What is the best way to go from Nice to The Cinque Terre?
Posted by
Palm Beach, Florida, United States
536 posts
Jim - After travelling the area for many years I would NOT take the train. It's three and a half hours by car and an ABSOLUTELY fantastic ride to La Spezia, where you park the car in one of many areas and jump on the local train to the 5 villages. TOTAL - 182 miles of gorgeous ride !!!!!!!!!
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Nice&1s=Provence-Alpes-C%C3%B4te+D'Azur&1y=FR&1l=43.70153&1g=7.27824&1v=CITY&2c=La+Spezia&2s=Liguria&2y=IT&2l=44.10202&2g=9.82024&2v=CITY
Enjoy, Greg
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
The reason I suggested taking the train rather than driving is that there is a stiff fee for picking up a rental car in one country and dropping it off in another.
I expect that Greg will say that paying that fee is worth it because the drive is gorgeous. And he may well be right!
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Take the train. For detailed timetables go to the German Rail site, www.bahn.de, and click on the drop-down flag menu for English. After you get summary timetables for Nice Ville to the Cinque Terre town of your choice, click on the arrow to the left of each departure time to see the connecting points.
For fares as well as timetables go to the Italian Rail site, www.trenitalia.com. Click on the English link at the top of the page.
Posted by
Freedonia
16283 posts
I would take the train. However, I would also break up the trip and stop in Genoa and Portofino along the way.
If you do decide to drive, drop off the rental car in La Spezia rather than just park it--especially if you plan to spend some time on the CT. Then, if you want it afterwards, arrange a new rental.(Why pay for parking or even for a rental that stays parked?)
But, as Tim mentioned, there will be a drop off charge from one country to the next which could be hefty.