Cinque Terre by train

Of couse you can. There are many trains a day making this run. You are probably looking at dates farther out than mid-June. Trenitalia doesn't update their website schedules until mid-June and dates farther out can be sketchy.

CLICK HERE to see a typical morning schedule. Click on Next to see later trains. Don't worry about the schedule updates in June. The schedules don't change that much if at all.

Shari,

As Larry mentioned, this is an easy trip from Milano. Which rail website were you using to search?

You might try the bahn.de website. Enter a trip not more than a month or so in the future, but on the same day of the week you'll be travelling. For example, there's a train leaving Milano Centrale at 08:05, arriving Vernazza at 12:19 (Time 4H:14M, one change at La Spezia Centrale, reservations compulsory on the first section as it's an Intercity train).

There are two main "transfer points" for trains to the Cinque Terre, La Spezia or Genova. Either one will get you there. La Spezia is a bit smaller and more "informal". Which of the five villages are you staying in?

Happy travels!

Hi Ken, I am just doing some homework. We have about four days between Switzerland and the condo we have rented for 10 days in Nice. Now I am thinking maybe we will stay in Genova for a few days. Could we take the train from Genova and do the CT in a day? I am thinking of bags again. Where would be the best place to stay after Lugano in your opinion.
Thanks.
Shari

Genova is certainly a lot closer to Nice. The CT towns are 90min-2hrs away depending on the train run you choose. If you wanted to stay closer to the CT, you might look into Santa Margherita Ligure or Portofino which are almost an hour north of the CT.

There is a daily train, I used to take often, that leaves Milano Centrale at 7:20 a.m. and stops at all the Cinque Terre towns beginning with Monterosso (10:59 a.m., Vernazza 11:05 a.m., etc.) It's not the fastest train but gets you there under four hours and you don't have to change trains which is great if you're tired or jetlagged. Much easier than going to La Spezia and backtracking. Plus it's only 12.70 euros which is less than the fast trains.