Cinque Terre by boat or train?

You have copied and pasted my post, which is nice ... but do you have a comment or question?

Sorry, it was by mistake. I wasn't sure if I posted my answer to you. It was on screen for a long time.

Then I erased it and forgot your letter was copied too, because I couldn't see it....

By the way : I didn't found where can I get in my profile a link to my posts, to read all the threads I started and the answers...

In other forums in the profile you can get links to all posts posted by each member.

It's hard to find, if you don't remember exactly how you named it...

By the way : I didn't found where can I get in my profile a link to my posts, to read all the threads I started and the answers...

Just click on your name on your last post, and there will be five last posts showing, and you can click on See All and it will show a long list. You can do it for anyone - not just yourself.

Dear Alma,

if you want to stop somewhere between Pisa and Rome Fiumicino, along the Tuscan coast I suggest you the villages of Castagneto Carducci and the gulf of Baratti (approx 3 hours away from Rome airport), Castiglione della Pescaia (one of the best Italian seaside resort, 2 hours from Rome Airport) and the promontory of the Mount Argentario which is wonderful (1,30 hours from Rome).
Have a look at this post also: http://mytravelintuscany.com/beaches-in-tuscany-part-iii-the-southern-maremma/

Sorry for entering this thread halfway, and thank you Jingili for all your information. I am going to be in Pisa from the 2nd to the 5th of September 2017 and was hoping to use the 4th for a day trip to Cinque Terre. I was planning to make it a combination of rail and boat and your suggested itinerary does take care of that. However I have a few questions I hope you or any other reader of the forum can clarify for me? Thank you so much!

1. On the train ride from Pisa to La Spezia, I understand we pass through the town of Carrara. Does one get to see the marble mountains in the distance from the train or the only way to see the mountains is by actually getting down and taking a separate trip? I know I won't have the time to do them all, but I was wondering if they are even view-able in the distance from the train ride or not.

2. Just so I understand, your suggestion is to take the train to Monterosso and then catch the ferry to Vernazza. After that were you suggesting continuing on the ferry to Manarola and Riomaggiore and then on to Portovenere? As in do the rest of the places by boat and only take the train from La Spezia to Monterosso at the start? Or should it be a mix of boat and train?

3. Is it generally considered a sensible plan to do Cinque Terre in a day or are we overextending ourselves?

Thank you again in advance for any help you can provide!

Best wishes.

Similar answers to those I have provided ... if the weather is very good, stick to the ferry for all the villages (except Corniglia) the experience and the view will be worth it. And at the southern end, the ferry is the ONLY practicable way to get from Riomaggiore around to Portovenere.

The villages are very close to each other, and can be seen in a full day (start early and stay out until the sun goes down) - the ferry ride between each is just 15 minutes (35 Riomaggiore to Portovenere).

A second day is most rewarding if you wish to do one of the walks. For example we caught an early train from La Spezia to Vernazza and walked around to Monterosso ... it was great.

Personally I would have two days in the Cinque Terre area rather than in Pisa, or alternatively, take the train to Lucca - beautiful old town.

Yes ... you can definitely see the marble quarries of Carrara from the train - from a distance it looks like snow!

And here is the 2017 ferry timetable - I trust it makes everything clear. It costs € 35,00 for a full day, while the train is € 16,00 for a full day (not 24 hours, but a calendar day).

Also note from the ferry timetable that that you can go directly from La Spezia by ferry - although the usefulness of that would depend on where your hotel is in the city - it might be much nearer the train station.

And the ferry option La Spezia > Portovenere > Riomaggiore gets you there at 10:35 am, whereas you can get to Monterosso by train much earlier than that, and then get the first ferry south at 10:30 am. So very similar.

Or you can even walk south from Monterosso to Vernazza if you want - all by 10:45 to catch the first ferry south to Manarola. Lots of options - weather is the key. BTW you don't have to buy the € 16,00 pass to travel by train - point-to-point tickets are € 4,00 I think.

Thank you so much for your input. I was thinking of a slightly different approach, so you can tell me if this is a good plan. I was thinking of taking the 10am ferry from La Spezia and going all the way to Monterosso and reaching at 12:20pm. Then onwards, we can spend time in each village, either walking to the next one or taking the train. We will make sure to get to Riomaggiore around 5:30-6:00 ish, so we are there around sunset. In this plan, we only do Portovenere from the water, and don't disembark over there.

Alternatively, we could take the 10am ferry from La Spezia, get off at Portovenere at 11am, spend an hour there and take the 12pm ferry onwards to Monterosso, reaching there by 1:20pm.

The reason I was avoiding taking the ferry for each stop, is we will have to be watchful of ferry schedules at all times. By doing the boat at one stretch in the beginning we get to be more flexible and aimlessly wander and explore.

Does that make sense as a plan?

I belive that the second version is better. You can spend more time in Cinque Terre and you can really decide to move between them on foot or by train. And when you arrive to Riomaggiore you can simply back to La Spezia by train.

Otherwise you have only about 5 hours to visit all CT villages and you really don't have enought time to see them well (you have to watch train schedules and in any case you need hurry because you have less than an hour to visit each village). And you don't see Portovenere ... and it's really worth to see it :)

Yes ... to maximise your time, I would still catch a very early train to Monterosso, explore there, walk around to Vernazza, and explore there ... all before the first ferry south, and all before 10:45, if you wish. You can visit the other towns in the afternoon fairly leisurely, and get to Portovenere at 18:50 for sunset and the bus.

If you don't start until the 10:00 in La Spezia, half the day is over very quickly, and you won't have done much. I think you might need to appreciate that this is a spectacular piece of coastline, is not that big but takes time to see it, and it warrants getting on the road just after dawn.