Plan for Cinque Terre from La Spezia

We will be arriving by cruise ship at La Spezia in June 2013 (on a Sunday) and want to go to Cinque Terre without making it a full day. Our ship will be in port from 7:45 am to 7:30 p.m. and we are tendering, so we know we will be later getting off the ship behind the ship-sponsored tours.

We thought we would take the train from La Spezia to see the villages of Cinque Terre. We have considered taking a boat up to Monterosso and then making our way back, but think we would prefer just taking the train up and back, stopping at each point along the way back.

How long should we allow for getting from shoreside off the tender to get to the train station - and should we walk (all in good health, capable of walking easily - two adults, two teenage boys) or take a cab (or other option? Is there a city shuttle?) I'm looking for specific walking directions from the port to the train station, too.

We've looked at the train schedule and were thinking we could do this for times but wanted to get some feedback about whether we'd be allowing ourselves enough time in each place:

LaSpezia to Monterosso: 11:10 - 11:43 (allows nearly an hour)

Monterosso to Vernazza 12:40 - 12:44 (allows 45 minutes)

Vernazza to Corniglia 13:34 - 13:38 (allows 50 minutes)

Corniglia to Manarola 14:31 - 14:35 (allows 50 minutes)

Manarola to Riomaggiore - walk the Via dell'amore - or 15:36 - 15:40 if necessary (if taking the train, allows an hour - we understand we should allow 20 minutes for walking the path)

Riomaggiore to La Spezia - 16:36 - 16:45 or 16:52 - 16:59 (allows 50 minutes to an hour if we take the train from Manarola)

Also, if we wanted to plan to eat a lunch somewhere, any recommendations for which village to stop in for lunch? We would adjust out our times accordingly.

When we arrive back in La Spezia by train, then we would reverse our route back to the port.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Things to look out for? Things we didn't think about?

It's about a mile and a quarter from where the tender boats dock to La Spezia Centrale train station. You can make a google map to see the route, using "Molo Italia, La Spezia, Italia" as your starting point and "Piazzale della Stazione, La Spezia, Italia" as your ending point, then selecting walking directions.

It seemed to me that there were more options for food in Vernazza than in the other towns, but I wasn't really paying all that much attention to be honest.

If the timing works out, think about Corniglia for lunch.

Fewer people make the effort to go to Corniglia and it is nicer because of that. We had a memorable meal there outside on the side of the hill (close to where you walk up). We had a wonderful view of the water, the vine covered hillside, and the flowers everywhere. The food (fresh 'sardines' fried up crunchy, pesto pasta and local wine).

It's about a mile and a quarter from where the tender boats dock to La Spezia Centrale train station. You can make a google map to see the route, using "Molo Italia, La Spezia, Italia" as your starting point and "Piazzale della Stazione, La Spezia, Italia" as your ending point, then selecting walking directions.

 

It seemed to me that there were more options for food in Vernazza than in the other towns, but I wasn't really paying all that much attention to be honest.

Thanks - I was trying to figure out where to start and end on google maps, so thank you for the specifics!

If the timing works out, think about Corniglia for lunch.

 

Fewer people make the effort to go to Corniglia and it is nicer because of that. We had a memorable meal there outside on the side of the hill (close to where you walk up). We had a wonderful view of the water, the vine covered hillside, and the flowers everywhere. The food (fresh 'sardines' fried up crunchy, pesto pasta and local wine).

I saw that the boats don't stop at Corniglia and wondered how much less busy the area would be because it doesn't have a second flow of guests arriving.

WOW! We do salute the pre-trip homework but would advise that planning at this level of detail nearly 6 months in advance is not always a great idea. Train schedules do change and trying to adhere to a strict schedule (i.e. lets hurry because we must get to our next train) is not always the best way to enjoy a port day. We suggest you wait until next spring and then you might want to get the current train schedule. Also keep in mind you can also use boats between some of the villages (this can be fun) and there is always the option of hiking/walking between villages (the so-called Lovers Walk between Riomagiore and Mararola is great....but there are also trails between other villages. In the case of Cinque Terre experience has shown us that its good to know your options....but do not get too hung-up on a specific schedule. You might actually discover a nice cafe/restaurant in one of the villages and decide to sample some good local cuisine (no time for this on your schedule). When it comes to lunch we prefer to do what feels right at the time. If you happen to find yourselves in a village when you are truly hungry and see a place that looks inviting then its time to eat :)

Hank

When we stopped at La Spezia it was a tender, we walked about 2 minutes to where the ferry was and took the ferry up to Monterosso and then hiked back to Vernazza and had a lovely lunch and then trained back through the other villages and to La Spezia and walked back to the tender. We loved it! Weather and sea conditions are factors for the ferry, it was quite a ride for our stops along the way to Monterooso, but great photos! You can make the Cinque Terre as long a day as you want it to be.

