Travel from La Spezia to Cinque Terra
Hi, I wanted to travel from La Spezia to Cinque Terra and wanted to the best way to do this...bus, train?
Azim
San Francisco, CA USA 11/6/09
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If you take the train it's cheap and fast - 10 minutes.
Another option is taking the boat. That'll take you a couple of hours but you get fantastic views of the villages from the seaside.
Beatrix, Thanks a lot. One more question - in La Spezia apparently there are 2 stations - Centrale and Main. Which is the one I need to take? I will be coming from Rome to La Spezia and then onwards to CT. Also, for trains to CT do I need to make any reservation ot just buy the tickets at the station? Thanks!
We bought tickets at the Central Station (Stazione Centrale) in June and were in Riomaggiore 8 minutes later. No need for reservations. It's just a little regional train. Runs pretty much every half hour. Kind of a hop on, hop off type thing between the CT towns. The tickets we got let us do that all day long (move between towns) on the same ticket.
The woman behind the ticket counter handled it all for us, got us the right tickets, and even walked outside and led us to the right platform! We must have really looked like tourists!
At La Spezia you can buy three different kinds of tickets:
1. A single train ticket to a particular CT town.
2. A day pass that allows you to travel back and forth all day between La Spezia and Levanto with unlimited stops at all the CT towns.
4. A pass that does the same as #2 and also includes access to the hiking trails between the towns.
Azim,
When you buy your ticket in Rome, specify whichever Cinque Terre village you'll be staying at as your final destination. That way you won't have to buy an additional ticket when you arrive at La Spezia.
As the others have mentioned, you'll be boarding the local Regionale train in La Spezia, so reservations won't be required. The two stations in La Spezia are Centrale (which is the main station) and Migliarina (which is a smaller station).
If you're travelling to Riomaggiore, the ride from La Spezia will be about 8-10 minutes. Be ready to disembark promptly (even if the train is in a tunnel) as it doesn't stop for long. Be sure you're familiar with the mechanism that releases the door (sometimes this is a button, sometimes a latch that has to be lifted). In Riomaggiore you may have to go through a Sottopassagio (tunnel) to reach the main station platform. If you're travelling to Vernazza, the ride from La Spezia will be about 22 minutes.
Happy travels!
As Ken stated buy your ticket to your final destination. You will still have to switch trains but will already have your tkt. We were in the C.T. in July arriving from Florence. We had 40 minutes after we arrived in La Spezia prior to our train leaving for Vernazza. Be sure and check the track # your train leaves from as sometimes they change it. As in our case, we found our track and then it was changed shortly before the train left. Had to go back down and under the track to other side. Not a huge problem if you miss train to C.T. as there are numerous ones running every day.
I want to emphasize what the above poster said about knowing how to open the train door. We attempted to take the train from La Spezia to Riomaggiore this summer. It was very busy and many of us lined up to exit at Riomaggiore, however the people closest to the door couldn't get it open in time! We were in the tunnel so I wasn't 100% sure we were supposed to exit, so I didn't push forward to help with the door. The train didn't stop again until Monterosso. We had to exit there and wait 45 minutes for a local train headed back to Riomaggiore.
After this experience, we were "experts" and hoped on & off trains up and down the Cinque Terre. it is a wonderful and special place--ENJOY!! I'd return in a heartbeat..........