We are consideirng a day trip and one of the areas we were thinking of was cinque terre, maybe la spezia...I know we won't be able to probalby do much but maybe there is a town we should look at going to...
suggestions?
Or should we just consider a day trip to either Lucca or Sienna
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
A day trip to the CT is easy to do. It's a long day but doable. Here's my suggested 1-day whirlwind tour from Florence.
Larry's One-Day Visit to the CT from Florence
It is possible. A long day but you can hike two of the four trails between the towns and visit four of the five towns. Just don't try to squeeze in Pisa and/or Lucca along with the CT.
Here's a suggested routing. Take the train from Florence to Riomaggiore. I suggest the 7:51am train that gets you to Riomaggiore at 10:08 with a train change in La Spezia Centrale. There is an earlier train to La Spezia but you will wait an hour for the next train to Riomaggiore. Leisurely stroll down the main street to the water. It's only about 500 feet or so. Try to find a TI to purchase a 1-day Cinque Terre Treno pass. This provides unlimited train and trail travel in the CT.
Walk the famous first trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola (30 minutes). It's beautiful). Note that there are ticket booths on the trail. Your CT Treno card will cover the fare. Tour Manarola (20 min). Pick up the 2nd trail in Manarola and hike to the Cornigla train station (45 min). Skip Corniglia which is high up on the bluff. Instead take the train to Monterosso. It's about 12:30 or so now. Tour Monterosso (about 1hr.). Have lunch there or take the train to Vernazza and have lunch there. Doesn't matter. Both great. Tour Vernazza. It's about 3:00pm-4:00pm now. You can extend your town visits and stay later. Finally, take the train from Vernazza to Florence (about 3.0hrs). Or, if you are really adventureous, take the ferry from Vernazza to Portovenere and then take the short bus ride to La Spezia Centrale and pick up the train from there. There's your long day.
Posted by
Petaluma, Northern California
345 posts
Day trip to Lucca or Siena is a better idea.
How many days and nights will you be in Florence?
Posted by
OP
vancouver, bc, canada
421 posts
at this point we are thinking 4 but considering making it 5 ifn we can arrange it
Posted by
Petaluma, Northern California
345 posts
That's good to hear. I wouldn't recommend a day trip if you only had two or three days in Florence.
The only other advice I can add is to take the bus to Siena, not the train. It is a more direct route and you disembark closer to the center of town.
I don't day-trip from Florence so that's all the help I can give you.
Posted by
Wodonga, Australia
440 posts
Bluedenim, I recently did a day trip from Florence, prebooked on the Internet with Viatours. It was expensive, but fabulous. Mini bus to Riomaggiore, walk to teh next village, boat to the third, bus to the 4th. Pretty, great information from teh guide Stefano. The other 4 passengers slept of the way home, so chatted politics etc. I'd absolutely recommend the trip.
Posted by
PNW
194 posts
We did a day-trip to the Cinque Terre from Florence a few years ago, but when all was said and done, we wished that we had just decided to stay in one of the 5 villages, even if it was just for a night. I spent most of the end of the day worrying about getting back to Florence! Could you take a day or two off of Florence and stay in the CT? Such a nice break from the big city.