cinque terre from Livorno

[spuds]

Thanks Hank! I appreciate the detailed information you provided. We will definitely rent the car and drive to La Spezia or Riomaggiore.

 

We did take the boat from Riomaggiore to Monteresso last time we were there. It was beautiful along the coast.. but I like to leave that as an option because I know the weather plays a role in that option.

[buggins0402]

Hello, we will be in the port of Livorno and would like to do Cinque Terre on our own. My husband and I have been there (lucky enough to spend 3 nights) but friends that we are travelling with have not. We have all been to Florence so we wanted to show them the beauty of Cinque Terre. My husband is very comfortable driving in Italy but one of my concerns is parking in the small villages. I read that parking around the La Spezia train station is good.. do you think it's a good idea to rent a car, drive to the La Spezia train station and then train/hike/boat between some of the villages - ??

 

I read that the Cinque Terre express (train) runs every 30 minutes between the villages so that might give us more flexibility with getting around and back to the port on time. Our ship arrives at 8:00 am and departs at 8:00 pm.

 

Because we are only there for the day I think if we do any hikes it will be between Manarola and Corniglia as they say it's only 45 minutes, very picturesque, somewhat easy. We did did the Monterosso to Vernazza hike a few years ago and although beautiful might be a bit long for only being there for such a short time.

We had one of our best Italy meals in Vernazza around the harbour... I can hardly wait to go back!!

 

You might want to check the status of the Manarola to Corniglia path...I saw something before we left on our cruise (which was this past week) that it was closed. We ended up doing the Corniglia to Vernazza, which took us about 2 hours with a lemonade break at the restaurant half way into the path. There was a couple we spoke to before we started in Corniglia who had finished coming from Vernazza and were planning on continuing on to Manarola because they heard it was doable....except for one tricky section.

 

Vernazza was by far the most crowded town...and because of the crowds was my least favorite.

[Paumavista]

We were just there....on June 29.

We are independent travelers and basically never take a ships tour - However, we decided to do the Carnival Tour and I would recommend it.

The reason (not because we like traveling in large groups!) but we were the first tour group to leave the ship. We took the bus (great guide) to the first town where he walked us through and then let us tour on our own for about an hour - BEAUTIFUL!! Then we all went on the tour boat......but the tour boat didn't actually stop in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th cities....we went into the port area without docking (and I'm glad we didn't because at two of the towns there were SOOO many people waiting it might be ridiculous and time consuming to debark and then try to move on).....but we got great pictures up close. It was a fantastic boat ride, sun shining, calm seas.

At the last town we stopped for about 3 hours....guide walked us into town then we were on our own. Lots of great places to eat but we ate practically on the beach with a great view (could have sat there for hours). Then we met up with the group and took a very short train ride to catch the bus. The bus ride was long and HOT & we didn't like it at all (try to sit near the front where the a/c works better) - but the day was spectacular and the pictures and memories wonderful.

This is probably one of the few exceptions for touring with the ship.

Judy