Milan to Cinq Terre - Train or Rental Car

Shelly, your message is confusing. Your message title says Milan to Cinque Terre. Then, it says that you are staying in Moneglia and that you are planning to rent a car in La Spezia at the end of your stay in the CT. Then, you indicate that you car would remain parked during your stay in the CT. Please clarify where you intend to rent the car.

For your trip from Milan to Monegla, the fare is 16.30Euro on the Regionale Veloce train (no train changes). It's 24.90Euro on the Intercity train run with a train change to a Regionale train). About 23 minutes faster overall. For the Moneglia to the CT trip, the fare to Monterosso is 2.70Euro. Second, tourist cars are not permitted in any of the five CT towns except to drive to a parking lot or hotel to park it. You indicate above that the hotel offers free parking. Is this hotel in the CT or Lake Como? If in the CT, its a waste to pay $60-$80/day to park the car.

Looking at the train fare from the CT (I'm using Monterosso) to Lake Como (I'm using Varenna-Esino), I see a discounted fare of 15.45Euro. You can purchase these tickets up to 120 days in advance of travel. The discounted fares are non-refundable. The base fare for this journey is 31.45Euro.

Moneglia is not in the Cinque Terre, however it's close enough and it's also a pleasant town on the riviera. You can reach the Cinque Terre from Moneglia by train. The train ride from Moneglia to the Cinque Terre is about 25 min.
I am also confused about your plans.
The train ride from Milan to Moneglia (or even the Cinque Terre) is not that expensive as you say, it is only about €16 to €26 per person depending on the type of train.
Since you won't be using the car at all in Moneglia or the Cinque Terre, it would probably be a waste of money to rent a car at all while there. Rental charges for a compact car are about €50 a day. That is not cheap considering that it will likely stay parked the whole time, so you will be better off renting a car only after visiting that area.
After your stay in the Riviera, if you want a car, go to La Spezia or Genoa by train, rent a car and drive to lake Como.

Sorry about the confusion. We fly into Milan where we will go directly to Hotel Maggiore in Moneglia. This is our base for 4 nights where we plan to visit Cinq Terre and Portifino. This hotel has free parking. We have reserved a car in La Spezia at the conclusion of our stay when we will travel to Lake Como and Lake Garda.You have both been very helpful in providing information on the train fares as the sites I looked at were much higher and confusing, hence considering renting the car at Milan airport since there are 4 of us. I understand we will need to get to the main rail station from the airport for this journey which listed the fare at 10 Euro each. Thanks again for your input.

Sounds like you're on the right track with the above advice to buy train tickets around the coast, cheap to buy as you go, and not pick up the car until you head north.

I guess a couple of points to consider. When you say "sites" in regards to Train tickets, forget RailEurope, and just go directly to Trenitalia. $100 per person sounds very high. Beyond that, if comparing to car rental, make sure you are considering not only rental cost, but mandatory insurance (credit card coverage is hardly ever valid in Italy) which if you are paying less than $50 for a car and insurance, verify your costs, that would be too cheap for a reputable deal.

I wouldn't rent a car in Milan to drive to Moneglia. You won't need a car for those 4 days in Moneglia. I've spent a few vacations in Moneglia in youth. It's my favorite town in Liguria but your rental car will stay parked for four days to gather dust. Moneglia is small and the train station is walking distance from anywhere in town. 4 days' car rental will cost you at least $200 even for the smallest car. That is double the cost of the train from Milan airport to Moneglia for 4 people.

Thank you all for your input it is greatly appreciated. One last thing which train station should I be looking at in Milan (close to Malspena airport) to find schedule and costs to Moneglia? I keep getting NA even when I back up into April, I will be there at the end of May.

Shelley, there is one Trenitalia quirk that unnerves travelers a bit. For a train run consisting of a Regionale train or multiple Regionale trains, Trenitalia will only list the prices up to 7 days out from when you are looking. Beyond 7 days, you will see a message that the tickets are not purchasable beyond 7 days. You shouldn't see NA. The Regionale train cannot be sold out. No seat reservations either. Never a discount on a Regionale train. For train runs consisting of a Regionale train and either an Intercity train or a high-speed Freccia train, you will see the runs and the prices.

The train station you want is Milano-Centrale. From Malpensa airport, you will be taking a shuttle train to Milano-Centrale. This shuttle also has a run to Milano-Cadorna which you do not want. Both train runs from the airport are operated by Trenord which is not Trenitalia. If you go to Trenitalia and put in Malpensa Aeroporto to Moneglia, you won't see the pricing.

I'm looking at late May now and I see a discounted fare of 11.40Euro for the combined intercity/regionale train run. If you buy these tickets online now, they are non-refundable. Regular fare is 25.10Euro. The all-Regionale train run is 18.10Euro. Again, you cannot buy these all-Regionale tickets online more than 7 days out from the time of travel.

If you can provide your scheduled arrival date and time, I can screenshot the train schedule for your time of arrival.

Larry, we are due to arrive into Malpensa Airport, Terminal 1, Milan at 6:10 p.m. on May 31st. Thanks again for all your help.