Renting a car vs taking the train on my routes

Rome2rio.com shows the train will take 5 hrs 18 minutes and driving would take 3hrs 56minutes.

Maybe someone else who has driven this stretch of road can respond and let you know if the drive is easy?

For just a mere hour and 20-ish minutes savings though I'd save yourself the stress of driving and just take the trains. But that's just me. :)

I agree with Back2. You probably won't save much time at all, even if you don't get lost, you may have traffic. One pit stop will use up most of the time "saved" anyway. Then you'll have to park the car in Venice. The trains are comfortable, you can walk around. Take a picnic lunch. Use the rest of the time to catch up on sleep, write your travel diary, look over your photos, read up on Venice attractions.

Voting with all of the above: you will not want or need a car in either the CT or Venice, and any difference in time isn't enough to warrant the cost of a vehicle you wouldn't use otherwise. Just sit back and enjoy the ride!

Tourists make the train connection from Cinque Terre towns to Venezia S Lucia station every day. You may want to choose fewer changes (1 or 2 vs. 3) instead of shorter travel time. Train schedules will show you the best connecting options for any particular time of day.

To print schedule options, see the link at How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online. This one does not sell tickets. Trenitalia sells most tickets online in advance, if you're ready to commit, but any leg by Regional train will not be available very far ahead (plan buy it in any train station).

I see a lot of people planning to go from Venice to Cinque Terre and vv. without realizing that these two places are on the opposite sides of Italy, and that the mountains on the back of Cinque Terre are one of the wildest and most impenetrable places in all Italy.

In spite of what Viamichelin and Google Maps state, I strongly suspect going by car would take about the same time of the train or would be even slower.

Theresa, no car is needed or even desired in any of the places you mention, or to get from one of the other. A car would mean unnecessary hassle and expense.

Renting a car is not really worth it if you stay at the Cinque Terre 2 or 3 days, since the car will stay parked the whole time, yet you will incur daily rental charges plus parking fees. The 1.5 hours you save in travel time over the train, I don't think is worth the trouble and the expense.
The drive from Venice to La Spezia is easy, as it is all freeway. Then from La Spezia to the Cinque Terre it depends on where in the Cinque Terre you want to go. To Riomaggiore you have to cross La Spezia via surface city streets, then there is a short stretch on the road to the Cinque Terre that is curvy, and rather narrow in the last mile or so before Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore has a parking structure.
If you go to Monterosso, you would proceed on the A12 freeway toward Genoa, exit at the Levanto exit and then proceed to Monterosso on a curvy road, which is narrow near Monterosso. Parking in Monterosso is available.
I do not recommend you drive to Vernazza, Corniglia or Manarola, as parking is virtually non existent for visitors, only those with a resident permit can park for extended number of hours.

I can think of one good reason to rent a car: making stops along the way. I know trains go to most cities anyone would want to visit, but then you're at the mercy of train schedules. My wife and I are thinking about driving from Venice to Monterosso so we can stop in Parma or Modena along the way or maybe make a side trip to Lucca.

I think trains are great, too, but I also know that I've had travel experiences in other countries, including Austria, that I wouldn't have had with a car.

Is driving in Italy really that much worse than driving in other European countries (or driving in New York City during rush hour)?

Dave

Dave, I think that the car decision is very much a personal one with no real right or wrong depending on one's level of ability, confidence and, possibly, itinerary.

Speaking strictly for myself, there are a number of complexities involved with a car in Italy that make train travel a better choice for me. This is not to say that we might not rent a car for a few days exploring the Tuscan or Umbrian countryside someday but The Husband will need to take the wheel: the ZTLs and parking hassles would give me a ulcer. But other tourists manage just fine.

But even The Husband has no interest in driving into Naples, Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, etc. And there's really been no need to do that as the train dumps us us off right in the thick of it all. He also enjoys the trains as HE gets to gaze at the scenery for a change instead of watching the road!

The question here wasn't as much about a car for side trips as saving time (unlikely to happen), and two of Theresa's destinations are especially impractical places to have to deal with a vehicle. Regarding stops along the way, I wouldn't be terribly comfortable with leaving the luggage in the car while sightseeing but we don't really like to do that in the U.S. either.

Dave.

In terms of ease of driving in Italy it depends on what you are used to.

Traffic in Italian cities is very similar to Manhattan traffic, therefore if you are used to that, you'll do fine. However, like in Manhattan, a car in Italian cities is not of much use. Parking is expensive and public transport is more efficient. Also, unlike Manhattan, the historical centers have been totally pedestrianized, therefore you can't drive there at all.

Driving outside cities, in the countryside or on a freeway, is not any different than in similar types of roads in North America. However Italy is largely mountainous and hilly, therefore country roads are more similar to the ones in the Rocky Mountains or Appalachia than Illinois where it's all flat. Driving at the Cinque Terre presents similar challenges. Roads are curvy and narrow, traffic is forbidden inside the villages, parking is scarce and parking lots are available only in Monterosso or Riomaggiore (the other villages have parking for residents only). Since the CT villages are connected by a rail line tunneled through the cliffs, it's much more efficient to use trains than the car, therefore at the Cinque Terre, your car will definitely stay parked in the lot the whole time.

In terms of visiting the towns you mentioned (Parma, Modena, Lucca), they are all mid size cities (under 200,000 pop). Traffic is restricted in the historical center of all 3 however, therefore you will need to park in a lot/garage outside of the historical center and visit the old town centers on foot.

If you intend to make stops along the way, it might make sense to use the car. However you might consider returning the car in La Spezia (next to the Cinque Terre) and go to the villages by train, so that you save rental charges and parking fees at the Cinque Terre where your rental car will just gather dust in a lot.

Thanks for your advice, and I apologize for hijacking this thread.

Dave

For your trip, I would take the train. We normally drive and we've recently driven to CT and Venice. We have parked near Venice Santa Lucia and most recently at the new garage at Troncheto. Parking in Venice is expensive and a hassle. The drive from La Spezia to CT is a pain. Parking in CT is difficult. The drive from La Spezia to Venice is just highway, is not interesting and with traffic can easily be draining and slow. The small amount of potential time saving from driving is definitely not worth the cost or hassles. Whether driving or train, count on a full day or travel from door to door. You could potentially make a short stop along the way (we did this once in Verona) but it's not worth the overall hassle.