My Husband and I are going on a "My Way Alpine Tour" in September. It ends in Chamonix France. We then plan to spend 4 nights in the Chinque Terre. I have been to the Rome 2 Rio website, and it looks like every option involves 3-4 changes , or a 9.5 bus ride. We don't want to rent a car, Can anyone help me figure out an easier way?
Thanks!
Cynthia
Can you spend a night somewhere, or do you have to do it in one long day?
We could spend the night some were along the way, but I am not sure where that would be.....suggestions?
From what you have said my assumption is you have not traveled by train in Europe before. Otherwise this is something you would not be worried about.
The point of my reply is to say that changing trains in Europe is not that big of of deal....but yes I understand it would concerning if you have not done it before.
Trains are timed for easy changes and even with seemingly short connection times it is a process that is quite common and easy. Locals and thousands upon thousands of tourist do this all the time. And since you will have just come off a Rick Steves tour (where you packed light) you will not be bogged down with a lot of luggage. Your RS tour escort can give you more details and a last minute pep talk that you will be able to do this.
In my opinion taking the train even with multiple changes would be the easist way! It will also be faster and it will be very scenic.
I assume more of this sites regulars will give you word of encouragement to calm your nerves about the train changing process.
PS This tour is a great one...I took it last year. And the Chinque Terre in Septembe is great.
cynthia,
The easiest solution and the one I'd probably use is to take one of the Chamonix Shuttles to the Geneva airport first thing in the morning on the day the tour ends (Friday?). It's likely there will be others from your tour needing a Shuttle, so you may have company on the trip. Your Tour Director will help you arrange that.
easyJet has flights that depart at 12:05, arriving Pisa at 13:15. From Pisa Centrale it's an easy trip by train to the Cinque Terre. The airport is very close to Pisa, so the trip is a short one. Depending on how quickly you can get from the airport to Pisa Centrale, there are two departures you could use....
I used Monterosso as the destination to research these trips, as you didn't specify which of the five towns you'd be staying in.
If booking with easyJet, be sure to read their Terms & Conditions carefully, especially related to luggage rules. If you want to confirm the trip to the airport, you might contact the RS tour department.
Unfortunately, websites such as Rome2Rio aren't always able to "think outside the box" and cover all eventualities, so they're limited by their programming. I travelled from Chamonix to the Cinque Terre last year, so did quite a bit of research on the transportation options. If you'd prefer to travel by train and spend a couple of nights at an interim location, I can offer a suggestion.
Bon Voyage!
Robert,
We have traveled & trained in Italy, and found it pretty easy. My concern is , as Ken said, the Rome2Rio website isn't that great. With it's bus/train combo, it has us changing 5 times in a 7 hour period ( see below) Thanks for your encouragement, about the Alpine tour and going to the Cinque Terre in September.
Ken, I will check out the Easy Jet website and see if that might be a good solution. We will be staying in Monterosso.
Thank you! Cynthia
Chamonix
2hrs 15min - 3 times a week
$26 - $35
Ferrucci
10min - every 20 minutes - line 9
$2
Torino Porta Nuova
2hrs 03min - hourly
$11 - $16
Genova Brignole
1hrs 09min - hourly
$4 - $6
Levanto
13min - hourly
$1
Corniglia
13min - 2993 feet
I think Rome2Rio is making it look more complicated than it is by mixing transport modes. You can do the whole thing by train ( to Monterosso). in 8 hours 11minutes with four easy changes. See if this comes through:
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/dn?
Basically, you depart Chamonix at 12:54 and arrive in Milan at 17:57, with stops on the way at Vallorcine ( the Swiss border), Martigny, and Sion. The Vallorcine change is a walk across the platform to a waiting Swiss train, and the journey from there down to Martigny is very scenic. The change at Martigny is also very easy, and I am sure Sion as well but we haven't done that.
In Milan you will have almost half an hour until your 18:05 train to Monterosso (direct, no changes). That is plenty of time even for this large station. If you are not staying in Monterosso you would change there to a regional train for the short journey to your village. I did not check those schedules.
If you wish to break up the journey with an overnight (I would) either Martigny or Sion would be a good choice, since you are getting off the train to change anyway.
Cynthia,
It's great to hear you're staying in Monterosso. That's my favourite of the five towns!
