Has anyone rented a car in Livorno and drove to Cinque Terre?

[vmarq]

Just wondering how difficult a drive this is for a first timer to Italy. Would it be better to ride the train? Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.

[HeinBloed]

Just wondering how difficult a drive this is for a first timer to Italy. Would it be better to ride the train? Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.

 

It's easy to rent a car...

 

If you are on a larger ship the car rental companies delivers your car to the pier and you are paying a surcharge of 20 EUR for the delivery (what happened to us when we returned the car at the pier with Europcar)

 

If you are on a smaller ship than you can easily walk within few minutes to Europcar location which is very close to the cruise pier.

 

The driving itself it's easy in this part of Italy... you are North or Rome: somehow civilisation is aready available especially in driving - so be sure you only sweat so much to loose the weight of the food you got on your ship while in Southern Italy it's more like a diet and you loose more weight by driving and sweating than you can eat on your cruise.

 

The problem is that the little villages are only connected to each other by hiking trails, train and boat.

 

We did once by car Cinque Terre and had the problem that you cannot get from village to the next without driving all the way up to the mountain and down again.

 

We are on OCEAN PRINCESS and we checked it would be easier for us to go by train to La Spezia.

 

From here we take the local trains to Riomaggiore and can use the boat to get from one place to the next and can return later by train back from Monterosso by train.

 

Of course we would leave our car in La Spezia or in Riomaggiore:

 

1. La Spezia - the train station is not very well connected to the highway so you loose some time before you get to park your car.

 

2. Riomaggiore - if you like to drive serpentines you should go this way. Although it's not far from La Spezia it's time-consuming with many curves but it's beautiful.

 

Treinitalia offers upto 30% discounted-tickets if you pre-book them very early. So we pay only 13.00 EUR one-way in 1st class and we are in one hour in La Spezia.

 

You must also count the fuel and road toll to your calculation.

 

So after this consideration we decided for us to go by train and boat to Cinque Terre out of Livorno - but it's easier with us as our ship berth very central and you can walk to the train station.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Hlitner]

We have done it twice from cruise ships and also stopped in Cinque Terre when we were on a long driving trip from Paris to Rome. The train schedule from Livorno is pretty tight for cruise passengers and we prefer the convenience and freedom of having our own "wheels." Keep in mind that a party of 4 (or two) will spend around 50 Euros just getting to and from the Livorno train station. Once you add-in the price of the train a car does not seem like such a bad thing. If you decide to cut your time short at Cinque Terre you would also have a little time for a quick visit to Pisa (we have done this if we find we are getting back a bit early). The drive between Livorno and La Spezia is pretty easy (mostly major Autostrade) but then the last few miles (from La Spezia to Riomaggiore) are on a windy 2 lane road (its quite safe). When you get to Riomaggiore you can park in one of the pay garages, or, you can opt to save some money and park along the road that leads to town (this can leave you with a long hike down and later up the steep road). From Riomaggiore you explore the villages by foot, train, and or boat. We always recommend that folks renting cars use a GPS be it your own or a rental.

 

Hank

[Hlitner]

I should have mentioned ZTLs (Zona Traffico Limitato) which are restricted traffic zones in some major cities (Florence, Rome, etc). Unfortunately, Pisa also has a ZTL area which is very close to the tower and Field of Dreams. ZTLs are marked with small signs (which can easily be missed) and if you drive inside a ZTL you will be fined (the fine is more then $100) and it will show-up on your credit card several months after you return home. This is a minor annoyance if you are aware of the rules, but its still an annoyance.

 

Hank

[cc cruiser]

I reserved a car a few weeks ago for Livorno. We leave tomorrow for our cruise. Today my plan was to print out maps to Florence & Pisa. But low & behold! It is over 500 miles from where I pick up the car to Florence. Evidently, there is ANOTHER Livorno on the southern tip of Italy. I am now searching for a car in Livorno, TUSCANY !!!

[HeinBloed]

I reserved a car a few weeks ago for Livorno. We leave tomorrow for our cruise. Today my plan was to print out maps to Florence & Pisa. But low & behold! It is over 500 miles from where I pick up the car to Florence. Evidently, there is ANOTHER Livorno on the southern tip of Italy. I am now searching for a car in Livorno, TUSCANY !!!

 

Sounds more you used your home location at Frankfurt Airport...

 

Here is the correct one if you book Europcar:

 

http://www.europcar.it/EBE/module/render/Booking-See-Station-Detail?pkid=LYVC02&date=07232010

 

We used them for our last curise on NORWEGIAN GEM.

 

Regards

HeinBloed