Rare llarsen Posted September 24, 2013 #1 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Hello, We plan to take the train to Cinque Terre while in La Spezia Oct 14th. We are in port 8am-6pm and will tender. The train schedule has changed, and we are worried about catching the 9:25 train. Does anyone know how long it takes to tender in and how far it is to walk to the train station. (We are very fast walkers) We realize there is ferry service too, but it takes much longer and we will be doing a 2 hour hike from Monterosso to Vernazza so the train would be best. Thanks for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DOJO466 Posted September 25, 2013 #2 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Hello, We plan to take the train to Cinque Terre while in La Spezia Oct 14th. We are in port 8am-6pm and will tender. The train schedule has changed, and we are worried about catching the 9:25 train. Does anyone know how long it takes to tender in and how far it is to walk to the train station. (We are very fast walkers) We realize there is ferry service too, but it takes much longer and we will be doing a 2 hour hike from Monterosso to Vernazza so the train would be best. Thanks for any help. I am surprised no one has answered your query. I hesitated as I was unsure of the exact timing but will relate our experience. We tendered later in the am as a sailing companion was not feeling well and we waited to see if they would actually take the trip. If I remember correctly the tender took about 15 minutes. The walk to the train station was LONG, but we are slow walkers. I would say the train station is over 1mile, DH would say it was 5 :rolleyes: Seeing that you are fast walkers and obviously hikers I would think you could walk this in about 15-20 minutes. I would advise that you get to lounge early to get tender tickets for independents and hopefully you will get on one of the first tenders, this should give you time to make the train hopefully as I will now tell you our scenario... As we said we took a later tender, walked and walked to the train station where we stood in a very long line to purchase tickets. It was a misty, rough weather day and the ferries were cancelled so everyone was taking train, not only that there were soooo many tourists there that day and the path between two of the towns were closed due to landslide. We thought we would go to the last town Monterosso I believe and work our way back....not happening. There were so many tourists that just getting on the train was a major task that we decided to just stay in our seats (which we were able to get thank goodness) and just head back to the ship. Weather was as I said overcast and misty. We shared a taxi with another couple. Very plentiful when the train comes in and much appreciated by my DH..the "biker not a hiker". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted September 25, 2013 #3 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Also, if possible, after your hike catch the boat from Vernazza back (instead of the train) as the views of CT from water are stunning (and very different from the landside views). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare llarsen Posted September 25, 2013 Author #4 Share Posted September 25, 2013 DOJO466 I am sorry to hear you did not get to see Cinque Terre. I'm hoping that in October there will not be as many tourists going to Cinque Terre. We are usually pretty lucky getting one of the first tenders off the ship. I just wasn't sure how long it took or how far the train station was. I appreciate all the information. Hopefully you will be back some day and see the beautiful towns in better weather :-) Paulchili- Yes, I was thinking the exact same thing. We are photographers and I get goosebumps everytime I see a photograph of Vernazza from the water. Thank you for your replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChatKat in Ca. Posted September 25, 2013 #5 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I too am a photographer; We walked between a couple towns and took the boat back to La Spezia. Yes, it's stunnig - so is La Spezia from the water. I have sold several pieces of fine art from the boat ride. May the light be with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuldalai Posted September 25, 2013 #6 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Up to the end of October 2013 the ferry back to La Spezia leaves as follows from Monterosso (Old town) 1600, Vernazza 1610, Manarola 1630, Riomaggiore 1640, Portovenere 1715, La Spezia 1745. There are also ferries from Monterosso at 1430, 1500, and 1700 picking up at Vernazza, Manarola & Riomaggiore BUT they all terminate at Portovenere. There is however a connecting Urban Bus service P that departs from Portovenere for La Spezia every 30 minutes, (journey time is 30 minutes.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DOJO466 Posted September 25, 2013 #7 Share Posted September 25, 2013 DOJO466 I am sorry to hear you did not get to see Cinque Terre. I'm hoping that in October there will not be as many tourists going to Cinque Terre. We are usually pretty lucky getting one of the first tenders off the ship. I just wasn't sure how long it took or how far the train station was. I appreciate all the information. Hopefully you will be back some day and see the beautiful towns in better weather :-) Paulchili- Yes, I was thinking the exact same thing. We are photographers and I get goosebumps everytime I see a photograph of Vernazza from the water. Thank you for your replies. We did get to Monterosso and enjoyed a wonderful lunch, we just didn't Make it to the others. Yes, we too hope to get back one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikond800 Posted September 27, 2013 #8 Share Posted September 27, 2013 Hello, We plan to take the train to Cinque Terre while in La Spezia Oct 14th. We are in port 8am-6pm and will tender. The train schedule has changed, and we are worried about catching the 9:25 train. Does anyone know how long it takes to tender in and how far it is to walk to the train station. (We are very fast walkers) We realize there is ferry service too, but it takes much longer and we will be doing a 2 hour hike from Monterosso to Vernazza so the train would be best. Thanks for any help. I was in Cinque Terre a couple of weeks ago but not with a cruise. I stayed in a hotel that is about 1/2 way between the harbor and the train station. I could do the walk to the train station quickly in 10 minutes, 15 minutes at a comfortable pace. I think from the harbor it would be 20 to 25 minutes. La Spezia is hilly, not sure how much up and down you would have from the harbor, it was downhill to the train station from my hotel. The hike from Monterosso is a lot of up and down but worth it, also once in Vernazza from the train station you can start the hike towards Corniglia which is a lot of up hill but within 5-10 minutes you get great views of Vernazza from the opposite side that you would see from Monterosso. If you are hiking in the morning towards Vernazza you will have the sun coming over the mountain behind Vernazza which will make photos very difficult, coming from the Corniglia side in the morning the sun is behind you. Vernazza is best to photograph from the Monterosso side in the early evening. Couple of photos included, Vernazza in the morning from south side (corniglia trail) and Vernazza from the north side (monterosso trail) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare llarsen Posted September 28, 2013 Author #9 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Thank you everyone! Nikond800, thanks for the tip on sunlight and direction to hike! Beautiful photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikond800 Posted September 29, 2013 #10 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Thank you everyone! Nikond800, thanks for the tip on sunlight and direction to hike! Beautiful photos! This is a great tool for scouting locations to see when and where the light will be. Its free for your desktop and you can buy a app for your smartphone. http://photoephemeris.com/ I use this all the time to help me plan for photos. works great on a phone but you need data available to use it, I don't use it in Europe, just print off some maps from my desk top before I travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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