Trains

Which airport in Rome? From FCO you would take a train from "Fiumicino Aeroporto" station to the Cinque Terre village where you are staying.

From Ciampino airport you would take a bus or a taxi to Roma Termini station and then a train to the Cinque Terre etc. etc.

That will be a very long trek! You'll need to take the "Leonardo Express" train to Roma Termini, then transfer to another train that will take you to La Spezia. Once in La Spezia you'll transfer to a Regionale train to the village of your choice.

You can check train schedules on Trenitalia.com

Enjoy your trip!

From Roma Termini, you'll see 2 train routes to Cinque Terre. The "traditional" route is via Florence with 2-3 train changes. The other route takes you along the coast with usually just 1 train change. Travel times are similar, (5-6 hours from FCO to CT) so pick whichever route works best for you.

Another option would be to fly from FCO to Pisa and then take a train from there. However that might not save you any time or money, as it sounds like you've already booked flights to Rome and you would need to build in ample time between arrival and a separately booked flight to Pisa.
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Cinque Terre is not one place, it is an area with 5 villages in it (hence the name): Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore
Each of the 5 has a station. You need to decide which one you will stay in.

Then go to the Trenitalia website: https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html
and enter from: "Fiumicino Aeroporto", to: your desired village, and a date and time. This will then show you train times.
Train times after the first week in June are not yet published, so pick an earlier date. The train times are unlikely to change significantly.

terij,

As the others have mentioned, more information would be really helpful. I assume you're arriving at FCO after a flight from wherever you live? What date will you be travelling, what time will you be arriving in Rome and which of the five Cinque Terre villages will you be staying in?

With more detailed information, the group here can provide more detailed responses. It would also help to know if you've travelled in Italy previously, as there are some caveats to be aware of when using trains and other public transit.

The trip from FCO to the Cinque Terre will be at least six hours. Can you tolerate that in a jet-lagged state?

Just FYI, there is an express from Rome Termini (Roma Termini) to La Spezia Centrale that takes 3 hours and 47 minutes and is a direct train. Then you would get a regional from La Spezia to whichever village you are wanting. Those trains only take from 7 to 20 minutes or so depending on which village you choose.

To add to crgrahm23, you will need to take the Leonardo Express from the airport to Roma Termini station which takes 32 minutes and probably at least another 30 minutes for the La Spezia train. Those times are reflected in the other times posted above.

Good point Gerri!

very helpful everyone thank you. should I buy train tickets there or on line before I leave California?