We are going on the My Way Alpine tour which ends in Chamonix. Our next stop on our own will be Cinque Terre. We have checked several websites for trains and/or buses. Not as straight forward as we thought. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
6970 posts
Going from a small town in one country to a small town in another country can take some time. But I'd suggest you start by taking the bus from Chamonix to Aosta and then train from Aosta to Monterosso, which can be done in 6-6.5 hours with two changes.
Posted by
Vancouver
169 posts
Chamonix is quite isolated (as most mountain resorts probably are) but I would imagine at the very least there is a bus as mentioned above.
If you can get from Chamonix to Annecy there seemed to be a quite a large bus station there and presumably a larger city may have more connections to a train etc.
From Lyon I’m sure you could get a train straight to Genoa
Posted by
Wengen
2493 posts
There are quite a few challenges here. Getting across the Alps. Getting from one country to another. Trying to use public transport in France for something else than going to Paris...
But as already mentioned: there are buses from Chamonix to Italy through the Mont Blanc tunnel.
What I would do is first go to Turin (Torino). There are several bus companies doing that route. Pointers here:
https://www.chamonix.net/english/travel/turin/bus
Then from Torino to the Cinque Terre you can go by train. See www.trenitalia.com. Book all the way through to the actual town you have booked accommodation in. Most of the trains on that route are regional, and do not need to be booked in advance, so you could just buy your ticket the moment you arrive in Torino. Or maybe spend a night there. It is quite a nice and interesting town.
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
There is a Flixbus bus at 9 AM from Chamonix to Milan's suburbs. It that takes 3.5 hours, the bus depot in Milan is close to the Lampugnano metro station.
From Milan's Central station you can take a direct InterCity train to Monterosso departing at 14:05 or later. You can get an IC ticket up to 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time, but you'd pay the top, "Base" fare. Discounted tickets come with restrictions and must be purchased well in advance.
The above advice about Turin is a Good one, but note that there are no direct trains between Turin and the Cinque Terre villages. You'd better compare the 2 options on the basis of price, changes and total travel time.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
These are all good suggestions, we will check them out. Thank you everyone!