Train travel to Cinque Terre

Hi Paul. If a regional train, your ticket is good for any train that direction of travel within a time period (can be 1, 2, 4, 6 hours) of when you validate your ticket. So in that case, yes, you can get off one train and board another in the same direction as long as it is within the valid time period. For any other train, (Intercity, Freccia), your ticket is only good for that exact train. The main train line from Florence to La Spezia goes from Firenze SMN station, so if starting from Camp di Marti, you will need to go via SMN station.

Thanks for the reply Bob. My question is, if that is the case, why does Trenitalia give a schedule and price for leaving Campo di Marte direct.?
https://www.lefrecce.it/B2CWeb/bestFareSearchResult.do?method=viewBestFareOutPut&cFID=fLNkWHulRx1Z

Hi Paul. Good question. I got a web error on your link, but yes, I see there is one early morning fast train from Rome to La Spezia via Florence; this may be new service just recently added. I see that it stops at Campo di Marti (7:38 on the day I checked) instead of SMN. That would be a great one to take if it works for you.

paul,

Could you clarify your travel plans a bit. To begin with, why are you departing from Firenze Campo di Marte rather than the larger Firenze SMN? I'm not clear on your plan to "going all the way to the end and working our way back at Cinque Terre." Monterosso is the northern most town of the Cinque Terre. Are you planning to do this as a day trip, or stay in the C.T. for a few days?

If you're planning to do this as a day trip, my suggestion would be to tour the C.T. in the opposite direction. Start in Riomaggiore and work your way to Monterosso, where you can have a fine meal in one of the restaurants there before returning to Florence in the evening.

If you want to travel from Florence to Monterosso I'd suggest looking at the entire route, which may or may not involve a change at La Spezia Centrale. There are numerous trains on that route each day, so you'll have a wide choice of departures to choose from. One of the quickest will be a departure from Firenze SMN at 10:28, arriving Monterosso at 12:52 (1 change at Pisa Centrale). The first segment is a Regionale, so DON'T forget to validate your ticket prior to boarding the train on the day of travel. The second segment is an Intercity which has compulsory seat reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time.

Ken, we are planning to do this as a day trip. We thought we could save some money and time by leaving from Campo di marte. I looked at the whole time table and we don't save that much time or $$$ by doing it that way. We originally intended to leave from SMN. As you point out, it is the better option. Plus, taking the route in Cinque Terre the way you suggested would probably work out great for us. We were going to do a hiking tour leaving from Firenza but are now leaning toward doing a self guided walking tour on our way. Get their early and leave late around 20:00.

Not sure what a normal train ticket from La Spezia to Monterosso is anymore...but since you are planning on walking trails and need a Cinque Terre card anyway, maybe opt for the Cinque Terre Treno card. Gets you access to the trails and unlimited train trips from Laspezia through the CT. The normal card is 6 euro; with the train option: 12 euro, just a few trips will pay for the card (Maybe even just each way from La Spezia) You can buy the card at the La Spezia Train station.

Excellent idea!! Thanks for all the little hints about the trains. We are doing a self guided tour of Italy. So many details to consider and account for. Sites like this make it a lot easier. We are staying in Florence and would like to rent a car for the day and visit Tuscany. Maybe some of the out of the way smaller towns. Any suggestions on locations to see? Yeah, I know about the ZTL and was planning to rent a vehicle at the airport just to avoid them

We are staying in Florence and would like to rent a car for the day
and visit Tuscany.

Florence is the capital of Tuscany so you're already 'there'.
You don't intend to do this the same day as you intend to do the CT, I hope?

Kathy, ambitious as I am I don't think I could accomplish that task :-). We are planning to do a driving tour the next day. Was looking for some suggestions where to see off the beaten path

paul,

For the few rail trips you'll probably take between the five towns, I'm not sure if a Cinque Terre Treno card will pay for itself. Tickets are relatively cheap there and if you're planning on hiking between towns, you may not be using the trains as much as anticipated. You can see the fares on the Trenitalia website so you can do some number crunching.

One other point to mention regarding hiking. The most popular trails with most tourists are the Sentiero Azzurro trails, and those are the only ones that require a Park Pass to hike. Note that only the segments from Monterosso to Vernazza and Vernazza to Corniglia are currently open, and that's not likely to change anytime this year. The status of the trails can change at anytime due to weather conditions, so you'll have to check the website just prior to your trip. There is an extensive network of other trails in that area, and you won't need a Pass to hike those. The other trails tend to go higher in the hills, so they're a more robust hike.

hey paul if you enjoy pickin thru a web site I found this one really helpful for a non train guy in Cinque Terre. we loved the trains up and down the CT and we stayed a bit north at Moneglia, it was a breeze... http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm#.VR1X5st0wfg

Thanks for the train schedule info. I was wondering if we got off the train longer than the six hours I guess we would have to buy a new ticket. Would it be better to buy one way tickets and then just buy our return trip when we were done for the day?