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Getting from La Spezia to Vernazza during train strike

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Our train from Florence to Pisa to La Spezia this Friday has been canceled due to a train strike. The Trentalia folks at the Firenze SMN station said to plan alternative options to get to Cinque Terre on Friday. We have a car rental to get to La Spezia. Anyone have options on what to do from there?

Our Airbnb owner in Vernazza believes that trains will run sometime on Friday. (One of the Trentalia people said if trains run from La Spezia to Levanto on Friday, it won't be until after 5:00pm). The owner did not recommend a bus to Vernazza and said most people do not take luggage on the ferries. We are considering just spending Friday night in La Spezia and taking the train to Vernazza Saturday morning.

Anyone have some experience on how to get that last mile done to Vernazza outside of trains? Is a taxi an option? I haven't taken a taxi in Italy, so I have no reference there.

Posted by
1978 posts

You can contact 5terre Transfers. We hired them to pick us up in Parma and drive us to manarola. They are the only company allowed to drive into Manarola. They are very dependable. We used them about 2 weeks ago. I assume they can drive into Vernazza.

I haven’t heard anything about a train strike. Is it nationwide? We are scheduled to take a train from bologna to Venice this Friday.

Posted by
102 posts

The strike ends at 5, so trains should start again then. The only guaranteed trains on the CT line are in rush hour, so the schedule during the strike would be sporadic at best.

Posted by
2986 posts

There also are ferries from La Spezia to the CT towns.

Posted by
11 posts

@kmkwoo - Seems there is a strike affecting numerous Trentalia rides on Friday. I got an e-mail notifying me of my ride cancellation so if you didn't get an e-mail, you may be in good shape.

I looked into Radio Taxi as well and I think I am going to get one to take us to Vernazza (thanks for the recommendation.)

I read on the Trentalia site that rides may start at 6pm but their customer care team said it would be sporadic rides. I'm taking what I know for sure to be safe. Radio taxi, I don't know their reputation, but I can say they have been very responsive on e-mail.

Posted by
741 posts

It is a nationwide strike that was postponed due to the new pope's inaugural mass last weekend. Planned from 1 am until 23:59 on the 23rd.

Posted by
1978 posts

We were at Bologna train station today and I asked the Trenitalia customer service rep about our train to Venice tomorrow, May 23. She told me our train is guaranteed to run. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Posted by
1978 posts

Our train did run on May 23 and we are currently in Venice! Yeah!!!

Posted by
11 posts

We did get here to Vernazza yesterday. We drove the rental car to La Spezia. The girl at the counter said she thought trains were running so we hiked to Migliarina station, about ten minutes away.

There were trains on the board but none of them came. We waited about 30 minutes and then called Radio Taxi. It ended up being 120 euros, more than they originally quoted, but we didn’t have much choice so we went.

The drive was amazing, though. Viewing the ocean from above was breathtaking. I don’t think we would have had this vantage point from the train so we are viewing the taxi ride positively. And it is beautiful being here, so we are happy.

Much thanks to everyone here to contributed!

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