Lucca and Cinque Terre from La Spezia?

[nic_x]

Is it possible to do both of these in a day? We are in port from 7:30 am - 7:30 pm in August. I want to go to the Cinque Terre; however, my husband is more interested in Lucca (family from there.) I know we can do the Cinque Terre by itself pretty easily by train; I assume we could do Lucca by train and not go to the Cinque Terre. However, if we hired a driver, would it be possible to see Lucca, then go to the Cinque Terre and either have the driver take us back to La Spezia or take the train back?

 

Even looking at the map, it's tough to tell what the drive times would be. Or how long we'd need to spend in either place. I know we could easily spend days in either location, but unfortunately don't have that option!

 

Most of the tours done by the cruise line are Florence/Pisa or some combination of Pisa/Lucca, and we're not interested in doing those (we've been to both Florence and Pisa many times.) I haven't found a company that has a "Lucca and Cinque Terre" tour, so I don't know if it's because that isn't realistic, or because no one has that particular interest :)

 

Thanks!

[euro cruiser]

With a car it's possible, though not ideal. Driving time would be about an hour each way to and from Lucca.

 

By train it's possible but not terribly sensible; you'd spend about three hours round trip just getting to Lucca and back, which wouldn't leave you much time there if you need to get back in order to get to Cinque Terre and back as well.

[cruiseluv]

I love Lucca but I wouldn't recommend it from La Spezia, for the reasons outlined by eurocruiser. You should make use of the opportunity of being docked at La Spezia to visit Portovenere and the CT. It is lovely and will keep you busy for sure one whole day.

[Ship's Wake]

Does your cruise dock in Livorno? Lucca is easily reached by train from there.

[nic_x]

Thanks for the input...it's very much appreciated!

 

I finally found a helpful map online that gives realistic drive times, and it looks like we'll have to choose one or the other for the day. We only dock in La Spezia for the one day, and trying to do both, even with a private driver, will be pushing it since they're in opposite directions from La Spezia.

 

Guess that means a return trip!

[GSPLover]

Thanks for the input...it's very much appreciated!

 

I finally found a helpful map online that gives realistic drive times, and it looks like we'll have to choose one or the other for the day. We only dock in La Spezia for the one day, and trying to do both, even with a private driver, will be pushing it since they're in opposite directions from La Spezia.

 

Guess that means a return trip!

 

When in La Spezia, the only logical choice is Cinque Terre. A whole day there and you'll just scratch the surface of what it has to offer. IMHO a far better choice than Lucca.

[nic_x]

Our interest in Lucca is because my husband's family is from there, and he still has a few relatives there. We wouldn't be visiting them (no time), but he has wanted to see Lucca for a long time.

 

Normally--we'd take the logical route and see the Cinque Terre. And we may still do that (*I* want to see the area--he's been to the Cinque Terre before.) But we were wondering if it was possible to do both if we hired a driver.

[cruiseluv]

Depending how many hours you have in port , it would be possible to "see" Lucca and CT. By "see" I mean, drive to Lucca (approx 1 hr), be there a short time and then come back to La Spezia . From La Spezia you have frequent trains to the CT towns. Or the driver could drop you at one of the CT towns and you make your way back to the ship by train.

I understand wanting to see your roots, so that is a strong motivation for a stressful day. It is doable, if you have say 10 hrs in port.

 

Your cruise doesn't stop in Livorno? It would be easy to go to Lucca from there.

[nic_x]

Nope, no stop in Livorno. It's from La Spezia, or not at all, unfortunately.

 

We'll chat about it and make a decision. Thanks for all the input!

[kuldalai]

The five towns of the Cinque Terre are hard to access by road but easily by train from La Spezia. Suggest you get your relos to come up to one of the CT towns and meet you there.

 

Here are train times from La Spezia to Cinque Terre towns :

 

www.ftroute.com/IT_LSP_CTR.cfm

 

And from the Cinque Terre towns to La Spezia :

 

www.ftroute.com/IT_CTR_LSP.cfm

 

Be careful not all trains stop at all CT towns. You buy a Daily CT Railpass for around 8 Euros at La Spezia station , which allows unlimited travel between La Spezia and the 5 CT towns for 24 hours.

[nic_x]

Thanks for the CT advice. I think doing ONLY the CT would be easy and is my preference; that (sadly!) isn't the issue. My husband really wants to see the area where his family came from, which is Lucca, so I'll need to forgo the CT, even though it's much closer. I doubt we'll be this close again for years, so he would be extremely disappointed not to see Lucca. (We're not seeing relatives, just the town.)

 

Has anyone done the train from La Spezia? I hate to hire a driver to Lucca if we don't have to--from all I've read, they'd need to leave the car outside the walls anyway, so it'd be a lot of expense simply for transportation there and back. However, I worry about the timing on the trains. We get in to La Spezia at 7:30 AM and depart at 7:30 PM.

 

Any insights?

 

Thanks again, everyone--it's very much appreciated.