La Spezia Travel Forum

On our first trip to Cinque Terre next month we will be driving to La Spezia. I am concerned about getting there and finding no parking available. Should I be concerned? We want to take the train to Cinque terre, but we need safe parking in La Spezia. Any suggestions? Also any sugestions about what not to miss in cinque terre?
thanks bunches

I've driven to Cinque Terre a few times but just parked in one of the towns- a few of them offer parking; you should consider that as an option also. I created a "transportation tip" all about driving/parking in the Cinque Terre, check it out.

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/b214e/38/9/

As far as what not to miss, Vernazza is my favorite of the towns, but they are all great. Don't miss the hiking paths. Other stuff we liked about the towns are on my Liguria page with sone info on each town.
Good luck- ciao

We drove to Cinque Terre but went through La Spezia and I believe there was parking at the train station. There is also guarded parking at the outskirts of Cinque Terre but it's pricey. (worth it though)

Get a Park Pass at the train station in Cinque Terre. You have to have a ticket to hike the trail. Don't expect a "lonely" experience on the trail. It was like Time Square and we were there in October!

If we can't get there early in the day , do the parkings lots fill up in Cinque Terre? How are the roads to get there- too narrow? I know the Cinque Terre card is good for the train from La Spezia, but I am not sure how often the trains run. I don't want to spend my day waiting on a train if I could just drive there myself, but I did't want to get there and have no parking spaces left.

I've parked in the parking lots of both the first 2 towns coming from the south(riomagiore and manorola) arriving by 11 a.m. or so and got a spot. But I bet they fill up faster in May. Monterossa al mare has even more parking spots so I would head there if it is geting close to noon. The roads are narrow and a little precarious... My driving/parking tip has all this info. Could be tricky with a van or SUV.

Also, the next town north of the cinque terre (Levanto) has parking and is conected to the cinque terre by train and foot path.

We had a Peugeot 206 which is fairly small and had no trouble on the roads. The worst problem is looking at the road instead of the absolutely gorgeous scenery!

We were there at the end of October and although there were lots of people, it certainly was not crowded. The parking lots are multiple stories and hold many cars. May is a little ahead of the main tourist season so you may meet the same population we did. The hiking path was much more crowded than the parking garage!

Italy has the highest per capita car ownership in Europe so the roads and parkings are notoriously full. Fortunately, most people drive very small cars. That helps a LOT. Wish it would catch on here! 8^)