Traveling from Como to Cinque Terre. I had planned to drive there and drop of the car in La Spezia, using the train to get to Cinque Terre and ultimately Florence. My wife gets motion sickness and is concerned that the roads leading into La Spezia will be too hilly and twisty. Is the drive into La Spezia going to be more like rolling foothills or more list a series of switchbacks in the Rockies? b/t/w, we're planning on going through Milan rather than Genoa and down the coast because the coastal drive looks too curvey. Thanks.
Posted by
Green Bay
21348 posts
I can tell you that the ride down to Genoa on the A7 is absolutely thrilling, especially in an Alfa Romeo with a BMW diesel. Not Switchbacks but an endless series of S turns on the side of the valley. Once in Genoa, the road is fairly level, meaning that it is a long series of tunnels followed by bridges over ravines. Coming down the A15 from Parma to La Spezia may be a little better, I used that one going the other way, so did not get the rollercoaster impression you get going downhill.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16232 posts
It's all freeway driving whether you take the A7 freeway via Genoa or if u take the A15 through the Cisa pass from Parma down to Spezia. The latter is probably slightly faster. There are no sharp curves on the freeways, they are soft enough you can drive at 75 mph, even if u take the A12 from Genoa (which is more scenic). When Italians build freeways they don't do curves. They tunnel through every mound of earth they find along the way. If you go through Genoa you will go through more freeway tunnels than you have ever driven through in your lifetime, and then some.