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Stopover on train trip between Venice and Cinque Terre

Posted by on

I so appreciate the guidance offered by posters on this website.

This October, we are visiting Italy for the first time. On the last leg of our planned trip, we'll be traveling by train from Venice to Cinque Terre via the southern route. We'd like to break up the 5.5-6hr trip by regional train by doing a one-day stopover at a town along the way. We'd rather avoid the main tourist stops such as Bologna, Florence, and Pisa, as fantastic as the sites in these locations are. We'd prefer a smaller town and/or place we could rent bikes (hopefully ebikes) to tour the countryside. Lucca looks inviting but it overshoots our destination and doesn't cut off as much train ride time as we'd like on the approach, but is still under consideration.

We could cut some train time by taking the express trains, but we'd like to travel as inexpensively as possible.

Do you have any suggestions for us?

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
9109 posts

These are scattered locations, but maybe Parma, Cortona, Siena, Volterra?

Posted by
18106 posts

How many nights do you plan to spend at the stop over location?

If planning the whole journey on the same day I wouldn't stop at any town, because you'd have very little time for anything.

Otherwise, if at least one night, the train stops, besides at Bologna, are only at Florence, Pisa, La Spezia, all of which is where you will likely change trains.

Between Pisa and La Spezia the regional train makes multiple stops. Viareggio, a seaside resort town, might be good for some bike time along the promenade.

Posted by
23722 posts

Don't toss out Lucca. It really is not much out of the way. One connection in Florence to get to Lucca, then from Lucca to Pisa (or Viareggio), La Spezia and on to the CT.

Posted by
2 posts

Roberto da Firenze ⚜ Thank you. I had not considered that the train would not stop except in the major towns. Is that only true for the express trains? We plan on taking the regional trains. I'll have to look at the schedules.

We do plan to stay one night wherever we plan to stop over.

Posted by
255 posts

I suggest stopping in Florence. It is really beautiful. Make sure you see the statue of David.

Posted by
669 posts

We'd prefer a smaller town and/or place we could rent bikes (hopefully ebikes) to tour the countryside.

Parma. I haven’t being there. I’ll visit in October, but from what I’ve read, Parma fits what you’re looking for.

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