Train travel from venice to cinque terre

I have the same question for the same route for 6 people in April.

For trains in Italy go to Trenitalia.com Venezia SL-Firenzia SMN- La Spezia Centrale Leaves at 9:25. Travel time on high speed train 4H54m cost for April is showing at 41,50 euros One change in Firenzia
From La Spezia the local trains will take you to the village of your choice in under 20m

Hi Kelly and Heather. To add to the info provided by gerri... she listed one good option. There are multiple routes for this run; via Milan, Bologna, or Florence. If you put in Venezia SL and Monterosso, you will see all the options. One that takes a little longer but has only one change is the 10:50 via Milan. Also, if interested, you could split up the trip, leave Venice early morning, arrive Milan or Florence mid morning, spend the day touring there, then take a late afternoon train to Mont. You can play around on trenitalia.com to see the choices. Also, to answer your original question, no, you don't need to buy in advance; the only reason to is to get the discount fare if you are willing to lock in your exact date and time. If you wait until the last minute, you will pay the 'base' fare. Enjoy your trip!

Kelly, Just to clarify, you don't need to buy tickets in advance but you likely WILL need reservations for some portions of the trip. If you buy tickets when you arrive in Venice, you'll be paying "Base Fare", and those tickets will include reservations if applicable. With a reserved ticket, you MUST ensure that you board the train specified on the ticket or face hefty fines. Some legs of the trip will be via Regionale trains which don't require reservations, but you MUST validate the tickets prior to boarding the train or face hefty fines (which start at 50€ per person). One of the easiest trips is a departure from Venezia S. Lucia at 08:50, arriving Monterosso at 15:02 (time 6H:12M, one change at Milano Centrale). One of the quickest trips is a departure at 09:25, arriving at 14:54 (time 5H:29M, two changes at Firenze S.M. Novella and Pisa Centrale). Both legs on the first trip have compulsory reservations, and the first and last legs of the second trip have compulsory reservations (middle potion of the second trip is via Regionale). There are numerous other trains available on that route. Check the Trenitalia or DB websites for details. It is possible to achieve considerable savings by pre-buying tickets which require reserved seats. However, that will "lock" you into a particular train and departure time, and if you miss that train you'll have to buy more tickets at full price. I normally just buy tickets from the Kiosks or ticket staff a few days before I'll be travelling, although of course that's not the cheapest method. If you need information about arrival in Monterosso, post another note. Happy travels!