Trains between Florence, Siena,and Cinq-Terre

The best all-purpose site for train timetables is www.bahn.de. Click on "Internat. Guests" to view it in English. Enter a departure and arrival town, date, and time to get summary timetables. Then click on "Show details for all" to see the connecting points where you will need to change trains. To break it down even further, click on "Show intermediate stops" for each route. Enter a specific Cinque Terre town (for example, Vernazza). Scroll down to the lower right-hand corner, click on "Print view," and then print the resulting page.

I did this exact route in 2005. 2 days in Florece, 1 night in Siena and 3 in Cinque Terre. The route from Siena requires a train change in both Pisa and La Spezia. I purchased all my train tickets point-to-point in Italy when I arrived (my trip was in early June). I had no problem buying second class tickets. I just went to the train station ticket window in Rome at the start of my trip and the ticket agent figured out all the details of the tikcets for me. I had a really tight connection in Pisa (7 minutes)but over all it was really smooth. The whole route from Siena to Cinque Terre took about 6 hours, but totally worth it.

One suggestion, I would consider skipping Siena and spending an extra day in Cinque Terre.

From Florence take the train W to La Spezia, then the local train N to the CT. From Florence, take the bus to Siena, not the train.

try this web site,

seems quite easy,

http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

I've been looking at these same routes planning my upcoming trip. One thing I have discovered is that the DB website for some reason isn't showing all of the connections to florence. I tried the same connecting cities on Raileurope and got more choices. I'm not sure why this is. I really prefer the DB website. You won't be able to get it to show connections to/from Vernazza. You have to either input La Spezia, Pisa or Genoa depending upon which direction you want to travel.

Jill,

New timetables will go into effect after 10 June. Die Bahn is loading them and not all routes appear yet. If you enter a date before 10 June, you'll get timetables that include Vernazza.

Thanks for your help everybody! I had figured out the times using the current schedule and then saw the fine-print about June 10th... Once you study the schedules for a while, they almost start to make sense. Luckily the Greek Islands should be easier with just ferries to schedule...

Thanks for your help everybody! I had figured out the times using the current schedule and then saw the fine-print about June 10th... Once you study the schedules for a while, they almost start to make sense. Luckily the Greek Islands should be easier with just ferries to schedule...

Consider taking the boat from La Spezia. It's an amazing way to introduce yourself to the Cinque-Terra.