I have been online at Trenitalia.com trying to find a way from Verona to the Cinque Terre by train. It seems like there should be a more direct route than going thru Milan. So here are my questions: 1) would it be easier to rent a car and drive from Verona to La Spezia? 2) is there a location/link on trenitalia that shows routes and hubs (all i've been able to do is plug in cities and search for connections) and 3) has anyone made this train trip before?? Thanks, Kaye
Folsom, CA
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17572 posts
If you use a date in the next week, it will show you routes using regional train, with 2 or 3 changes at Bologna, Parma, Brescia, Suzzara, etc. the Milan route can be done with a single change, so it is simpler, but takes a bit longer and is more expensive.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
There is no direct train from Verona to the CT. When I put the Verona/Riomaggiore trip into the Trenitalia website, I get what Lola sees above. Those are 6hr journeys. I don't see a change in Milan which is a bit faster. The largest hub for changing trains for this run is Milan. There are high-speed runs from Verona to Milan that take 1hr40min. From there, you will change trains to an IC class train for the remainder of the journey to the CT. You may also change trains again in Genoa. You might have to buy tickets from Verona to Milan and then another set of tickets from Milan to your CT destination. www.viamichelin.com shows the trip by car to be about 3.5hrs not counting the time to rent the car. So it is faster to get to La Spezia. For the CT itself, with few exceptions, tourist cars are not permitted in the towns. La Spezia and Levanto are about as close as you can get to turn in a rental car.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32388 posts
Kaye, That trip is actually not too difficult by train, so I wouldn't bother renting a car. The easiest and quickest route will go through Milano Centrale, since there are lots of high speed trains passing through there every day. I wasn't able to find any "easy" connections for that entire route on the Trenitalia website. However, this is the method I'd use: > Depart Verona at 10:02, arrive Milan at 11:25 (1H:23M, €19 second class) > Depart Milan at 12:10, arrive Monterosso at 15:02 (2H:52M, €23 second class) Total travel time - 5H:00M While there's a 45-minute layover in Milan, that's the easiest routing that I could find. You can purchase your tickets for the entire trip in Verona. If you buy them a day or two in advance, you may be able to qualify for discount fares. You didn't mention which of the five villages you'd be staying in, but I chose Monterosso to calculate travel times. You can easily get from there to any of the villages using the local train. Happy travels!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17572 posts
Larry---if you enter a date a month or so out, so it won't show regional trains, you will see the Milan route using ES and IC trains. I have noticed that Trenitalia site seems to favor the least expensive route when displaying options. So I always cross-check with bahn.de or rail.ch before I make a choice.