Cinque Terre

[In_Love_With_ Cruising]

At Livorno, my husband and I are interested in doing Cinque Terre instead of Florence. We have been to Florence. We are interested in a tour that would cover Cinque Terre. Do you have any recommendations.

Thanks,

Kathy

[alexandra cruiser]

go on your own. Very easy by train,depends on your schedule to see how many towns you can manage...also, many posts about the details if you type it in on CC search engine....good luck....lovely area....:)

[kuldalai]

Do it yourself info and pictures here :

 

http://www.ftroute.com/cinque.cfm

[Eileen G]

At Livorno, my husband and I are interested in doing Cinque Terre instead of Florence. We have been to Florence. We are interested in a tour that would cover Cinque Terre. Do you have any recommendations.

Thanks,

Kathy

 

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic. We have done Cinque Terre on our own and we had a fantastic time but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are familiar with Italian train travel. If you do a search of this board for Cinque Terre you will find plenty of threads that have recommendations for private tours. Also check on your roll call to see if anyone is interested in sharing a private tour. We just got back from a cruise where we were able to make our third trip to CT and it was our favorite stop.

[1985rz1]

At Livorno, my husband and I are interested in doing Cinque Terre instead of Florence. We have been to Florence. We are interested in a tour that would cover Cinque Terre. Do you have any recommendations.

Thanks,

Kathy

 

Do it on your own. The train station is a 20 minute worth while walk through Livorno...or a quick cab ride. The train is easy, just get a Cinque Terre card at the train station information office that includes the train along with the Cinque Terre trail entrance fee, so you can hop on and hop off at any or all of the stations. The only town in which the train station is not conveniently located is Corniglia, but the Cinque Terre card includes the shuttle buses. The schedules are easy to read and service relatively frequent, but a schedule comes with the Cinque Terre card. You just need to give yourself a buffer in return time, so you don't miss your tender.

[Eileen G]

Do it on your own. The train station is a 20 minute worth while walk through Livorno...or a quick cab ride. The train is easy, just get a Cinque Terre card at the train station information office that includes the train along with the Cinque Terre trail entrance fee, so you can hop on and hop off at any or all of the stations. The only town in which the train station is not conveniently located is Corniglia, but the Cinque Terre card includes the shuttle buses. The schedules are easy to read and service relatively frequent, but a schedule comes with the Cinque Terre card. You just need to give yourself a buffer in return time, so you don't miss your tender.

 

1985rz1, You must be thinking of getting to Cinque Terre from La Spezia. The OP is docking in Livorno which is at least 2 hours away. From Livorno you must get a taxi to the train station as it is much too far to walk. You then take a train to Pisa where you switch to a train to La Spezia. In La Spezia you get your Cinque Terre card and take the train to one of the five towns. With waiting for trains this can take from 2 to 2 1/2 hours or more if you miss one of the trains. In Italy afternoon trains are often late which is what happened to us. Fortunatlly all the trains were late so we made it back to the ship on time but our ship didn't leave until 8PM. If it had left at 7 we would have been boarding just as she was ready to leave.

[Bobal]

Actually it sometimes happens that trains due to dock in Livorno get rerouted to La Spezia. This has happened recently on Voyager and I've emailed RCL to ask whether it's likely to happen again as I don't want to book an excursion from Livorno and spend even more time getting to Florence. They have said that they can't guarantee what will happen and it could be La Spezia :rolleyes:. I really like the look of Cinque Terre and am hoping we dock at La Spezia instead.

[CathyCruises]

Yes, we got lucky on our last cruise and the ship was diverted to La Spezia. Worked perfectly for us as we planned to go to CT. However, all those with Florence on their minds were very disappointed. The ship's tours went to Florence anyway, from La Spezia, but it was a longer day than they planned. In our case it had to do with high winds. . .the seas got very high in the early evening and the tenders had to wait on shore for an hour or more before they could return to the ship. Luckily we had come back and were relaxing on board while many shipmates were stuck on land in a rainstorm. Quite a day!

[1985rz1]

1985rz1, You must be thinking of getting to Cinque Terre from La Spezia. The OP is docking in Livorno which is at least 2 hours away. From Livorno you must get a taxi to the train station as it is much too far to walk. You then take a train to Pisa where you switch to a train to La Spezia. In La Spezia you get your Cinque Terre card and take the train to one of the five towns. With waiting for trains this can take from 2 to 2 1/2 hours or more if you miss one of the trains. In Italy afternoon trains are often late which is what happened to us. Fortunatlly all the trains were late so we made it back to the ship on time but our ship didn't leave until 8PM. If it had left at 7 we would have been boarding just as she was ready to leave.

 

Eileen G-

 

Ooops. You are correct. I was referring to La Spezia as the port. I hadn't considered Livorno (although I typed that) as a port that easily lends itself for visiting Cinque Terre. There is so much to see and enjoy in all the towns, it would be a shame if the train trip to get there limits the visit to one town.

[Ferndale Girl]

If we went we'd go on a tour - probably RomeinLimo. My question is....how much walking is there when you get there? Do you have to be really fit? Would there be anyplace to sit for a spell?

 

Thanks for any answers.

[euro cruiser]

The entire walk, through all five towns, on the lower path, is estimated to take between 5 - 6 hours for the average walker. It is easier to travel from the north toward the south. You can stop at any of the towns along the way and switch to the train or a boat if you get tired. There are plenty of places to stop along the way.

 

For excellent, detailed information, check here: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/liguria/cinqueterre.htm

[slidergirl]

You can do as much or as little walking as you want. It's not required that you hike between the towns. You can take the trains. If you do want to try a little walking, do the trip between Riomaggiore and Manarola. It's a fairly flat, paved walking path. The other paths are dirt, rocks, and lots of stairs. My friends and I started in Vernazza (we were staying there), hiked north to Monterossa. Lots of stairs up and down and some "goat paths" (very narrow) right up against the cliffs. Then, we took the train down to Riomaggiore and walked to Manrola, then to Corniglia. It was a full and very exhausting day. I think we were all in bed by 9pm that night.

That being said, you can also take the train to any of the towns and walk down to the waterfront and sit at a cafe...

[gas1208]

We'll be on the Brilliance of the Seas and docking in Livorno

Is it pushing it to do Cinque Terre and Pisa on our own or would it be better to do a tour thru Romeinlimo, so we can at least get the obligatory pic at Pisa?

btw, never been to Italy or taken a train either

[euro cruiser]

We'll be on the Brilliance of the Seas and docking in Livorno

Is it pushing it to do Cinque Terre and Pisa on our own or would it be better to do a tour thru Romeinlimo, so we can at least get the obligatory pic at Pisa?

btw, never been to Italy or taken a train either

It's probably not a great idea to make your first train trip such a complicated one. Even an experienced train traveler would be pushing it to do all this in one day.

 

The problem is that there aren't that many train options to Riomaggiore, there are parts of the mid-day where there is a two hour gap between trains.

 

You can spend a fair amount of time in CT if that's all you plan to do for the day.

 

Or you can have a lovely, full day in Pisa, or a slightly rushed half day in Pisa and half day in Lucca.