Getting from Manarola, Cinqueterra to Bologna by train

Use the German rail website, bahn.de, for schedules just about anywhere in Europe. You'll have to go thru La Spezia....the local journey to there takes less than 10 minutes. The bahn site will help you make the best connections.

Carol, here's a website that will give you train schedules: http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en Once you get the schedules, determine what time you might want to leave and click on the right arrow at the left of the listing to get more info on some of the stops that particular train will make. You can even click again on "show intermediate stops" for a complete list of all the stops. I print these schedules and take them with me so I know what my options are.

For June 6, there is a 0945 train that goes thru La Spezia and Parma and arrives in Bologna in 3.57 hrs. Or a 1029 train that goes thru Monterosso and Milan that arrives 4.5 hrs. later. Hope this info helps.

JUST A TIP- for whatever the websites tell you about what time you can leave Cinque Terre to get to La Spezia for a connection-- leave about an hour earlier than that, or there's a very good change you'll miss your connection. The trenitalia site gave me an itinerary that left us about 15 minutes after our train from Monterosso to La Spezia to catch our connection to Torino, and it wasn't even close. We spent the rest of the day frantically trying to figure out what to do and was one of the 10 worst days of my life. Give yourself AT LEAST an hour between trains to make sure.