Experienced Rome Travelers - Cinque Terre

[heidik]

I am in Rome for a week between 2 med. cruises (neither stops at Livorno or LaSpezia). I am traveling solo and hiring private cars/tours. If you were me, how would you schedule a Cinque Terre visit from Rome? Is it doable by private car from Rome?

[euro cruiser]

With enough time and money almost anything is "doable", but that doesn't make it wise.

 

Cinque Terre is about 300 miles from Rome, or at least four and a half to five hours driving, each way. Even with someone else doing the driving, this sounds more like torture to me than a vacation.

[Hlitner]

I am in Rome for a week between 2 med. cruises (neither stops at Livorno or LaSpezia). I am traveling solo and hiring private cars/tours. If you were me, how would you schedule a Cinque Terre visit from Rome? Is it doable by private car from Rome?

 

You will love your time in Italy as it's a fantastic country. But, trying to go from Rome to Cinque Terre is not advisable for a day trip. If you were to use a car it would take about 4 1/2 hour each way (or longer if the traffic out of Rome is bad). And keep in mind that Cinque Terre requires at least one long day to give a traveler time to enjoy a few of the villages. If you really want to visit Cinque Terre your best bet would be to modify your hotel reservations (if possible) and plan on spending 1 night in one of the villages (we prefer Riomaggiore). You could then use the trains to go between Rome and Riomaggiore (via La Spezia).

 

Hank

[heidik]

Thank you - this was exactly the type of information I was seeking

[kuldalai]

If you can spare a few days the way to go ex Rome is to take the train to La Spezia which is the nearest large service city and base yourself there for a few nights . We stay at Hotel Firenze & Continentale right close to the station. Then you buy a Cinque Terre Combined Rail Pass & Walk Pass at the station . It allows unlimited rail travel between La Spezia and the five villages plus access to the walking trails . After your sojourn on the CT simply take the train from La Spezia direct to either Civitavecchia or Rome .

 

Forget about hiring a car . The traffic in Rome is a nightmare, and a car will only be a liability to you at the CT. The main and in many cases only access to the five villages of the CT is either on foot or by local train from La Spezia or Genoa.