Travel from Paris-Cinque Terre

Can't help you with the timing question when you land in Pisa, but you don't need to worry about train tickets. Just buy them when you get there.

Kyle,

Interesting question as I am doing the same thing with my mom in a couple of weeks.

We are actually leaving Paris on a night train and staying in Florence for a day before continuing on to Cinque Terre. The night train tickets for our journey were only 35 Euros per person (around $90 total!!) and we don't have to pay for a hotel, of course.

I am trying the SNCF page (www.voyages-sncf.com, in French) now to look at the price for you, but I keep getting a page error; have to try later I guess.

I'll explain why we wanted to take the train and why perhaps you should, even though you're not going to Florence.

Sure flying is fast, but it was still more expensive for us, and may be for you as well. Flying is stressful, train travel is generally relaxing: no security or waiting in line at a gate!!

With the flight arriving in Pisa at 825, you're probably leaving Paris at 730, which means you'll have to leave Central Paris by 6pm at the latest to catch your flight. The train from Paris leaves just before 7, giving you slightly more time in Paris.

You'll land in Pisa, and even if you do make it to CT that night, it will be completely dark by the time you do. If you take the train you can be in Florence for breakfast, and enjoy the scenery on the way to CT in the morning.

I just got a result on trenitalia.it for the night train, and it costs 125 Eur for both, which is about $170, so a savings of $60 plus whatever you would pay for a hotel in Pisa.

Just my thoughts. However you get there, you'll enjoy it! Make sure to do the hike from village to village if you're able.

Bon voyage,

Geoff

Also,

regardless of whatever way you choose to arrive in Pisa or Florence, there is absolutely NO problem buying a train ticket to Cinque Terre from there at the station, as the previous poster said.

There are later trains. Using Vernazza as an arbitrary destination, both trenitalia.com and bahn.de show these times:

1. Leave the Pisa airport at 21:05, change in Pisa and La Spezia, and arrive in Vernazza at 23:30.

2. Leave the Pisa airport at 22:30, change in Pisa and La Spezia, and arrive in Vernazza at 01:08.

However, for all the reasons given by Geoff, my choice would be to take the night train to Florence and go on from there to the CT.

Note that Pisa is one of three airports in Italy that has an express train to the main train station. The Galileo Express takes 5 minutes. Once in the Pisa train station, you can easily purchase tickets to the CT. CT local trains run up to almost midnight out of La Spezia Centrale. You will just have to make sure that your hotel small residence is expecting you that late.

Or, as Tim says above, the night train is a very good option here.

Thanks for all the quick responses. It was all very helpful, especially the info about the ease and availability of purchasing Italian train tickets at the stations.

Overnight train tickets I have found are $200 per person. The EasyJet flight is $114+fees per person and I recently found a RyanAir flight for $0+fees (yes, that's correct) from Paris Beauvais airport. I need to get some more info about this airport before I might book it.

The RyanAir flight gets in a little earlier at 20:05 (the EasyJet at 20:25) and the last train I'm finding leaves at 20:27. Tim, you said you found train departing Pisa Aeropuerto at 21:05 and 22:30 but I could not locate them on either site. Even if there are these late trains I'm a little worried about getting into Vernazza late at night and getting into what will probably be small, personally run accomodations.

I'm still at a standstill, but I know I need to book something soon. Thanks again for the information.

Kyle,

I didn't see your last post with your question about late trains from the Pisa airport until just now. Sorry I didn't respond sooner.

New European train timetables will go into effect in the middle of June. Trenitalia is notoriously slow in loading theirs on their Web site. If you enter a date between today and the end of the first week of June that corresponds to the day of the week you will be traveling, you should see both of the late trains I listed in my previous post. The new timetables should be virtually identical to the current ones, with maybe only a few minutes variation here and there.

hi, all the responses here have been very helpful as i'm planning to visit CT departing from paris next week. i was planning to fly to pisa then take the train to CT...but now i may take the train instead. the airfare is now going for $311 from paris CDG airport to pisa. and i have the same issue with the flight arriving late at night. i was planning to stay in pisa to venture aroung but don't know much or have a strong desire to stay there. (florence sounds more interesting.)

anyone know of great accommadations in vernazzo in CT? or any other great places to stay in any of the villages. i'm planning to hike to all 5 villages during my 3 day visit.

thanks for any pointers in advance!

audrey
san francisco, CA