Port of La Spezia

[TravelersF61]

Our ship will be in the port of La Spezia, Italy for about 12 hours. Has anyone taken the train to see both the Tower of Pisa and Cinque Terre in one day? If so, do you have any tips?

[Shmoo here]

Our ship will be in the port of La Spezia, Italy for about 12 hours. Has anyone taken the train to see both the Tower of Pisa and Cinque Terre in one day? If so, do you have any tips?

While I haven't done that, I did a little research.

 

La Spezia to Pisa is about 42 minutes on the train. Not sure where the train stops in relation to the tower, however.

 

Pisa to Cinque Terra is about 1 1/2 hours by train.

 

And Cinque Terra to La Spezia is about 1/2 hour.

 

Depending on how long you want to spend in each location, it's certainly do-able.

[cruisemom42]

Our ship will be in the port of La Spezia, Italy for about 12 hours. Has anyone taken the train to see both the Tower of Pisa and Cinque Terre in one day? If so, do you have any tips?

 

I wouldn't attempt it. You're going in two different directions and it's roughly an hour transit time from La Spezia to Pisa, then another 20-30 minutes to get to the Field of Miracles where the Tower is. That's 3 hours plus whatever time you actually spend in Pisa.

 

Getting to the Cinque Terre by train from La Spezia is much faster, but part of the fun of it is going between the five villages (by hiking, train or boat) and that also takes time and shouldn't be a rushed experience.

 

Also remember that even if your ship is docked for 12 hours, you realistically only have 11 hours at most since you probably should plan to be back on the ship an hour before departure if doing it yourself, to allow a little room for error/snafu/train running late.

 

I'm a DIY traveler, and there's no way I'd do both by train in a single day. However, I'd certainly do one or the other....

[cruisemom42]

While I haven't done that, I did a little research.

 

La Spezia to Pisa is about 42 minutes on the train. Not sure where the train stops in relation to the tower, however.

 

 

That 42 minutes is only for the infrequent fast trains. There's one of those at 7:09 am (38 minutes) which is probably too early for the OP, and another at 8:16 (which still takes 48 minutes). The rest of the trains are slower -- the Regionale trains take about 70 minutes give or take.

 

The Intercity trains are a bit faster at around 50 to 54 minutes, but the first of those isn't until 9:23 am.

 

So -- one is at the mercy of the train schedules and needs to do the research to get a true idea of how long it will take. I find most people underestimate substantially how long things like getting to/from train stations and waiting for trains actually takes. For example you don't want to get to the train station with only 5 minutes to spare before your train departs....

[TravelersF61]

Thank you for the feedback. We will visit Cinque Terre and spend our time wandering the villages instead of sitting on a train for hours.

[cruisemom42]

Thank you for the feedback. We will visit Cinque Terre and spend our time wandering the villages instead of sitting on a train for hours.

 

Excellent decision. ;) Hope you have a great cruise.

[LipstickLeslie]

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 11:40 AM, cruisemom42 said:

 

I wouldn't attempt it. You're going in two different directions and it's roughly an hour transit time from La Spezia to Pisa, then another 20-30 minutes to get to the Field of Miracles where the Tower is. That's 3 hours plus whatever time you actually spend in Pisa.

 

Getting to the Cinque Terre by train from La Spezia is much faster, but part of the fun of it is going between the five villages (by hiking, train or boat) and that also takes time and shouldn't be a rushed experience.

 

Also remember that even if your ship is docked for 12 hours, you realistically only have 11 hours at most since you probably should plan to be back on the ship an hour before departure if doing it yourself, to allow a little room for error/snafu/train running late.

 

I'm a DIY traveler, and there's no way I'd do both by train in a single day. However, I'd certainly do one or the other....

Thank you for your information, I'm tying to be a DIY traveler, our party is a bit challenging - 11 people - 2 couples in their late 60's in great health and 3 kids ages 13-17... We are thinking we'll skip spending the 2 hours one way to visit Florence because that's a lot of travel since the next day we'll be at Rome and will make that trip. I'm thinking that Cinque Terre is our best option. I've been looking into the train but thought it would be fun to combine boats too and some hiking, mix it up a bit. Probably some beach time too. 

[GeezerCouple]

23 minutes ago, LipstickLeslie said:

Thank you for your information, I'm tying to be a DIY traveler, our party is a bit challenging - 11 people - 2 couples in their late 60's in great health and 3 kids ages 13-17... We are thinking we'll skip spending the 2 hours one way to visit Florence because that's a lot of travel since the next day we'll be at Rome and will make that trip. I'm thinking that Cinque Terre is our best option. I've been looking into the train but thought it would be fun to combine boats too and some hiking, mix it up a bit. Probably some beach time too. 

 

For a group that size (is it 11 or 7 people?) you might consider chartering a small boat.

 

We are doing that in May, and got a lovely sailboat.  It would be more than a ship tour if just the two of us, but we've invited a couple of others, so that brings it down to the price of a "larger group" outing.

We'll be able to dock along the way as we please.

There are also motorboats.

Use TripAdvisor; we've found it a great resource over the years for private excursions.

(I can't hike long distances, so hiking through the Villages, which would have been ideal in prior years, wasn't a possibility.)

 

GC

[lamchops]

PWe visited cinque terre in September 2017 and some of the trails were closed. I recommend buying the cinque terre day pass as it will allow you access to the train and trails at each of the villages. The blue trail from Monterosso to Vernazza to Corniglia section was open.. My suggestion is to train to Monterosso and hike the blue (beautiful) trail to Vernazza. An hour in each village and a leisurely walk will take under 4 hours (we’re not the fittest) From vernazza you can train to corniglia, manarola, and riomaggiore and spend a hour in each village before heading back to the ship. This plan should give you some time to use free WiFi in La Spezia as well..

Edited January 31, 2019 by lamchops

[LipstickLeslie]

Thanks Iamchops and GeezerCouple for both of your great ideas. Chartering a boat sounds really fun, we did that in the Caribbean with another family and it was fabulous. We're trying to keep costs down at this port since we're spending more at some other ports. Our group size is 9 plus we have another family of 4 that might join us. But the boat idea is very tempting... 

I like the idea of going to Monterosso first so that we work our way back toward the ship, but I'm trying to figure out a bit of beach time for my kids too and I know the best beach is in Monterosso, but I was thinking of visiting several cities, walking a trail or two depending on what is open and then some beach time toward the end so we can gage our time appropriately but the beaches at the cities closer to the ship are tiny and rocky. Any thoughts on this?