FYI:Buy train tickets for departing Cinque Terre before you get there

Interesting. I left Riomaggiore on Sun. the 27th of Sept. and bought my ticket to Florence right there, no problem. There were several other people going to Florence at the same time, and they also purchased their tickets that morning in Riomaggiore. Maybe because it was a Sunday? (LaSpezia ticket office was not open when we changed trains there.)

That's funny; I was in CT and bought a ticket from there to Perugia right at the station in Monterosso al Mare

Mary I had also read this on another posting prior to our trip to Italy this past July. After our C.T. stay we were heading to Milan so we purchased our tkts. prior to arriving so didn't try purchasing in the C.T.

That IS very strange! I went to the ticket office in Vernazza and was told that I could only buy a ticket to LaSpezia and that I would have to go to the ticket office in LaSpezia for the rest of my trip. It wouldn't surprise me if the guy at the ticket office just did't want to bother with selling them to me. And it can't be the size of the town because Riomaggiore is just as small as Vernazza. HMMMMMM!!!! What is up with that. Anyway, I just wanted to let other travellers know because it threw me off schedule a tad bit.

mary,

A possible explanation for your experience is that some of the train stations in the five Cinque Terre villages are not "full service", and therefore can only offer a limited range of products.

On my last visit to the C.T., I had to take the local train from Riomaggiore to Monterosso to buy the tickets and reservations for my outgoing journey. The trip only took an hour or so (there and back), and it was a nice sunny day so a good excuse to pop up to Monterosso for lunch as well.

I believe the station in Riomaggiore is now able to provide a wider range of services. However, the station in Vernazza may still be somewhat "limited".

Cheers!

Can you buy tickets at the local stations to go from one town to the other in the CT, such as Vernazza to Santa Margherita Ligure? Is there a site to check train times for these local trains?

Ken,
You may be right. I don't know. I never thought of that but you would think they would have told me to go to one of the other towns for the tickets. Oh well, it didn't affect my plans that much. Just a part of quirky Italy.

I, too, just returned from CT. Departing from Vernazza, we had to buy our tickets to Milan at Monterosso. It only took a couple minutes and did not mess up our schedule. Vernazza appaently is not full-service.

Just got back from there. Stayed in Vernazza. Had to go to to Monterosso to buy our train tickets to Rome. If you're going to CT you'll be there at some point anyway. It's a lovely "walk".

Hi everyone, Thanks for clarifying. I wanted to make others aware of what happened to me so they would be prepared. I was in all the towns so I could have bought my train ticket at any of them. All's well that ends well!!!