Vernazza Travel Forum

We are hoping to stay in Pisa for a few days, using it as a base before we continue to Florence, and would like to visit some (perhaps Vernazza) or as much as we can of the Cinque Terre by way of a day trip. Is this possible in one day or am I being overly optimistic time-wise? Should we in fact be seeing the Cinque Terre villages over several days using La Spezia as a base instead? We would be relying on train for transport from Pisa. Many thanks in advance!

a day trip to Cinque Terre is definitely possible. It is only about a 2 1/2 hour train ride to cinque terre from Pisa. What time of year are you going?

I wonder why you have chosen Pisa as a base? If you want to see the Cinque Terre, why not stay in the one of the towns instead of Pisa or La Spezia? I would suggest 2-3 days. We stayed in Manarola (quieter and a bit less touristy than the other Cinque Terre towns, I think) and loved it.

My friend here on VT, EllenH, recommended the B&B "da Baranin" to us, and it was perfect. (Both of us have tips on this place on our Manarola pages.) You can drive and park at a lot just outside of the town - a 5 minute walk to the B&B. From the train station there is a shuttle bus service for 1.5E.

Thanks for your replies. The more I see of Cinque Terre the more time I think we would like to stay there for more than a day! Our trip to Italy starts in Rome, then we go north taking in Pisa, Cinque Terre and then heading over to Florence before heading to Milan. Just trying to think what is the best order to do this in considering our time constraints. We are travelling there in the middle of July. Think we will try to get to cinque Terre straight from Rome and then do Pisa in an afternoon before getting to Florence. By the way, do you have any suggestions for places for dips in the sea in the Cinque Terre?

You could do Pisa and Lucca as a day trip from Florence, or you could just stop at Pisa on your way to Florence from Cinque Terre. I think there is a left luggage place at the Pisa train station.

See this thread.

http://forum.virtualtourist.com/4/discussion-199099-1-1-Travel-0-145950-Pisa-discussion.html?wosid=ItSSV7soeR2hEWEOVQkvhw

For a sandy beach experience, I think Monterosso is probably the best - Manarola has a rock beach. But the charm of Cinque Terre really isn't in its beaches.

Thanks Lacristina, your advice makes a lot of sense. Am not so worried about seeing beaches in Cinque Terre, just want to know that there is somewhere for us two pasty scots to cool down in the mediterranean summer!

Last time I was there it was September, over a weekend, and we could not find a place to stay, everything was booked. You might want to book in advance. I would suggest looking on the internet for apartments to rent, since there are not many hotels there. I vote that you use Cinque Terre as a base, my favorite is Vernazza, but it is very easy to get to all of the others either via train or boat shuttles.

It is about 7 hour train ride from Rome to Cinque Terre, and about 3 hours from Florence to Cinque Terre. Are you flying out of Florence?

No, once we get to Florence we'll stay there for a few days before making our way to Monza by train and then up to Switzerland. We will eventually fly back home from Zurich. We have a lot to pack in during 2.5 weeks! Unfortunately my husband's holiday dates are pre-set so we can't go any time of the year. While I have your attention, and if it's not too cheeky to ask for more advice, do you have any advice on booking train travel or discount cards, etc? We know the dates for each part of our journey so we can book accommodation but wasn't sure about organising our train travel in advance. Thanks in advance again!

In general, train passes don't save you any money in Italy. Point to point tickets are very reasonable, but you could always check and do the math yourself. See www.trenitalia.com. Sometimes they have specials (for example, the high speed trains from Naples to Rome cost the same for first and second class up until March 31.)

Most of the time, you don't need to make a reservation very far in advance - a day or two is usually more than sufficient. I've sometimes bought a ticket (e.g. Florence to Rome or Naples to Rome) 15 minutes before departure. The exceptions would be weekends around certain holiday times, like Christmas and Easter, the end of April and May 1, and around Ferragosto, August 15.

The larger train stations have automatic machines which are easy to use. If you see a travel agency with the FS train system logo in their window, they can also sell you a ticket with no additional charges.

Several VT members have information about trains in their transportation tips on Italy. Another good place to check for information is here: http://www.slowtrav.com/Italy/trains/

Cristina