterosso. This should take an hour without lunch or 90 minutes with lunch. It's now about 2:00pm without lunch or about 2:45pm with lunch. 4) Take the train from Vernazza to Monterosso. Tour both the old town and the new town. Return to Florence when you want. Trains run well into the evening.

Commenting further on the CT trails, the 3rd trail from Corniglia to Vernazza is a bit more rugged. About 1,200 stairs up and about 1,200 stairs down. This trail took us 3 hours. We were in our mid 60s when we did this trail. It was really scenic up there and we were there for 3 days so it was part of the plan. It's just more rugged than the first two. We did not walk the 4th trail from Vernazza to Monterosso as we didn't have the time and this trail is supposed to be more narrow. Here's a LINK to a picture looking down on Corniglia from the trail. It's a scenic trail but you are up a lot higher.

Carol, I've never taken any Viatours so can't comment on whether they'd be worthwhile. What's included in the $109 cost? While you could certainly take a day trip from Florence to the Cinque Terre on your own, the travel times back and forth mean that it will be a LONG day. My suggestion would be to stay at least one night if possible. A few points to clarify regarding the trails. In addition to the Sentiero Azzuro trails that run along the water, there's an extensive network of other trails that criss-cross the area. If you're planning to hike all of the four trails, it will be very long and exhausting for those in our age group (I'm 60+ also). One exception is the famous Via dell'Amore which runs from Riomaggiore to Manarola. It's mostly flat and paved, and is more a "stroll" than a hike. One other point to clarify. The trail from Manarola to Corniglia has been closed for some time due to slide damage and it is still closed. There's been no word on when repairs will be completed. The other trails are currently open. NOTE that a Park Pass is required to hike any of the trails. The trail from Monterosso to Vernazza is the most challenging. There's quite a climb at either end, which can be quite strenuous for those that are "out of shape" (especially in the heat). I hiked that one last year, and it took me considerably longer than the last time (although I should mention that I stopped frequently for photo breaks and visiting with other travellers). Happy travels!

Larry, you say, "Take the second trail from Manarola to the Corniglia train station." The trail along the coast from Manarola to Corniglia is still closed, according to http://savevernazza.com/traveladvisortrails/ We were there in June, and hiked up (UP UP UP) the #6 trail to Volastra and then across and then down to Corniglia. It was VERY strenuous. For older folks, I'd recommend the train for this part. We had to take the train from Corniglia to Vernazza because the coast trail was closed, but that is now open. I did think Corniglia was cute and worth a walk around (you said not to bother). There is a shuttle bus so that you don't have to walk all the stairs from the train station up to the town, and it's included in the price of the cinque terre card.

Carol, I would not do that marathon one day trip even if they paid ME the $218.00.

I have to also comment on the "Take the second trail from Manarola to the Corniglia train station. This takes about 45 minutes. " The trail is indeed closed. It's a good, solid, hard 2 1/2 hour hike up and then down to Corniglia. If you love to hike, it's awesome. I thought Corniglia was well worth a visit too.

We used Alessandro Cammilli - we found him on TripAdvisor. We actually ended up taking two day trips with him - we took a trip to Siena, San Gimignano, toured a winery, etc and had such a fabulous time that we rearranged our itinerary and booked him again two days later.

We did CT as a day trip by getting a driver - we made a quick stop in Pisa and were in the CT by about 10:30. We started in Riomaggiore and walked to Manarola (this stretch is very flat and easy, but beautiful!), then took the ferry from Manarola to Vernazza, where we had lunch. He met up with us in Vernazza and took us to Corniglia, and then we stopped in Lucca on the way home. It sounds like a nightmare of a day, but it was actually quite relaxing! We really enjoyed it.

By train that is a bit of a trip I like Nancy's rent a driver for a day. It will be less hectic and allow you to see so much more. Changing trains is a pain and you might enjoy the drive along the way with a driver as a tour guide. You don't go there too often so pay the extra money to enjoy it more.

@NancyP - Would you care to share what car service you used?

I will offer my advice as well. We stayed in Monterosso last week and hiked the 3 open trails between Riomaggiore and Monterosso in one day. I am healthy 60 year old who walks a lot. For me, the trails between Corniglia-Vernazza and Vernazza-Monterosso were an extremely challenging hike (the steps up and the heat especially). I would not have wanted to have to return to Florence by train after I had finished that. If you want to experience the beauty of the Cinque Terre, I suggest taking the boat ride (if the boats are running). It was wonderful to see all of the towns from that perspective.. The Via Dell'Amore was a piece of cake to walk and very beautiful. Each of the towns are beautiful and worth visiting. If you are going by train on your own from Florence as suggested by others, it will be a long day. Conserve your energy and visit each town by train or boat. Have lunch, a gelato, and a cold birra or glass of wine. Wander the streets and visit the shops. If you want to try out a short climb to experience the type of challenge one faces on the trails, try climbing the steps from the train station up to the town of Corniglia. If you are wanting the challenge of a rigorous, beautiful hike, plan to come back and spend several nights in one of these lovely towns. I want to go back!

We took a Florence Tasting Tour of Cinque Terre. That worked very well. We left Florence from near the train station at 7am. Florence Tasting took care of rail and trail passes and essentially dropped us off in each town with a time to meet back to go to the next town. We walked the Trail of Love and took rail and boat otherwise. It made for a very relaxing day in which we didn't have to think very much. It was our vacation from our vacation. We were back in Florence at about 7:30 pm. Would I rather have had two nights and one day in Cinque Terre? Yes. Was it more time efficient than what we could have done by rail? Very much so. Was it more relaxing than driving ourselves would have been? Definitely. Was it worth a little more money than the rail option? Yes indeed.