Has anyone taken a day tour from Florence to the Cinque Terre? Is it doable in a day or is most of the time spent on the tour bus going to and from Florence.
Will be staying in Tuscany or Umbria after leaving Florence. Is it better to plan a one or two-night stay in the Cinque Terre?
You have posted the same question twice. It might be better to go back and delete one of the questions so that all of your answers stay in the same place.
C Terre is an area and not a city. So where do you want to go in C Terre? Same for Tuscany and Umbria. And Florence is in Tuscany. So it would be helpful to us in answering your question to be specific about the cities you want to visit.
Frank. The OP says he may be staying in Tuscany after leaving Florence. If I visit LA and say I will be staying in California after leaving LA, that is just another way of saying I will be remaining in California. Also, why do you assume the OP doesn't know the CT is an area and not a city?
The poor guy just wants to know if it is feasible to go on a day trip and experience the CT.
My answer would be that the CT is no longer the enjoyable area it was fifteen plus years ago. The cruise ship visitors just compound the sense of being trapped in a human zoo. Having said that, if you do go, stay a night so you can experience the area when the day trippers and cruise ship visitors depart.
Regarding your questions.....
5terre is magnificent. Trains are easy to use. There is a shuttle bus. BUT, we left a day early because of the crowd crush. The towns are overwhelmed w day tourists . We stayed in Varassa and it can be claustrophobic. It is now late October and we are still in Italy. Have been desiring 5 terre for ten years but felt disappointed. The locals are cranky and sick of the crowds. Had problems on two occasions with room owners. The area is magnificent but we had no space to relax in.
My advice is to pick a town, grab a room, and try to relax. The trails are packed with hikers of all skill levels but friendly, and helpful. It rained our first night in so the trail was dicey. You can easily get to each town. The food is good. Great pizza in Morrosso...great pesto in Varnassa. Go and see but be calm.
As said above the Cinque Terre can be done as a (long) day trip but I don't advise it. The towns are most enjoyable at night and in the early mornings when the bulk of the day trippers have departed or have yet to arrive. And doing it independently - and easily - by train will allow you the greatest flexibility.
You don't mention what season you'll be in Italy? That's a biggie as it's not a great place to go during the winter season when the ferries aren't running, the weather is sketchy, and many of the services are closed.
And to very kindly note, the towns crombiezen referenced are Vernazza and Monterosso and not "Varassa" and "Morrosso". The spelling is important for working train schedules!
Frank is just blunt, and that's OK as long as it is not flat out rude (gray line there Frank). Personally, I agree with many posts in this forum that CT is overated. Once was enough for me. Never again.
"The locals are cranky and sick of the crowds."
In the visits I've made there, I've never found that to be the case in Monterosso. The restaurants and shops do get really busy at times, but I'm sure the locals appreciate the people that pay to support their businesses. I always enjoy visiting there and will definitely be going back.
I'm probably in Ken's camp. Yes, the CT is completely overrun during the day but there are ways to get around the mob IF you are willing to venture further afield. There are upper reaches of some of villages which take some fortitude to access but are well worth the effort. I'll say the same for the upper hiking trails. If you're unable or willing to do that, then just find a good spot to sit and enjoy, and know that you'll be surrounded by many, many others doing the same during high/shoulder season.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought CT was meh. Most of the good trails are closed, but more importantly, we saw hoards of drunk people, some fighting in the streets (I think one guy looked at another guys girlfriend the wrong way). While I can see where it was once charming, now it just feels like one big tourist trap - minus the selfie stick sellers (for now).
Thanks to everyone who has commented so far. And yes, Frank, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I've traveled to Europe many times. Thanks to Jim and another poster for calling him out on that.
We'll be in Italy the latter half of September next year. Trying to decide about CT. Have been speaking with some local friends who were there the same time of year 3 years ago. If we go, we'll probably drive from WHEREVER we're staying in Tuscany to LaSpezia and take the train over to CT from there. We're not into hiking; just want to see the towns and the scenery, and we can take the local train between the villages.
