Driving from Cinque Terre to Rome and restaurant advice

a). where to park in Manarola

You don't. It's a car free village, you park outside it.

I should have worded it more clearly. I did know we have to walk to our place. Where would we park near that area? Can you advise? Are there specific lots to pay for a space?

Hello Laura, and welcome to the forum!

You don't mention any other specific need for the car. It seems to be it would be easier, cheaper and probably faster to use a train for this journey.
Is there any reason you specifically needed a car for some part of this trip?

=Tod

There are lots in some of the villages, but in July you have a good chance of finding them full. I would take the train.

where to park in Manarola - our hotel is Giovanni Rooms: Via Ettore Cozzani 22, 19017 Manarola

I would ask the hotel where guests can park.

most scenic route from Cinque Terre to Rome where we will return our car.

Are you just "driving to Rome", or are you planning overnight stops along the way?

It is near the end of our trip and I was simply thinking we would be done with trains and it could be fun to do a scenic trip down the coast of Italy. But now I’m second guessing. We are not stopping along the way. We rent our car in Genoa, We stay two nights in cinque terre and then on to Rome.

If you were asking for advice about the car I would have to vote against.

The car will be a liability in CT where parking is hard and you won't need it to move between the towns. At this point you'll be paying for rental car that will just be sitting for two days for no reason.

So if you're determined to drive I would say rent a car in La Spezia after CT and then drive from there rather than pay for two days for no reason. Be sure you understand where you will drop the car and under no circumstances should you try and drive in Rome itself. Driving in Rome is not for the faint of heart or non-Italians in general I think.

You can take the slower train down the coast from La Spezia to Rome and skip the car all together or take the fast train from Florence in and hour and half.

I love the romance of the idea but I really don't think it will be as hassle free as you're thinking.

My $.02, what ever you choose enjoy,
=Tod

just a couple of things to be aware of for the drive.

All drivers must have an International Driving Permit (IDP) in addition to their home license.

There is something in Italy called ZTL which loosely translated means zone of limited traffic. They are all over, especially deep in Florence and in Rome. If you don't have a permit for that area - you won't - your car is forbidden to enter when the zone is active. Generally these (and all in Rome) are controlled by cameras which record all vehicles driving into the zone. If you are not on the list you pay a fine. A big one (have a look around the website here for ZTL and you will find lots of stories of people paying huge fines and / or calling it a scam - it isn't ). Don't do it.

You also, especially in Rome, need to be aware of bus lanes and one way roads and one way contraflow lanes and don't enter them, and be careful even crossing them. Yup, cameras again.

And watch your speed. Some (yup, cameras) are set with very close tolerances. Big fines again.

When the speed goes down, like entering a built up area down to 50 kph, the speed is enforced as soon as you pass the sign (cameras). You can't lift and coast past the sign waiting for the car to slow down. Town, village, city border signs = urban speed limit.

If you violate any of these the first clue will be a charge on the card you used for the rental as the rentals tell the police who was driving. Figure around $40 to $50 each time for providing that information to the police.

Not to spook you or intimidate you, but to prewarn you so you are prepared.

Nigel, that's a great summary of why people should avoid cars if they're traveling to places that are well-served by trains.

This is all very incredible advice. I am going to look into ditching the car. I hope it's not too late, as I"ve already purchased the entire trip as a package.

We will be coming from Lauterbrunnen and currently have train tickets to Genoa. Is this the best way to get to Cinque Terre? We had our rental car being picked up there but if we ditch it, maybe there's a better way from Lauterbrunnen to Cinque Terre (doubt it).

And for the most scenic train route from there to Rome, what would you suggest? I suppose we could "get off" to see Florence but not too appealing to me as we will have our backpacks, etc. and it will be HOT. Thinking we forego florence for another trip. Would love to stay along the coast if it is scenic. Thank you all SO VERY MUCH. This was incredibly informative!

