From La Spezia - surrounding area (not Florence or Pisa)

[nzdisneymom]

Hi all. We are doing back-to-back cruises in June/July 2013 and will tender at La Spezia on both cruises. We were there in 2007 and did a ship-sponsored excursion to Pisa where we were able to climb the tower.

So this time, we want to go to Florence which we will do on the itinerary that doesn't put us in Florence on a Monday :) Which means we need to figure out what we want to do when we arrive in La Spezia on a Monday in June! When we were there before, we walked around the town a bit before going to Pisa, so we would like to venture out to see more of this part of Italy.

We've been reading some about Cinque Terre and are just beginning to learn about the villages Monterosso, Vernazza, Manarola, Corniglia, and Riomaggiore. We think that making a visit here would be a great way to spend a day, and from reading here at Cruise Critic, it appears to be pretty easy to do this on your own rather than needing a ship-sponsored excursion (we prefer ship-sponsored excursions when going a great distance or having an intensely full day such as to Florence).

We will be tendering at La Spezia and by not doing a ship-sponsored excursion, this means we won't be tendered off the ship until later in the morning. The ship arrives at 7:45 a.m. and departs at 7:30 p.m. so we figure we can be off the ship by 10 based on past experience.

So while we're thinking Cinque Terre might be where we head towards, we don't want to overlook other options for the area. Anyone have suggestions for things to see or do right there? We don't want an intense day because we'll be in Rome the next day.

BTW, the search we did for Cinque Terre yielded some great responses including details on how to get from La Spezia and back. That's the level of detail I like to find when trip planning!

Thanks for your ideas / suggestions / recommendations.

[euro cruiser]

Cinque Terre makes the most sense, it's right there and will be an easy and low stress DIY day.

You'll have both land (train) and water options for transport, so you can mix and match as the conditions and your moods allow.

[scottishwee35]

hello Cindy

Oh you are going back to Med again... oh that's fab. We are going to Greece and Turkey with Royal Caribbean next year and will staying at Venice for 2 nights before the cruise.

Med are wonderful place too..

I think my in law went Cinque Terre last Med 07 and they enjoyed it, they went with USA people and they hired Cardlic car

Scottishwee35

[nzdisneymom]

[quote name='scottishwee35']hello Cindy

Oh you are going back to Med again... oh that's fab. We are going to Greece and Turkey with Royal Caribbean next year and will staying at Venice for 2 nights before the cruise.

Med are wonderful place too..

I think my in law went Cinque Terre last Med 07 and they enjoyed it, they went with USA people and they hired Cardlic car

Scottishwee35[/quote]

Yeah, we are so excited to be going back! We are doing DCL that goes to Greece and Turkey, and then the one that goes to Venice. We are using DVC points for the first one. We'll be 24 nights on a ship :)

[Hlitner]

We agree with the others that the villages of Cinque Terre make the most sense from both a distance and logistical point of view. The villages are beautiful and certainly worthy of 1 and even 2 (especially if you do some hiking between villages) days. One problem with La Spezia is that it is located quite far from other popular destinations. It is possible to go to Lucca on the train and get about 3 hours at the town, but not sure its worth all that travel time.

Hank

[nzdisneymom]

[quote name='Hlitner']We agree with the others that the villages of Cinque Terre make the most sense from both a distance and logistical point of view. The villages are beautiful and certainly worthy of 1 and even 2 (especially if you do some hiking between villages) days. One problem with La Spezia is that it is located quite far from other popular destinations. It is possible to go to Lucca on the train and get about 3 hours at the town, but not sure its worth all that travel time.

Hank[/quote]

Thanks - that's what we were wondering about - what was there within easy distance to do on our own and be able to get there and back within the cruise ship window without having to worry about being late because of how far we've ventured out. When we went to Pisa, we had an afternoon tour and we were late returning - thankfully we were on a ship-sponsored tour. Other independent tourers were lucky that we were late because they were able to crowd onto the tender that was waiting for our excursion's return. The reason we were late is that someone in our tour group got separated from the group so we had to wait 30 minutes for her to be located and returned to the group (she was a solo traveler and had gone to the restroom - our guide got confused when counting us on the train/tram that was taking us back to the bus because some non-cruise people had boarded and had to be asked to get off, and then the guide didn't get a new headcount. Our ship's crew person who was with us was counting again and realized we were one short. Lesson learned - if you're solo-ing on an excursion, find a buddy or family or tell the guide so someone will notice that you are not with the group. We have since had solo travelers as part of our "family" so when we are counting the four of us, we check that they are with the group as well.)

