Nice & Cinque Terre

Between these places, you can take trains, but some of the runs are long and/or involve multiple changes. The closest airports to the Cinque Terre are Pisa and Genoa. They have minimal (Pisa) or no (Genoa) service to the US, but have connections with many other European airports, so with a plane change, you can fly home right from the CT, and don't need to return to Nice or Madrid unless you want to (and I wouldn't, as this wastes time and money). To find train schedules, you can start with the Bahn (German Rail) website, using Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/db_tips.htm. To get prices and actually book trains, you would use the sites for country the train originates in. Here's a guide, from the Man in Seat 61: http://tinyurl.com/bo8x6o6 To find flights within Europe, use Skyscanner: http://www.skyscanner.com/. To find flights from the US to Europe, use Kayak http://www.kayak.com/, and choose "multi-city" to fly into one city (say, Madrid) and out of another (say, Pisa) all on one ticket. This will be much cheaper and easier than two one-way tickets. To find out which airlines fly to which destinations from a particular airport, a good place to start is the Wikipedia entry for that particular airport.

You can take a train to and from C.T. From Nice. Do stop in Nice, wonderful City, spend a day or two, plenty to do. I personally like Vernazza in CT, but go to all 5, by either hiking or take slow milk trains.

Betty, I agree with Jim re Vernazza. Here is a nice place to stay: http://www.elisabettacarro.it/

you should stop in nice for a couple of days to see the coast towns and hill towns, on par with CT if not more interesting. from nice you train to la spezia and then change to local train to ct. fly out of nice is probably better.

Thanks All. So, should i go to Nice first or Cinque Terre?

Take a train from one of the CT towns or La Spezia to the town of Pisa. Then take another train for the very short ride to the airport. You can buy tickets from a machine or ticket booth. Cinque Terre is a collection of five towns. A local train line connects the towns. It may be necessary to take a train to La Spezia, then another train to the town where you will be staying. I suggest that you get a copy of the Rick Steve's book on Italy. There is much information there, including info regarding the answers to questions you haven't thought of or asked yet.

I would go to Nice for two days minimum, then to CT. Harold, makes a great point about possibly flying out of Pisa to some other city. No matter which you choose first, you'll love it! Hopefully the slow trains windows will have been cleaned so you can see out of them. BTW, while training near Genoa, look out for the Ghost of Chris Columbus!

Thanks! What is the train stop for cinque terre?

Also, how do i get from Cinque terre to Psa airport?

I don't have my RSteves guidebook to assist me. Cinque Terre when translated means 5 lands, there are 5 distinct Villages. Two of the more popular ones are Monterrossa and Vernazza. I prefer Vernazza, others say Monterrossa. You decide once you've been to all 5, they are all small, can be reached by train (short distances) or if in good health, can be hiked to. You REALLY need to get RS 's Italian guidebook, this is one of his Favorite places and he covers it in great detail. I have not personally been to Vernazza or M. Since the floods, so not sure how things are there now. I " think" you catch a train to La Spazia from one of the CT towns to get to Pisa. Not sure about airport, know it exists but have never flown from there. Other posters may chime in with specifics. Your ability to walk and level of health may determine which village in CT you choose. Vernazza requires, in some cases, your ability to climb many steps for fantastic views and restaurants!