We will be traveling to Cinque Terre at the end of May. A few days there then taking a train to Venice where we will board a ship. Which airport is best in terms of price and location? Considered Milan airport, but thought another airport might be better. Thanks.
In general, the best airport will be the one that you can fly into from your starting point. Having said that, the closest airport to the CT is Pisa (PSA). It also has good rail connections at the airport. Unfortunately, many of the US carriers have cut back on flights to Pisa. Genova (GOA) would be another close by, but probably harder from the US Milan Malpensa (MXP) would probably be the next closest and likely easier to get to from the US.
Thank you for your help. We are departing from Dulles (DC). I was looking at Genoa flights but they are higher than Milan. I'll try Pisa. Thanks, again.
I flew Chicago to Pisa (with a transfer in Rome) on Alitalia, and it was one of the easiest airports I've been through. Our luggage was on the belts almost before we got into the baggage pickup. We then took a bus to Firenze for a couple nights before training Cinque Terre, but I'm sure there are trains direct for C.T. also.
I seriously loved both 5T and Venice, but have you considered just doing one or the other? You will spend the better part of a day getting from 5T to Venice on the train. And you will have some hassle even getting from Pisa to 5T (there is the train, but you have to get from airport to train, an hour on the train to La Spezia, then another train to whatever town you're staying in). Just my humble opinion, but you will spend an awful lot of time traveling from one side of Italy to another without a lot of time to enjoy either side.