You are really trying to pressure cook a lot into visiting 5 villages within such a short time.

Consider leaving out Corniglia which is up high on a hill . So go to Monterosso allow an hour , then by train up to Vernazza allow an hour . then by train up to Manarola allow an hour. Walk the Lovers Walk to Riamagiorre (allow 30 mins, requires Park Day Pass). Riomaggiore allow an hour or so then train back to La Spezia Centrale.

NB: 1. Train timetables change all the time, something about Italians !!!!

2. The Lovers Walk was closed at October 2012.

3. Lunch wise Vernazza , Manarola and Riomaggiorre all offer great restaurants with waterfront views .

4. Riomagiorre, Manarola and Vernazza all have two sides ; waterfront on the seaside of the railway, and uphill on the land side . At Riomaggiorre you access the waterfront by a long pedestrian tunnel parallel to the railway that heads back towards La Spezia from Riomaggiorre station. . At the end of this tunnel turn left for uphill, and right and downstairs for the waterfront .

5. Monterosso has two halves linked by a shared use road/pedestrian tunnel . Trains arrive in New Monterosso, and ferries in Old Monterosso .

You are really trying to pressure cook a lot into visiting 5 villages within such a short time.

 

Consider leaving out Corniglia which is up high on a hill . So go to Monterosso allow an hour , then by train up to Vernazza allow an hour . then by train up to Manarola allow an hour. Walk the Lovers Walk to Riamagiorre (allow 30 mins, requires Park Day Pass). Riomaggiore allow an hour or so then train back to La Spezia Centrale.

 

NB: 1. Train timetables change all the time, something about Italians !!!!

2. The Lovers Walk was closed at October 2012.

3. Lunch wise Vernazza , Manarola and Riomaggiorre all offer great restaurants with waterfront views .

4. Riomagiorre, Manarola and Vernazza all have two sides ; waterfront on the seaside of the railway, and uphill on the land side . At Riomaggiorre you access the waterfront by a long pedestrian tunnel parallel to the railway that heads back towards La Spezia from Riomaggiorre station. . At the end of this tunnel turn left for uphill, and right and downstairs for the waterfront .

5. Monterosso has two halves linked by a shared use road/pedestrian tunnel . Trains arrive in New Monterosso, and ferries in Old Monterosso .

Thanks - this is very helpful and we'll be able to make a realistic plan as we get closer to travel time. What we generally like to do is make a list of the "must see / do" (for us) and then the "would be nice to see / do" and adjust our plans accordingly. As long as we mind our "ending" time so that we have ample time to get back to the ship, that will be great.

Our experience has been that sometimes the things we think we'll just pass on by turn out to be the things we spend more time doing. This past summer we had a trip out west and drove from Idaho over to Yellowstone and decided to route through Grand Teton National Park expecting to make a couple of quick stops and snap a few pictures on our way. Turns out we enjoyed GTNP so much that we decided to linger even though that would shorten our time in Yellowstone National Park by a day.

anyway, we appreciate the comments and suggestions and experiences you all have to offer.

You are really trying to pressure cook a lot into visiting 5 villages within such a short time.

 

Consider leaving out Corniglia which is up high on a hill . So go to Monterosso allow an hour , then by train up to Vernazza allow an hour . then by train up to Manarola allow an hour. Walk the Lovers Walk to Riamagiorre (allow 30 mins, requires Park Day Pass). Riomaggiore allow an hour or so then train back to La Spezia Centrale.

 

NB: 1. Train timetables change all the time, something about Italians !!!!

2. The Lovers Walk was closed at October 2012.

3. Lunch wise Vernazza , Manarola and Riomaggiorre all offer great restaurants with waterfront views .

4. Riomagiorre, Manarola and Vernazza all have two sides ; waterfront on the seaside of the railway, and uphill on the land side . At Riomaggiorre you access the waterfront by a long pedestrian tunnel parallel to the railway that heads back towards La Spezia from Riomaggiorre station. . At the end of this tunnel turn left for uphill, and right and downstairs for the waterfront .

5. Monterosso has two halves linked by a shared use road/pedestrian tunnel . Trains arrive in New Monterosso, and ferries in Old Monterosso .

Thanks for that. We are coming into Livorno and hope to go there. We wont have as much time to explore, but it looks good. 24th Oct we will be in Livorno. If the walk is closed we will try and do another village

Alex

The trains were definitely not reliable. You should definitely do the lovers walk. Beautiful.

