Provence - Cinque Terre - Best Way to Travel

I would drop the rental car somewhere in Provence and train it to the Cinque Terre. The CT has limited parking and lies at the bottom of some narrow twisty roads. The drive on the Autostrade from France to the CT area isn't that great, either - in and out of many tunnels. Taking the train is much easier.

Also, if you rent a car in France and want to drop in Italy, you're likely to face a steep drop-off charge - 100 to 200 Euros wouldn't surprise me.

I totally agree with Doug. You really don't want or need a car in the CT. Rail is the way to go.

Inquire about a high - speed express train from Nice to Genoa in ITALY. Riding in trains from Genoa to Monterosso (in the Cinque Terre) can be very slow, but it is better to ride in trains there than to drive a car there. I do not recommend trying to sleep in a train at night.

As mentioned above, parking is very limited in the CT. With a few exceptions, no tourist cars are permitted in the five towns. Two parking lots are above two of the towns in the hills. During the peak season, these lots are so full, they close the road to them. It is strongly suggested to take the train.

It's a 5.0hr. train journey from Nice to Monterosso. On most runs, you will be on a EuroCity (EC) train to Genoa where you will change to an ICPlus train to Monterosso. Both trains are high-speed trains. The train journey on the Genoa to Monterosso leg is 2.0hrs.

Since you already will have a car, one argument in favor of driving from Avignon to Nice is that you could choose from several scenic routes. However, once you're in Nice, you can get along nicely without one. Definitely take the train to the Cinque Terre.

Many thanks for all your suggestions. I think that we will probably keep the car until we get to Nice and then look at taking a train to Cinque Terre.

My husband is wanting to do a motorstars tour of the car museums in and around Modena. How easy is it for him to catch a train to Modena (from La Spezia?) and how much time will he need to allow to get there?

The best site for detailed timetables for all of Europe is www.bahn.de. After you get summary timetables for La Spezia-Modena, click on "Details for all" to see the connecting points.

Timetables and fares for Italian trains: www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html.

It's very easy to catch a train to Modena from La Spezia. You change trains once in Parma. The bad part is that most runs are on the regional trains (R). These are the locals and they stop at every stop. The train journey itself will take 3.0hrs-3.5hrs depending on the run. The Trenitalia website lists the fare at 15.40 Euro.

It is possible to park in CT.

We parked our car in La Spezia and trained into Vernazza. We found out later we could have driven.

The pay parking lot in La Spezia was full so I asked a local where to park and ended up with free (and probably safer parking). Never underestimate the power of learning some basic language.

We didn't have any need for a car in CT, so the only downside was wondering if our car would still be there when we got back.

Unfortunately, La Spezia is not one of the 5 towns of the Cinque Terre so the statements above about limited parking in the CT are still valid. However, La Spezia is only 6 minutes train ride to Riomaggiore, the 1st of the 5 towns so if you can park easily in La Spezia, so much the better. I would still take a train from Nice to the CT.