Tours tha include Cinque Terra

Al - the TOURS link in the blue menu bar above will help you. Just at a glance I see Best of Europe, Heart of Italy, My way: Italy, Italy in 17 days.

Al, These are some of the tours that include visits to the Cinque Terre: > Best of Europe, 21 days > Best of Europe, MY WAY, 14 days > Heart of Italy, 9 days > Best of Italy, 17 days > Italy, MY WAY, 13 days > Village Italy, 14 days I believe this is all of them. Note that on at least one of the tours (Village Italy), tour members stay in Levanto rather than one of the "official" five towns. That's not a problem, as it's only 4M:30S from there to Monterosso. Levanto is also a wonderful and picturesque town with a beautiful beach. Happy travels!

Al, if you are wanting to hike Cinque Terra in the near future, be advised that the majority of the trails are closed. We are in CT now (Oct 21-23, 2012) and were told the entire main trail was closed a month ago due to a landslide. We met some tourists who said they walked part of the trail anyway and climbed over the landslide but would not recommend it. Just FYI.

Al, your question sounds like you think you are directing it at the staff of ETBD, Rick Steves' Europe. You're not - we are a semi-anarchic non-collective of diverse locations, experience and types of people; volunteers all. What we all share is a love for travel and a desire to help each other. The ETBD organization provides the Helpline but does not participate in the discussions here. We'll still help as best as we can.

You want to go to Cinque Terre...save yourself thousands of dollars and jump on the train yourself and go. It's just a few towns on the cliffside with train stations. When the train gets to the village where you're going then get off the train.