Cinque Terre in one day

It depends on how you like to travel, but you can definitely see the CT in a day. I stayed there for 3 nights and if were to go back I'd probably turn it into a day trip myself. Ride the train up to Monterosso and hike back as far as you can go, when I was there trail 2 was open to Corniglia, then you can ride the train back through the other towns that aren't accessible by the trail... I'm not sure which sections are open now. If tours are your thing, then by all means, go for it, but really, you'll have a more authentic experience if you just get out there on your own... but I always say that, I suppose some people like guides, to each their own.

Assuming your 12 hours may be from 7am to 7pm, you could avail yourself of the following train connections, giving you approx 4.5 hours in the Cinque Terre. Hike the path between Riomaggiore and Corniglia via Manarola. (1.5hrs for hiking, 1.5hrs for lunch, half hour exploring each of the 3 villages)

FB 35764
Dep 09:30 LIVORNO CENTRALE (Italy)
Arr 10:39 LA SPEZIA CENTRALE (Italy)
RE 21190
Dep 10:55 LA SPEZIA CENTRALE (Italy)
Arr 11:02 RIOMAGGIORE (Italy)

RE 21223
Dep 15:48 CORNIGLIA (Italy)
Arr 16:05 LA SPEZIA CENTRALE (Italy)
FB 35777
Dep 16:18 LA SPEZIA CENTRALE (Italy)
Arr 17:24 LIVORNO CENTRALE (Italy)

I agree...If you enjoy to hike take the train to Monterosso and hike back Vernazza and then Corniglio. If you start relatively early there is time to wander Vernazza and check out the fort and town and have a coffee or snack with a great view. If later have lunch. It is easy to catch the quick trains back to the other towns and see them. You can definitely spend more time there if you want, but a day of hiking town to town and wandering the streets/steps/alleys is a day well spent.

if you plan on taking the trains and or hiking amongst the towns you'll want to purchase a one day CT pass. you can then jump on the train at anytime during the day-with out needing to buy train tickets. (I think the bus also but we only used the trains). if you are hiking remember it's not a stroll so be prepared water, good shoes, time. we hiked Vernazza to monterossa in just around 1.5-2 hours. if you take the train to Corniglia it is a long hike straight up (cement sidewalk/brick steps)- be sure to read descriptions of the town or watch Ricks brief video- spot on.. pick a couple towns and just riot the day. unless tours are your thing, they are not necessary to find your way to these towns.

if you plan on taking the trains and or hiking amongst the towns you'll want to purchase a one day CT pass (at train stations). you can then jump on the train at anytime during the day-with out needing to buy train tickets. (I think the bus also but we only used the trains). if you are hiking remember it's not a stroll so be prepared water, good shoes, time. we hiked Vernazza to monterossa in just around 1.5-2 hours. if you take the train to Corniglia it is a long hike straight up (from the train station to the hill town) cement sidewalk/brick steps)- be sure to read descriptions of the town or watch Ricks brief video- spot on.. pick a couple towns and just enjoy wandering around. unless tours are your thing, they are not necessary to find your way to these towns. another idea--you could hike partway up
any CT trail to catch some views and then turn back at the ticket booth on the trail- then catch a train to the next city.

Monica,

In taking a day trip from a cruise ship on your own, one of your biggest concerns will be getting back before the ship weighs anchor. Therefore your transportation links will have to be planned very precisely (and hope there isn't a rail strike that day)!

With such a very short time frame, I wouldn't recommend hiking any of the trails. Only two segments of the Sentiero Azzurro are currently open (not likely to change in the near future), you'll need to pay for a Park Pass to hike those and the two segments that are open are the most challenging of the four. You won't be strolling along the famous Via dell' Amore (Riomaggiore - Manarola) or the stretch from Manarola to Corniglia as they're both closed indefinitely. There are many other trails that extend higher in the hills but they're more difficult and will take longer, so not ideal for a day trip of only a few short hours.

One other point to consider is that the towns (especially Vernazza) will probably be dreadfully crowded with those passengers that took one of the organized excursions from the ship. There may also be one or more ships in port that day, which will exacerbate the problem. Therefore getting about on the local trains may take a bit longer and the cars will be crowded (I've experienced that first-hand). The Cinque Terre Express runs about every half hour, so that may help to alleviate the crowding.

The above comments were the cautionary note. The reality is that you should easily be able to visit all five towns in one day and at least have a quick look by using the local trains. Since you'll be docking in Livorno (which is south of the C.T.), one possibility would be to start in Riomaggiore and work north, using either the trains or the Ferry (good weather only, Ferry doesn't stop in Corniglia).

If you want to see Corniglia, it would be best to use the inexpensive Shuttle up the hill from the station, rather than walking up hundreds of steps (your choice of course). The few Euro you'll spend on the Shuttle will be worth it!

Try to allow a bit more time for Monterosso as it's larger and has both a "new town" and an "old town", so will take longer to explore. If you arrive in Monterosso in the early afternoon, you could do a bit of exploring and then have an early dinner / late lunch (15:00?) at Cantina di Miky or one of the other restaurants near the station, before returning to the ship.

You could also start from the other end. Check the train schedules on Trenitalia to see which option works best.

I highly doubt that the Cinque Terrre Treno card will be cost effective in your situation, especially if you won't be hiking any of the trails. Tickets are cheap so just buy P-P as you go.

Thanks everyone! We are leaning towards doing this trip (along with the other towns in this cruise ship itinerary) on our own. We have done this many times in Europe and thoroughly enjoyed. Will be on a Disney cruise next month and can move this booking to the Norway/Iceland trip in 2018.

As for seeing what we would have seen on this trip, our thinking is that we will fly into Florence or Pisa, go to Cinque Terre for a couple days... trek down to Rome and spend a couple days (we've been there twice now, so just the highlights for our son), on to Naples for a few days and then wrap up in Sicily ... fly out of Palermo.

We were on NCL Epic last year and stopped in Livorno from 7am-7pm. We booked a private excursion for 6 pp with Joe Bananas Limousines. We did the same in Naples. Price for private driver is same whether 2 or 8 pp. if you are only a few in your group, you can go to cruisecritic.com and try to organize a group with fellow cruisers to lowere average cost pp. The private tour company may also offer this service of forming a group. We were happy with JBL. Professional and pleasant drivers, spoke English, provided us with lots of info. Door to door service and made sure we got back to ship on time. Distance to CT is long and so is walking distance between ship and train station. Did not want to end up in a youtube video of late cruiser running after a departing cruise ship.

The connection in La Spezia train station could take a LONG time. I guess there's a new train system this year, but I don't know anything about it. Last year we waited about twenty minutes in line for the ticket machine and we barely moved so we just jumped on the train without tickets and hoped for the best. .People don't know how to use the machines...or the machines malfunction... or the machines show trains that aren''t available on the machines etc. If you and others are coming from a cruise it could be a zoo.

Monica,

We are leaning towards doing this trip (along with the other towns in this cruise ship itinerary) on our own. Our thinking is that we will fly into Florence or Pisa, go to Cinque Terre for a couple days... trek down to Rome

I think it would be a good idea to edit your original post with this information, especially because not everyone may read all the other replies prior to writing theirs.

You can easily add the update at the bottom of your original post.

Have a wonderful trip!