The Frecciabianca is the fastest train down the coast. You would have to change in La Spezia, but you have to change in La Spezia no matter what. The Intercity trains also go down the coast if those timings work better. The Frecciargento and Frecciarossa all go via Florence.

If you decide to stopover to see Florence, there are left luggage facilities at or near Florence-Santa Maria Novella

We took the Intercity north from Rome on the coastal route, and the Frecciarossa back to Rome from Florence after visiting Lucca.

I would describe the views on both routes as pleasant, rather than truly scenic. When heading south from La Spezia, the marble quarries on the ridgelines near Cararra are interesting - viewed from the left side of the train.

I cannot describe how grateful I am for this forum! I am looking into cancelling the rental car today. I just need to decide whether to do coastal train or through Florence. Most likely we’d leave fairly early from La Spezia. Advice appreciated!

Also, do trains have AC? Is first class a must - what’s the difference?

You all are amazing.

I am late to the conversation; I just saw this discussion this morning. Reading the responses I got as far as this statement before I felt the need to add my voice:

It is near the end of our trip and I was simply thinking we would be done with trains and it could be fun to do a scenic trip down the coast of Italy.

I was in a car with 3 college friends driving the coastal route to go between Rome and Florence in the winter 50 years ago (I was not the actual driver, I was in the back seat). I do not recall every bit, but I do remember visiting the Carrara marble quarry, and the little hotel in Portofino where we spent the night. I do not remember the scenery at all because from La Spezia north to Portofino the road is mostly in tunnels. I still have my diary with the entry about that road and the “endless mole tunnels”.

I would be surprised if they have somehow managed to build a tunnel-free road along there. So I am glad to see you have changed your mind about the car.

To address your question about which train route to take from Lauterbrunnen, I will note that the first step will be to get yourselves from there to Milan. The “usual” route goes via Spiez and Domodossola, but that route will be affected by a track closure between Stresa and Arona. There should be a bus connection around the closure, but those have not been put on the schedule yet. So if you look at that part of the journey now, you will see that the Spiez route goes as far as Domodossola, then from there to Locarno with the Centovalli railway, and thence to Milan. Or you can choose the other direction, via Luzern and the Gotthard Pass route to Bellinzona and then to Milan.

As for the routes from Milan to Manarola, as you have seen there are two options, the inland route via Florence andLa Spezia, and the coastal route via Genoa and Levanto or Monterosso (where you pick up the regional train to Manarola). In general, the Florence route is slightly faster and may have more connections, but it all depends on what time you start in Milan.

We prefer to minimize the number of train changes, so when we took our daughters to Italy 14 years ago, with a stay in Manarola, we chose the coastal route to return to Milan. We took an InterCity train that connected Milan with Monterosso without a change at Genoa, taking just about 3 hours. That train runs several times a day; the ones that might be useful to you would be IC 665 departing Milan at 12:10, and IC 669 departing at 14:05.

However, I also see a direct train to La Spezia, FrecciaBianca 8619, departing Milan at 13:10 and arriving at La Spezia in 3 hours.

Both the IC and the Frecce trains go along the coast from Genoa south (and there will be some tunnels). But there may be a difference in the type of train used, and since you are interested in AC you should find out more about that. The IC train we rode 14 years ago was the old style, with 6-person compartments and a corridor down one side. We were in First Class, but it wasn’t all that great as far as comfort, and the small compartment was “stuffy”. If they are still using that type of train on the IC routes, I would definitely choose the FrecciaBianca train instead. Economy tickets are available on Trenitalia now for July 15 for 29,90 in First (SuperEconomy tix already sold out).

The IC train we rode 14 years ago was the old style, with 6-person compartments and a corridor down one side. We were in First Class, but it wasn’t all that great as far as comfort, and the small compartment was “stuffy”.

We rode an Intercity north from Rome on the coastal route back in November - in first class - it was an open seating plan, quite comfortable - perfectly acceptable.

Thank you for your update, markcw. That will give Laura and her travel companion more options for the train from Milan to Cinque Terre.