Portovenere to Florence

First time traveling with Windstar. We wanted to do the excursion (by bus) to Florence but it's canceled. How do we get to Florence... by bus, cab, share a ride? Best way please. If we don't go to Florence any suggestions as to what we can do in Portovenere?

Also, when we arrive in Rome we are staying at the Ambasciatori Palace Hotel . What is the best way to get there from the airport?

Thanks!

It has been years since DW and drove into Portovenere, but we still remember the area as picturesque and very charming. The village itself would be a nice place to just stroll around and perhaps enjoy a long lunch. There are no trains (at least we never saw any) in this area (the closest train station if probably at La Spezia) but there are some small ferries that operate between La Spezia and other Cinque Terre villages and Portovenere. The ferries are actually small boats (generally less then 50 souls) and run on a limited schedule. Here is link regarding the ferries:

http://www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it/orario.asp?lang=eng

As to going to Florence, this is not a great option. It is about a 2:15 - 2:30 hour drive each way from Portovenere. If you wanted to use the train you would first have to get to La Spezia and this would also be a long travel day. My advice is to stick with Portovenere and perhaps visit some of the other small villages in that same region.

Hank

Hi, we docked in Genoa on Aug 10, and shared a car excursion to Cinque Terre with others on our roll call. We were driven to Porto Venere to get the ferries, but the water was rough and all ferries were canceled.

We then drove to Riomaggiore, the first town of Cinque Terre north of Porto Venere. After that we went by train to visit other towns, and met our driver at Monterosso, the 5th town going north.

Some of the trains were very crowded, especially with the ferries canceled. There were huge group ship excursions from our ship traveling on our train!

Cinque Terre was very exciting and beautiful, but very crowded and touristy.

Porto Venere was also beautiful, but less busy, and I think you would enjoy some time there. We saw some nice looking restaurants by the water. There are grape growing terraces all over the hills, with little cable carts that go up and down. So charming!