We had lunch in Corniglia, but also enjoyed the focaccia!!!

The trains were definitely not reliable. You should definitely do the lovers walk. Beautiful.

We had lunch in Corniglia, but also enjoyed the focaccia!!!

If we get the 7.30 train we will be in Riomaggiorre at 10. We will have to leave at 13.30 to get back to the ship. Question is; will this be enough time to do the walk and get back to the train station.

Alex

If we get the 7.30 train we will be in Riomaggiorre at 10. We will have to leave at 13.30 to get back to the ship. Question is; will this be enough time to do the walk and get back to the train station.

You mean from Livorno, yes? There's also a 7:43 train that will make the same connections if you miss the 7:30, for what it's worth.

When you say "the walk" I'm assuming you mean the Via dell'Amore, the path between Riomaggiore and Manarola. If so, you'll have plenty of time to do that.

You mean from Livorno, yes? There's also a 7:43 train that will make the same connections if you miss the 7:30, for what it's worth.

 

When you say "the walk" I'm assuming you mean the Via dell'Amore, the path between Riomaggiore and Manarola. If so, you'll have plenty of time to do that.

Thanks, can I get the train back from other villages or do we have to get back to Riomaggiore.

We usually try and get off the ship as quick as we can. Last time in Livorno we got a taxi up to the station, probably do the same this time.

The ship wants £85 each so it will work out a lot cheaper, even with the taxi.

Alex

There are train stations in all five villages, so you can easily get back when you are ready.

There are train stations in all five villages, so you can easily get back when you are ready.

Thanks, just another ?

we go to Ravenna and would like to go to Florence. Rci do an excursion with the bullet train from Bolognia to Florence. I cant find a timetable for the bullet train. Any ideas.

Alex

Thanks, just another ?

we go to Ravenna and would like to go to Florence. Rci do an excursion with the bullet train from Bolognia to Florence. I cant find a timetable for the bullet train. Any ideas.

It's possible, but not going to be particularly easy to do this either way (with RCI or on your own).

By "bullet" train I'm assuming you mean a high speed train. The ones between Bologna and Firenze go by the names Frecciarossa and Frecciargento. These trains take just under 40 minutes between Bologna and Florence (Firenze).

The slow part, whether you go by bus, car, or train, is between Ravenna and Bologna. It takes about 90 minutes from the port in Ravenna to downtown Bologna by bus/car. By train from Ravenna to Bologna takes 1:10 - 1:20, but you need to add on 30 minutes to get from the cruise port to the train station in Ravenna. All in all it's about a wash, timewise. From a cost perspective, it's likely a lot less on your own. Train fare is Euro 30,80 each way, in second class.

However, bear in mind that either way you go you'll be devoting at least five hours of your day just on transit to Florence and back.

The Cinque Terre park service pointed me to this link:

http://www.parco****onale5terre.it/sentieri_parco.asp

for information on the trails which includes what's open and what's not.

Well, I don't know why it *starred* out the URL ... oh wait, I see - because of it would be n a z i - those are the missing letters so I guess it won't officially link here.

Or you can just google for Cinque Terre National Park and it will have it in the search results.

We did the ferry from La Spezia and this was a great way to see the Cinque Terre. It was lovely. I found that Riomaggiore and Manarola were my two favorite places. You can walk from one to the other along the walk of love. This was great. They Cinque Terre is known for it's basil pesto, olive oil and white wine. Try these- they are great.

I'm following up to the many questions we had pre-trip - we had an amazing B2B cruise in the Med. Cinque Terre was one of our favorite places!

We will be arriving by cruise ship at La Spezia in June 2013 (on a Sunday) and want to go to Cinque Terre without making it a full day. Our ship will be in port from 7:45 am to 7:30 p.m. and we are tendering, so we know we will be later getting off the ship behind the ship-sponsored tours.

 

We thought we would take the train from La Spezia to see the villages of Cinque Terre. We have considered taking a boat up to Monterosso and then making our way back, but think we would prefer just taking the train up and back, stopping at each point along the way back.

 

How long should we allow for getting from shoreside off the tender to get to the train station - and should we walk (all in good health, capable of walking easily - two adults, two teenage boys) or take a cab (or other option? Is there a city shuttle?) I'm looking for specific walking directions from the port to the train station, too.

