Florence to La Spezia/Monterosso

Use Trenitalia instead http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en. Italiarail is just a re-seller of tickets. What dates are you looking at? The schedules change in June and not much is up for that yet. Using tomorrow as an example there are frequent trains some hourly, some every hour n half between Florence and Monterosso. You want to use the Italian name on the site so Florence is Firenze and the main station is S. M Novella. There are 12 departures between 8am and 14:30 (2:30pm)

thanks. Maybe its too early yet for July 2nd. I thought 90 days out you could book.

Hi jon. For this trip, I suggest you wait and buy your tix in Italy. Savings from buying online would be either zero, or only a few euros, and you would unnecessarily lock yourself into a specific date and time. There are many trains on this route (use a date in May to see), if you wait and buy in Italy, you will retain the flexibility to pick the train / timing you prefer. Enjoy your trip!

Thanks Bob. I would rather be flexible but I have heard so much about how crowded Cinque terre is in the summer and we are flying from Barcelona and I just want to make sure we have a spot. Is there zero chance that there wouldn't be train seats?

Hi jon. These routes / trains have huge capacity and many trains per day. On regional trains, impossible to sell out because there are no assigned seats & no limit on # of tickets sold. An Intercity or Freccia train theoretically could sell out, but very rare. Way more likely is that you buy your tix in advance for a specific train, and then your plans change or you get delayed somewhere and miss your train and your pre-purchased ticket becomes worthless. Enjoy your trip!

That route mostly uses regional trains, which are typically the last to be published in Italy for travel after the June 12 schedule change. The changes are usually minimal. I think you may be visiting multiple countries, so for a general train schedule search, we use the DB link at How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online.

jon,

For the trip from Florence to Monterosso, you'll likely be using a combination of Intercity/Freccia and Regionale trains. You can easily buy your tickets when you arrive at Firenze SMN station. BE SURE to validate the Regionale trains prior to boarding or you'll risk hefty fines which will be collected on the spot.

" I just want to make sure we have a spot. Is there zero chance that there wouldn't be train seats?"

When you buy tickets on the InterCity/Freccia trains, those come with compulsory seat reservations so once you have the tickets, you have seats. There are no reservations on the Regionale trains and there are always "seats", although if it's crowded you may have to stand. The Cinque Terre crowds would only be a concern on the short (~20 minute) hop from La Spezia Centrale to Monterosso. If you're travelling after 14:00, the reality is that many of the day trippers will likely be heading in the opposite direction (ie: OUT of the C.T.).

As you're connecting with the trains after an inbound flight, I wouldn't buy advance tickets. While that would save a few bucks on the Intercity / Freccia tickets, if you miss the train you've booked for any reason, you'll have to buy new full fare tickets anyway. You'll pay the same for Regionale tickets. In the same situation, I'd take a Taxi from FLR to Firenze SMN, buy tickets at a Kiosk and get on the train.

In addition to what stated above, to minimize the travel time from Florence to La Spezia, there is a new fast train option introduced by Trenitalia:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/florence-to-cinque-terre-and-back-an-overlooked-option