Will be in Florence this summer. Plan on taking the train to the Cinque Terre (Vernazza) for the day only. Is there another option i.e. some kind of tour service or bus service that would be faster than the 2-3 changes I'll have to make on the train?
Posted by
Portland, Oregon, USA
306 posts
You can find cheap rooms in CT. Hike the trial and spend the night. Go back in the morning.
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
Cinque Terre is not good for a day trip. If you try to do it, you will feel cheated.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
kathy,
While it can be done, that's a LONG day trip to make from Florence. I don't know of any tour services that make that trip, so you'll have to tolerate the 2-3 changes.
Hopefully someone else will have other suggestions.
Happy travels!
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA, USA
1449 posts
you can find excursions from Florence to CT; I found some listed with google. They are a bit pricy, and its going to make for a long day. If you can rearrange your travel plans, perhaps you could go to CT at the start or end of your time in Florence and spend a nite there?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Kathy, the best advice is to not try it one day. However, many travelers will make the attempt because for them, it's a must see. If you must, here is my recommendations for the 1-day visit.
One-Day Cinque Terre Visit
1) Depart Florence on the 7:27am train to Riomaggiore. You will arrive in Riomaggiore at 10:08am (2 train changes – Pisa and La Spezia). This particular run will cost more as the first leg to Pisa is on a Eurostar and they cost more to ride. You could go later but you wouldn't get to the CT until 1:00pm. Once in Riomaggiore, stop in the Tourist Information office in the train station and buy a 1-day Cinque Terre Treno card. This will permit unlimited train travel and access to the coastal trails. It's worth it. 2) 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 11:30. Take the second trail from Manarola to the Corniglia train station. This takes about 45 minutes. You don't need to tour Corniglia as its high up on a bluff.
3) 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. It's now about 2:00pm without lunch or 2:45pm with lunch. 4) Take the train from Vernazza to Monterosso. Tour both the old town and the new town. Its all fairly flat. Complete your touring about 4:00pm. You can then take the afternoon train from Monterosso back to Florence.
One alternate suggestion, if you want to take the ferry, walk over to the docks in the Old Town in Monterosso and buy a ticket for the ferry. You can take the ferry to Riomaggiore and then take the next train back to Vernazza so that you don't miss that experience. At the ferry docks, make sure that the ferry is running and that it will stop at the other towns. If the seas are rough, the ferry will not go