Day trip to CT from Florence

Here's the semi-official CT website, it has useful information from the locals http://www.cinqueterre.com/eng/Here's a quote from that site, note that the locals are trying, on the website, to give travelers a heads up that this might be one place you don't want to drive to (parking problems):"The road to the Cinque Terre is very narrow and has lots of bends. Only a few tourists visit the Cinque Terre by car. Almost all leave their car in Levanto and use the train or even the boat to arrive to the Cinque Terre. In the Cinque Terre towns there are small pay parking lots in Monterosso and Riomaggiore. During the summer, from May to August, the car park is usually full and the roads to Monterosso and Riomaggiore are closed because there is no parking available. The other villages are always closed to cars, except for the residents. Levanto has many parking areas. You can find two good parking lots in Levanto: one near the railway station and the other near the sea. However, in August, even Levanto is crowded and you will need good luck to find a parking spot. When you are parking, be sure that you do not park in areas reserved for residents (these are marked by a blue sign with the words Parcheggio Residenti)."

Kent is very correct about the parking situation in the CT. However, you might get lucky on the pay lots at the end of March. It's just not a good idea to drive there. You might consider parking in La Spezia and taking the train in. It's a 10-minute ride to Riomaggiore. Except for a few exceptions, tourist cars are not permitted in the five CT towns.

Kent and Larry, you both make good points about avoiding the drive to Monterosso or Riomaggiore. I did some research online this evening and found the Levanto option very appealing. The entrance into Levanto from the autostrada is much less involved and harrowing than either of the other two. It seems like I might have some luck finding parking in Levanto, given the fact that it is still early in the season. Google mapping estimates the drive time from Scandicci (Florence) to Levanto at 1 hr. 58 minutes. If we leave Florence at 7 am, we can be there by 10:00 I would think. 12 hours later, we would start our trek back to Florence for arrival by midnight. It's a power day, I know, but it seems fun...and I know my family loves the "adventure".

All I need to do now is find a schedule of trains that run through the stops of the CT so I know what time to get to Levanto, and how late I can stay in the CT before the last train returns to Levanto.

The Trenitalia site is really confusing, and asks for a departure time. I just need a schedule of stops and times throughout the day. In Rick's Italy 2009 book, he says that every station has a schedule posted and every CT all-day train card comes with one, but I need to see one before I commit to the early drive from Florence.

Darryl: I'm glad we were able to help you figure out how you want to do this. A more user-friendly train schedule website is this one http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en. When you get to the site, note that country names not needed. Pick a time of 0700 so you'll see schedules starting from 0700. Exact day isn't important, but if you know your dates, go ahead and use them. You're not going to buy tickets online so exact days are not critical, if traveling on the weekend just pick a date (any date) that is also on a weekend.

Kent, that site is exactly what I was looking for. As it turns out, there are trains running through the CT approximately every 45 minutes to an hour.

Thank goodness we have a chill-out day in Florence (a city I'm familiar with) the next day. Thanks again.

Daryl, beginning at 4:45am in Levanto 34 trains depart for La Spezia. All 34 stop at Monterosso. 31 stop at Riomaggiore, 25 stop at Vernazza, 23 stop at Corniglia and 23 stop at Manarola. The last train through the CT back to Levanto departs at 23:10.

When you get to the CT go to any TI and they will give you a small piece of paper with the train schedule for every train stopping at every town going both ways during the whole day.

Thanks Larry. Between you and Kent, I am now 100% more confident in taking the day trip to the CT than I was 3 days ago.