travel between Venice and Cinque Terre

IMO, your best option is to stopover in Florence for a few days, if you have the time, before going to Cinque Terre.

Check train schedules here:http://www.trenitalia.com

What village in CT have you chosen as your 'home base'?

We have been to Florence before....was thinking of smaller, quaint town? Either staying in Monterosso or Vernazza! Trying to find hotel/ B&B now. thank you....all help greatly appreciated. Somewhat overwhelmed!

I'd take the direct Frecciabianca train to Milano Centrale and then the direct Intercity to Monterosso. Via Milan the journey takes 6 hours and 14 minutes and costs up to 66 Euros per person.

This way It's 45 minutes longer than via Florence, but you'd save one change and have reserved seats all the way to Monterosso.

You should really learn how to use www.trenitalia.com or its official US based reseller: www.italiarail.com

We did that from Vernazza to Venice. I believe we took 4 trains, sigh. I think it was to Spezia 5-10 minutes, to Pisa, to Florence and finally to Venice. The problem came when the Verazza train was late so we missed our train in Florence for which we had reserved seats. Problem solved we made it to Venice with the help of 2-3 ticket agents in Florence. There was no need to make an overnight stop. Perhaps 3-4 hours total time?

kmd,

To begin with, I'd suggest staying in Monterosso as it's the largest of the five towns so has the greatest number of accommodations and other tourist amenities, as well as the best beaches.

Taking the train is absolutely the best idea. There's absolutely no need to "stopover for a night somewhere in between". The usual two routes are through Milan or through Florence and I find that the Florence route is usually a bit quicker. One of the fastest and easiest trips will be a departure from Venezia Santa Lucia at 09:25, arriving Monterosso at 14:52 (time 5H:27M, 2 changes at Firenze S.M. Novella and Pisa Centrale). The first segment is via high speed Freccia, the second via Regionale and the final segment via InterCity).

Have you travelled by train in Italy before? There are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains or other public transit in Italy. Were you planning to buy your rail tickets in advance?

You do not need to stop for a night. Depending on which route you take, it will be approximately 5 1/2 - 6+ hrs. You can either go through Milan or Florence. Florence is faster. You will have to make a couple of train changes, there is no direct train.

As what was suggested, use the Trenitalia site. Remember to use the Italian name of the city/station you are going to and from. Venice is Venizia S. Lucia. Florence is Firenze S. M.

If going through Florence, you will go to La Spezia, then take the regional train to whichever CT town you are going to. Once in La Spezia, it is only a matter of a few minutes up to 1/2 hr to CT.

Ha Ha Ken was writing as I was! Good advice from him, though.

You can arrange the regional trains to Florence reserve a seat for Florence to Venice(trains are usually full) before you leave the Cinque Terra. Vernazza is the best town. Check Rick's guide book or watch his episode on you tube.

a couple of points.....

"Vernazza is the best town."

That's a matter of personal opinion. Most here on the forum have a definite preference when it comes to which of the five towns to stay in. I provided my suggestion in my earlier reply.

"You can arrange the regional trains to Florence"

It's not necessary to "arrange" Regional trains. It's awkward to book these in advance and they come with restrictions. There are no discounts for pre-purchase of Regionale tickets. The easiest method for using Regionale trains is to simply buy tickets locally, and then validate prior to boarding the train on the day of travel.