recommended Cinque Terre itinerary

If you've only been to Rome, Venice and Florence, there's lots of other wonderful places in Italy. Some that I have enjoyed are Turin, Milan (yes, really), Lucca, Parma, Ferrara, Padova, Ravenna, Cremona, Spoleto, Varenna (Lake Como), and Naples (again, yes really). Others will have their own favorites. There's no need to see other countries on this trip, unless you want to.

Before planning to go to France or Switzerland from the Cinque Terre, be sure to check the train connections; they are often very slow with multiple changes, so you need to allow most of a day for this.

Tom,

Before making any suggestions, it would help to have a few more details on your trip. For example.....

• Where would you prefer to fly into and out of?
• What is the time frame of this trip?
• How long were you planning to stay in the Cinque Terre?
• Do you have a preference on which of the towns you'd like to stay in?
• Would you prefer to visit southern France or Switzlerand after the C.T.?
• Which places would you like to see in Switzerland?

There are all kinds of possibilities, but some further information would be helpful.

Cheers!

Thanks to Harold and Ken for your reply. Sorry I should have added more info. We are planning to spend 2 weeks in mid-September traveling in the area with 3 nights allocated to Cinque Terre. We had planned to fly into Milan and have left the return airport open depending on where we end up at but haven't booked anything yet. We had also thought about flying into Nice and work our way via train along the coast to Cinque Terre with a return out of Milan. We loved Venice, Rome, Florence but would like to cover some new territory not knowing how many return trips we'll be able to make. We were curious if anyone else had put together a similar itinerary. Appreciate your thoughts

Switzerland is very easy to get to from Milan; you don't have to change trains at the border like you do going to Nice.

From Cinque Terre there are direct trains to Milan, taking under three hours. From Milan you can take direct trains into Switzerland via either Brig ( for Lake Geneva area or the Berner Oberland) or Lugano ( to go to Lucerne).

But my best suggestion is to go from Milan to Varenna on Lake Como for a couple of nights. Then continue north to Tirano and pick up the Bernina Express or any regional,train of the same route, to Pontresina. Very scenic and better travel times!

I'd probably fly into Milan and do something along the line of Milan/Lake Como/Turin before entering CT via Genoa. Then plan to visit Tuscany (Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano, etc.) before heading toward Florence or Rome for a flight home (If Rome, a stop in Orvieto is a good choice).

Hi Tom. I would echo Sasha's thoughts - easy train to Milan, perhaps stay there an afternoon or night if desired, then easy train to Varenna. Then either back to Milan to fly home, or north to Switzerland. Another choice is train from Milan to Interlaken area, then fly home from Zurich. Enjoy your trip!

Tom,

There are all kinds of possibilities. One example you could consider.....

• Travel day inbound
• Arrive Nice (via Paris?) - use flight or train from Paris to Nice (I'm not sure if there are any direct flights from the U.S. to Nice) - 3 nights?
• Train to Cinque Terre (about 5 hours) - 3 nights?
• Train to Milan (about 3 hours from Monterosso via direct train - times will vary from other C.T. towns) - 1 night?

And then two choices.....

OPTION A:

• Train to Lucerne or Berner Oberland (about 3.5 hours) - either Lucerne or the B.O. would be a great stop for a few days - 3 nights?
• Flight home from Zürich (about 1 hour from Lucerne direct to the airport OR stay 1 night in Zürich).
• Travel day outbound

OPTION B:

• Train to Varenna / Lago di Como (about 1 hour) - 3 nights?
• Bernina Express to Chur - stay 1 night or carry on to Zürich?
• Train to Zürich - 2 nights?
• Travel day outbound

This is only one suggestion, and I'm sure the others will be able to add lots more. The "fine details" would still have to be worked out.

Good luck with your planning!

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Very, very helpful.

Keen and I think alike!

Thanks to all for the input. After reading some of your concerns and looking into the rail schedules we decided to to save the Cinque Terre for another trip and focus our 2 weeks in Provence, Dordogne and Loire Valley. Thanks again.