travel from milan to cinque terre

First, allow an hour for the Malpensa Express train to Milano Centrale station, which is a separate company and ticket.

Italian regional train schedules are not yet published past June 9. Currently, you can see a date for an earlier Wednesday, as schedules don't usually change much. Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the Deutsche Bahn train schedule link and tips for using it. They will reflect connections from Milano Centrale station to Manarola. You can buy the tickets in the station.

Until the schedules are published for July, look at the Trenitalia website to see what the trains look like say in May:

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

Yes, these may not be the same in July but you get an idea of the routing and travel time. You will have to change once from the airport train at Milano Centrale and again for Manarola. (Start at "Malpensa Aeroporto" .)

Most people recommend not buying your tickets until you arrive in case your plane is late - then you have to risk missing your train and having to buy a whole new ticket. If you have an Android smart phone, you can install the Trenit app on it and buy tickets on the fly (no need to print if you have a working phone and can display them). Or you can try to save money and buy economy tickets as soon as they go on sale to save some money and build in a layover to minimize your risk of losing it. I doubt you'd save much money though by buying in advance on this route to make it worth buying ahead.

We took the opposite route a year or so ago and it was a train through Genoa. You'll probably have to go MXP to Milano Central, then a train from there to Monterosso with a change in Genoa, and finally the local train to Manarola. There's just my guess...

I also did it the opposite way to Milan (from Levanto) years ago and did not change in Genoa - direct from Levanto to Milano Centrale. But the IC trains don't stop in Manarola, so you have to change somewhere between there and Milano. There are some regional/local trains that go all the way to Genoa from Manarola, so that would be one way to do it. It would be better, if the timing is right, to get the express from Milano Centrale to Levanto and change there to a regional train to Manarola - probably a good 20-30 minutes faster. But it's better to take a slower regional train from Genoa to Manarola if you'd have to wait two hours for the express otherwise. All depends on the scheduling.

It would help to know whether you've used trains in Italy before, as there are a few important things to be aware of. Also, what time does your flight arrive at MXP?

The specifics of the trains will depend on which trains you connect with. With some additional information, it would be easier to make suggestions.

Thank you, ALL for replying.
To be clearer, we are arriving on Wednesday, July 4th to Malpensa Airport at 10:25am and need to get to Manarola. No time constraints on arrival at all.
Thanks again for any additional information you can supply :)

Jaylista, even if you have no time constraints, you're going to want to get to Manarola as soon as possible vs. waiting in train stations all day, right? Just check Trenitalia's site in a few weeks and look for updated train schedules for July 4th. Pick a "target" train you're hoping to catch based on your arrival time, so you know what you're aiming for, instead of just wandering into Milano Centrale after arrival wondering when the next train is. Be prepared, even if you choose a relaxed pace to get to Manarola. If you make the right train, it could get you in hours earlier.

So true Andrew! I will do exactly that. Does it matter which terminal we are arriving in at the airport? (It's terminal 2)

The simplest route from Milan to Manarola is the direct Frecce train from Milan to Monterosso ( no change at Genoa) and regional train from there to Manarola ( third stop, short journey).

Schedules for the Frecce trains in July 4 are out now You can take IC 665 departing Milano Centrale at 12:10, or IC 669 departing at 14:05. Either one gets you to Monterosso in just under 3 hours. Then you board the next southbound regional train. If you want to know how long the wait might be, check schedules for this month. It will not change much.

Tickets for those IC trains are available now for €9,90 each. You won't make the 12:10, but the 14:05 is pretty reasonable. If you do miss it, your Super Economy ticket is not good on the next train, but you haven't lost much.

Note that sometimes it works better to switch to the regional train sooner than Monterosso, such as Sestri Levante. That may shorten the wait time for the transfer. So check the schedules when they are released. If you have already bought the IC train tix to Monterosso, it won't matter; you can always disembark the train earlier than planned.

jay,

Thanks for the additional information. One other question.... are you arriving from another E.U. country? You may not have to go through Passport control. I assume you're using easyJet as they operate from MXP T2.

No, it doesn't matter which terminal you arrive at. You'll first need to use the Malpensa Express for the 58 minute trip to Milano Centrale. You can buy tickets for that at the airport. Don't forget to validate (time & date stamp) the tickets prior to boarding the train, or you'll risk hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot!

There's a possibility you could connect with departures from Milano Centrale to Manarola at 12:25, however those solutions have one or two changes and all use Regionale (slower) trains. The best solution (IMO) would be a departure at 13:10 using a Freccia train and then the Cinque Terre Express. With that train, you'd actually be going past Manarola to La Spezia and then backtracking, but the trip from La Spezia to Manarola is only 10 minutes, so not a huge problem. Since the schedules for 4 July may not all be posted yet, the preceding information is from current schedules, but it likely won't change all that much. I used an arbitrary date of 6 June to check, which is also a Wednesday.

Since you'll probably have a few minutes to wait at Milano Centrale, you can buy the ticket for the Milan - Manarola train from a Kiosk at the station. There's also a ticket office on the ground level floor of the station, but there's often a long queue so that might not work as well. You could also take a chance that your flight will arrive on time and that you'll be able to connect with the 13:10 Freccia train, and buy a discounted ticket in advance. I'd suggest using www.trainline.eu as it's very user friendly. However if you miss the train you've booked, the ticket will be worthless and you'll have to buy another at full (Base) fare.

You are all so helpful THANK YOU.

We are going to be flying FROM Amsterdam to Milan. I know from Amsterdam I could have gotten closer to Cinque Terre however the flight costs on Easy Jet were so low I chose that option over a more direct approach.

Jay,

easyJet is a great option. It's my preferred budget airline in Europe, and I use them whenever possible. I've found that paying for Speedy Boarding and advance seat selection makes the budget flying process so much easier. Be sure that you're familiar with their luggage rules.