[kuldalai]

Another place easily reachable from La Spezia is Lucca a very historic Italian walled city . From La Spezia Centrale trains run twice an hour on Weekdays and hourly on Weekends . Journey time is 70 minutes each way, and you change trains at Viareggio . So La Spezia Centrale to Viareggio (40mins), change trains then Viareggio to Lucca (17 mins). Local trains, no seat reservations required. Buy return tickets at La Spezia Centrale station, and don't forget to vailidate ticket in YELLOW validating machine at entry to EACH platform before travelling .

[nzdisneymom]

[quote name='kuldalai']Another place easily reachable from La Spezia is Lucca a very historic Italian walled city . From La Spezia Centrale trains run twice an hour on Weekdays and hourly on Weekends . Journey time is 70 minutes each way, and you change trains at Viareggio . So La Spezia Centrale to Viareggio (40mins), change trains then Viareggio to Lucca (17 mins). Local trains, no seat reservations required. Buy return tickets at La Spezia Centrale station, and don't forget to vailidate ticket in YELLOW validating machine at entry to EACH platform before travelling .[/quote]

Thank you for both the recommendation of Lucca and the information about the train tickets and validation. I saw something that talked about stamping your tickets but didn't know exactly what that meant. Now I do!

[nzdisneymom]

One other question - we will be looking for a free wifi hotspot while ported in La Spezia. Are there places that would offer this (or perhaps for the purchase of a coffee)? We don't spend a lot of time online while traveling but we do like to check our email and check in with family when we can (and occasionally send a picture to make our friends at home jealous - LOL).

[samavarcruiser]

Best thing to do will be Cinquettere, easy to get there with train

[nzdisneymom]

[quote name='samavarcruiser']Best thing to do will be Cinquettere, easy to get there with train[/quote]

Thanks again for all the thoughts. We have decided that we do want to visit Cinque Terre and think we'll do it by train to the furthest village first and work our way back, watching the time, of course. Now we have to figure out how to read the train time-table and get from where the tender drops us off to the train station and back.

[deadzone1003]

[quote name='nzdisneymom']Thanks again for all the thoughts. We have decided that we do want to visit Cinque Terre and think we'll do it by train to the furthest village first and work our way back, watching the time, of course. Now we have to figure out how to read the train time-table and get from where the tender drops us off to the train station and back.[/QUOTE]

Actually, best to do it from Riomaggiore as the distance between the 1st and last village is not huge. You want to do the Via Dell'Amore (Lover's Walk) between Riomaggiore and Manarola in the morning while there is shade. Monterossa, the last village, is more like a small beach town which when I was there felt out of character compared to the other towns. Vernazza is the most popular, so schedule more time there. However, you will have lots of time to visit the Cinque Terre.

[kuldalai]

If you are going to do the CT then assuming off ship at 1000 it will still take you time to get into La Spezia by taxi .
Another suggestion is to take bus P to Portovenere from bus stop P in Via Garabaldi near Corso Cavour at 10.55 (a half hour run to Portovenere) , then take the Noon ferry from Portovenere to Vernazza (1255). Have lunch there and explore, then 1425 train from Vernazza to Manarola (1435) then walk the Lovers walk to Riomaggiore ( 30 mins), explore Riomaggiore then 1635 train from Riomaggiore to La Spezia Centrale (1645). Taxi back to ships tender . Later train from Riomaggiore to La Spezia Centrale at 1652, or 1751 (10 minutes travel time to La Spezia Centrale).

Check train times at CT website, latest ferry times here at
[url]http://www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it/[/url]

NB: To walk the Lovers Walk you need a CT Pass. Best bet is to go the CT Tourist Office at Vernazza station and buy a 1 day combined CT Pass & Train ticket. That will give you admission to the Lovers Walk plus cover your return train travel to La Spezia Centrale .

In Portovenere the bus arrives at an elevated level, just walk down to quayside and find the ferry to the CT. It stops at Riomaggiore, Manarola, Vernazza and Monterosso . You get off at Vernazza .

Footnote: the same ferry company operates a 1000 departure from La Spezia via Portovenere to the CT arriving in Vernazza at Noon, if you can be off the boat and to the ferry departure point in La Spezia to make the 1000 departure time . Suggest you enquire from ferry co via their website as to the actual departure point in La Spezia as it may be very near the tender point .