Hi all - we would like to travel from Toulouse France to the Cinque Terre in April - is that possible by train? We are staying 4 nights in Toulouse and then 3 nights in Cinque Terre before traveling onto Rome for 5 nights.
I can't quite figure out a route based on the rail europe site?
Any help appreciated.
Chris
Hi Again Chris - The way to go is to drive - forget about all the complications and interactions necessary to train it or fly it. NEVER!!
rent a car in Toulouse and drive the 8 and a half hours to La Spezia - put the car in one of many parking locations and jump on the local train to the villages. How easy!!! And a very enjoyable ride - I've done it a number of times and it is fun!!
Do get an IDP certificate from a AAA office before renting the car over there. Here are the driving directions -
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Toulouse&1s=Midi-Pyr%C3%A9n%C3%A9es&1y=FR&1l=43.60574&1g=1.44869&1v=CITY&2c=La+Spezia&2s=Liguria&2y=IT&2l=44.10202&2g=9.82024&2v=CITY
Ciao, Greg
Steve - that's what I was afraid of - too long & too many changes. Any recommendations on how to best achieve getting there? Car rental from Toulouse to NIce? train from Nice to Cinque Terre? Car rental all the way? Fly from Toulouse to maybe Genoa?
Thanks for your help.
Chris
Thanks everyone - We've decided to go with what GReg said - it may cost more to rent in France & drop off in ITaly...but when you're spending 10K on a vacation the cost is insignificant!
Thanks Greg for all your help.
Chris
From France you want to enter CT through Genoa. As far as I know, there is no need to circumnavigate CT to get to La Spezia and then take the local train back into CT.
Some regular trains traveling south don't stop in any of the 5 towns. Some stop in Monterosso &/or Riomaggiore. My experience coming by train from Genoa (or farther north) is that the trains didn't stop until La Spezia. If the train stops in Levanto, the next town north of the CT, you can get off there and catch the local train to whichever town you want in the CT.