Sounds like a plan! IMHO, it's a very good idea to park in L.Spezia and train in.
The train from La Spezia is easy and simple, though 95% of it is through tunnels. Scenic it is not.
True, but it's only 7-8 minutes to Riomaggiore so it's not a long ride to the first village.
I happen to love CT, and I always stay in Vernazza. Once the tour groups leave it is so much fun at night. The locals are very friendly, some I have remained friends with for 10 years now.
"The locals are cranky and sick of the crowds."
We did experience this, with one waiter in particular, at one of the seafood restaurants on the main street in Vernazza. We sat outside on the deck, which is directly across the street from the restaurant, and the servers are dodging through the pack dropping off and picking up plates. It was getting towards the end of their season and we could see that our waiter was just hanging on, so to speak. He was very honest and pretty much said that by this point merchants and workers are kind of over it. He was nice about it though, and we had a very good, leisurely lunch-the food quality did not suffer-watching all the people flood past.
We could have planned better, but it was fine in the end. I am sure Monterosso handles the crowds better than Vernazza, if we went back, and I think we will one day, we'd stay in Monterosso.
We recently returned from 17 days in Italy, two of those days staying in Manarola in the Cinque Terre, and three spent in Florence, 4 in Rome, and a week at a fantastic Agriturismo in Tuscany.
With regard to your question about Cinque Terre, we felt three nights (two full days) was perfect in Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre in late September is still going to be overrun with tourists from the cruise ships during the day (that is when we were there and it was). I have a friend who was there in late October the year prior, and she said there were no cruise ship crowds then. We purposely avoided being there on the weekend, because I had read that the towns and trains are packed on weekends. But I can tell you the trains were standing room only on Weds and Thursday in Sept. too, and during the day the towns were ridiculously crowded. We took a ferry one day, which was lovely (just to escape the crowds), and the second day we hiked the upper trails. The lower coastal trails are indeed mostly closed, but if you want to hike, the very steep trek to the upper trails is VERY worth it. We hiked from Manarola to Corniglia and back. The cruise ships do not unload in Corniglia, so we found that town to be lovely (though very small) during the day. Do follow the advice of those who recommend staying in one of the towns, so that you can at least glimpse what the villages must have looked like before the word got out to the cruise ship companies. Try some fresh anchovies which are caught there. They are phenomenal. Cinque Terre was one of our favorite parts of Italy.
I've been reading this thread and replies about the Cinque Terre. We will be in Venice, Florence and Rome before a Med cruise in May, 2016. While in Florence we plan to do a tour from Florence to the Cinque Terre on a day tour through a company called Aaventure Bellisime. They have small groups of only 8 people in mini vans. Since we don't have time to spend a couple days in the Cinque Terre, we thought a day visit is better than none at all. We probably won't get this chance again. Have any of you used this tour company or know anyone who has?
By reading some of these comments, I'm concerned that this would be a waste of time. Thanks.
I just visited cinque terre this week....stayed in Monterosso for 3 nights. Had a wonderful time, not very crowded. I guess the time of year makes a big difference. Also, I would follow Rick's book on how to navigate the cinque terre, big help.
Ruth,
That tour has great reviews on TripAdvisor. I say go for it.
I would say you are doing yourself a great disservice by trying to "do" Cinque Terre in a day trip. By the time you get to any of the towns, you are on your third train. By that time, all the hoards will have arrived and the charm of the places you visit will be missed. We stayed three days in Manarola and found that the loveliest times were in the fresh and quiet of the morning and the during beauty of the sunset and evening after all the day-trippers had left.
Carve out two nights to stay in Manarola...stunningly beautiful!
We were there in 2011 and then again this Sept staying in Vernazza. Much more crowded now but still worth staying at for a couple of days. Enjoy the early morning and nights there. We did do a side trip to Levento and enjoyed that.
