Day trip to Cinque Terre

We frequently see this request. Here's my suggested 1-Day visit itinerary to the CT from Florence. 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. It's a 3hr journey. 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) At Riomaggiore, 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. If open, take the second trail from Manarola to the Corniglia train station. This takes about 45 minutes. If you want to tour Corniglia, take the minibus up to the town. It's high on a bluff.

Here's the rest of the 1-day visit. 3) Or, 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 90-100 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.

Debbie, Travel from Florence to the Cinque Terre can be done on a day trip, but it's going to be a LONG day. I'm not sure you'll have time to hike all of the trails though, as some are a bit "challenging". As the previous reply indicated, it might be a good idea to buy a Cinque Terre Treno card when you arrive, as that covers not only the permit for hiking the trails but also the local trains. I'd probably just buy a ticket in Florence to get you to La Spezia, as I believe the card will cover you from there. The trip to Riomaggiore is only about 9 minutes. If you want to explore Riomaggiore, go through the small tunnel that parallels the tracks and then turn left up into the town. To access the Via dell'Amore, do not go down to water. You'll need to go up the stairs in the station plaza and after a short distance you'll see the small wooden hut where they'll check your Pass. There's a small Bar close to the Manarola end, so you may want to buy a "cool one" and enjoy the view. When you get to Manarola, you'll walk down a long metal ramp, and you'll have to go through another tunnel to reach the town. The trail from Manarola to Corniglia is still closed, so you'll have to take the train. To get from the station up to the town, your card will cover the small Shuttle. You can hike from Corniglia to Vernazza and Vernazza to Monterosso, but keep in mind that those are the two most challenging trails. By that point, you may be getting a bit "weary" so you may want to consider train there also. I haven't checked, but there should be trains departing La Spezia about 20:00, which will get you back to Florence within a few hours. Happy travels!

Debbie, Ken and Larry,
I had this exact question, and your answers are so helpful. Any tips about taking a boat for a piece of this journey? Thank you!

THANKS Larry and Ken for such a details response. This will definitely make my travel easier :D Deb

I'm resurrecting an old post because I have the same question but with a twist. We will be staying in Pistoia (east of Florence) for a week and we'll have a car. We've been to the Cinque Terre before, visiting all the towns and hiking between Riomaggiore and Corniglia. We'd like to visit again (this time with our kids) but we want to visit the towns via boat instead of by train. I realize it will be LONG day. Would it be better to drive or train it to La Spezia to catch the boat to see the towns? Has anyone done this? Is anyone familiar with the boat system and if it's possible to visit most of the towns this way? Is it worth hiking between Monterosso and Vernazza with the kids. Any other advice? Thanks so much!

From Pistoia I would definitely drive. You'd be in Spezia in one hour or just above that. By train from Pistoia it would take you forever because the Florence- Pistoia-Lucca-Pisa line is slow and backtracking to Florence to catch the faster Florence-Pisa line would be just as long. Get on the A-11 Firenze Mare freeway and follow directions to Viareggio then Genova. Exit at La Spezia. From La Spezia you could also drive to the first of the Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore). Just follow directions to Cinque Terre or Riomaggiore. It's an easy and fast drive from Spezia to Riomaggiore. Never taken a boat from SP, therefore I have no suggestions on that regard.