My wife and I are planning a trip to the Cinque Terre and Lake Como next April. We are flying into Genoa on April 7th and are planning to spend our first night there. I can’t find any reference whatsoever to Genoa in Rick Steves Italy book and wonder if we should move further down toward the Cinque Terre. Any suggestions? We go to Vernazza in the Cinque Terre on April 8th and then to Varenna on Lake Como on April 11th. We fly out of Milan back to the US on the 15th. All other travel is by train. Can someone suggest how to incorporate a day trip on the Bernini Express to St. Moritz and back in this itinerary? Is it possible to do this and end up at a hotel near the airport on the last day? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Posted by
10 posts
We went on the Best of Italy tour just last month and loved Cinque Terre and Ravenna very much. I don't have any suggestion for you except to have an awesome time. Both areas are beautiful.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11199 posts
Genoa to CT is about a 90 minute train ride. Unless you arrive quite late into GOA, I would go directly to CT on arrival day. Would give you one more night to spend at Lake Como and work in your St Moritz trip.
Posted by
4441 posts
I think any other guide to Liguria will cover Genoa, which at one time was a rather significant city so its omission is perplexing, or you could peruse the internet for info on the city. Once you decide if it is of interest to you or not, check if your arrival time would give you enough time to get to Vernazza that day or not. I would not see a need for another stop unless you stick with Genoa for some city flavor. But, if you really want a smaller place for one night, I loved Camogli.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32219 posts
Spending one night anywhere after an international flight is somewhat a waste of time and money. As mentioned above, if your flight arrives at a decent hour, go directly to Vernazza as it will be a much nicer place to recover from jet lag. Depending on which train you connect with, travel time from Genova Piazza Principe station to Vernazza is a is only about 1.5 hours, with one change. Buy your rail ticket when you arrive, and DON'T forget to validate prior to boarding the train.
A trip to St. Moritz is certainly possible during your trip to Varenna, but the trip is about 4H:47M each way, so that's not exactly ideal. You would need to take the train from Varenna-Esino to Tirano, and then transfer to one of the trains to St. Moritz. Note that the panoramic Bernina Express cars usually only travel once per day in each direction, but you could use any train travelling that route and see the same scenery.