 

We've looked at the train schedule and were thinking we could do this for times but wanted to get some feedback about whether we'd be allowing ourselves enough time in each place:

 

LaSpezia to Monterosso: 11:10 - 11:43 (allows nearly an hour)

Monterosso to Vernazza 12:40 - 12:44 (allows 45 minutes)

Vernazza to Corniglia 13:34 - 13:38 (allows 50 minutes)

Corniglia to Manarola 14:31 - 14:35 (allows 50 minutes)

Manarola to Riomaggiore - walk the Via dell'amore - or 15:36 - 15:40 if necessary (if taking the train, allows an hour - we understand we should allow 20 minutes for walking the path)

Riomaggiore to La Spezia - 16:36 - 16:45 or 16:52 - 16:59 (allows 50 minutes to an hour if we take the train from Manarola)

 

Also, if we wanted to plan to eat a lunch somewhere, any recommendations for which village to stop in for lunch? We would adjust out our times accordingly.

 

When we arrive back in La Spezia by train, then we would reverse our route back to the port.

 

Thoughts? Suggestions? Things to look out for? Things we didn't think about?

Here's what we did. We were actually there on a Monday. Our ship tendered and we were off the ship and ashore by 9 AM. We walked about 20 minutes to the train station and then queued for tickets - we bought the CT card for 10-euro each. We made sure to validate the ticket before boarding.

We took the 9:56 express from La Spezia to Monterosso. It was jam packed with passengers - literally shoulder to shoulder. The train stopped in Riomaggiore and a few folks got off, but most were on through to Monterosso.

We left Monterosso on the 11:56 so we had about 1 1/2 hours there which for us was more than enough, but is really probably about right if you're wanting to explore the fort and the village. We popped into a grocery store and bought bottles of water for 50-cents Euro and also got postcards while we were there.

We arrrived in Vernazza at 12:01 and stayed until the 13:34 train to Corniglia. We walked through the village, did some souvenir shopping, and had lunch here. I thought I had all my CT pictures uploaded to photobucket but apparently I don't, so I'll add some for the other villages later.

Vernazza to Corniglia 13:34 - 13:38 (allows 50 minutes) - We had considered skipping the Corniglia stop because it was hot, but as a collector of things, I wanted to "collect" a stop at each of the five villages. We stopped here and while I climbed the steps to the village from the train station with the dad and daughters of a family we had joined, DH and the mom stayed below. My recommendation for this stop is to stay for the 2nd train so you have time to actually look around the village rather than just get to the top and then have to head down so you don't miss the train.

Corniglia to Manarola 14:31 - 14:35 (allows 50 minutes) - In Manarola, I had finally recovered from my climb in Corniglia - some refreshing lemon gelato certainly helped! We went the "opposite way" when we got off the train from where the main part of the village was and enjoyed a quiet uphill climb past some shops, gelato, church, homes, and even saw someone's garden. The fresh vegetables in this part of Italy were so wonderful!

Manarola to Riomaggiore - the Via dell'amore was still closed, so we took the train at 15:36 to Riomaggiore. Here we went down to the waterfront and also walked around the village a little bit, but mostly did some people watching. At this point we were ready to head back to the ship.

From Riomaggiore, we took the 16:36 train which was actually running a little late but we were back in La Spezia before 5 PM.

We had considered taking the boat part of the way back but the cheapskate in me thought that since we'd already paid for the train tickets, there was no sense in double-paying transportation :) We have friends who did take the boat and said it was a relaxing but hot way to go. If we were to visit the area again, we would possibly do the boat.

We did learn that if you stand near the tunnels as the trains are approaching, you can get some natural air conditioning which is very welcome on a hot summer day. Also at one of the villages, you can wait inside the tunnel so you are out of the heat. (I'll have to double check my photos to know for sure which one it is - either Manarola or Riomaggiore).

Here's a picture of the train ticket validation machine found at each of the train stations.

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for posting on how your trip went, it's nice to hear how people's plans work out. My mom and I will be in Livorno in August and hope to do the Cinque Terre as well so it's nice to have your feedback.

Thanks Cindy for your detailed account of traveling to Cinque Terre. We are in the planning stages. I will have to check out your blog now for more ideas!

Hi Cindy,

 

Thanks for posting on how your trip went, it's nice to hear how people's plans work out. My mom and I will be in Livorno in August and hope to do the Cinque Terre as well so it's nice to have your feedback.

Hi (and to Melody too :))

This was what I did in October (but from La Spezia which is obviously much easier). If you go you and your mum will surely have better weather but I still really enjoyed it despite the rain. All the best, Tony

[YOUTUBE]MPZfm28F_lc[/YOUTUBE]

That's a lovely video, Tony. Thanks for posting it. You really had some nasty weather that day.

I highly recommend that anyone who has a nearby port day on the weekend make other plans. The Cinque Terre is very popular with nearby residents on the weekends and these towns simply are too small to be enjoyed when trying to move around in the crowds of visitors one encounters there on summer weekends. And the ferries are also way too crowded then.