ALANP

I will be in Florence of a few days at the beginning of November and would like to take a day tour to the Cinque Terre. Does anybody have any suggestions as to a good day tour from Florence? Should I wait and book when I arrive in Florecne or book now on line. Or should I just travel there on my own without a tour. Remember, I only want to go for the day, not overnight. I'm wondering if i could just go to a tourist information office when I'm in Florence to book my day tour. Thanks.

Steve_James

Hi Alan - Why don't you go independantly? It's easy enough by train. With an early start you can see plenty.

For timetables see:

www.trenitalia.com


The Florence bus tour companies such as CAF and SITA don't appear to offer the Cinque Terre as a day-trip.

http://www.caftours.com/

http://www.sita-on-line.it/CentralSI...lSITA-IT.htm#5


Hope this helps ...

Steve

bardo1

<<The Florence bus tour companies such as CAF and SITA don't appear to offer the Cinque Terre as a day-trip.>>

What could the tour guide possibly say if they DID?

<i>&quot;Down there are people lying on the beach getting a tan...&quot; or &quot;Up there are some day hikers...&quot;</i>

Huitres

Hi Alan: You don't need a tour guide to see the Cinque Terre. It is very easy to see all 5 towns in 1 full day. As Steve suggested, you could start out early from Florence (IMO, a train is faster and easier than a bus) directly to the Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore), via La Spezia. You could start with the southernmost town, Riomaggiore. There is only one main street, Via Gasperi, that runs vertically through the town, with shops, ristorantes, etc on either side. Then you could walk the easy Via Dell'More from Riomaggiore to Manarola (buy ticket from tourist office next to train station). The walk takes about 20-25 mins. In Manarola, you could stop for lunch at my fav, Il Porticello, on the R side as you head down towards the small harbor, or hold off and eat in another town later. Then back on a train to Corniglia (lots of steps to climb up from train station to reach town - be prepared!), Vernazza, and lastly, Monterosso.

If you are so inclined, there are the 5Terre boats (that should still be running in November) from village to village and you could take one of those down from, say Monterosso, to Portovenere (south of Riomaggiore) which is a lovely town where a lot of locals and Italians go to. From there, it is a 15 minute bus ride (you can catch a bus right outside on the road by the shops) into La Spezia where you could get a train back into Florence that evening.

The www.trenitalia.com website is a terrific resource for planning travel and you could put your city pairs (Florence and Riomaggiore) and date of travel in the far L boxes and get the schedule ahead of time to take with you. You could buy your train tickets the day of travel, no problem. For example, on November 3, there is a 7:50 am train dep Florence, arriving in Riomaggiore at 10:14 am (2h24m). On the return, there are trains leaving every hour back to Florence from La Spezia (6:02 pm, 6:33 pm, 7:25 pm, 8:06 pm, etc). Buon viaggio!

ALANP

Thank you everyone for your replies. Huitres, your information is extremely valuable and I will take your advice to travel on my own. I'm not afraid to get on a train and really don't prefer tours. I like being with the locals. Thanks again.

Huitres

Have a great trip Alan! Cinque Terre is wonderful (albeit over-crowded now with tourists), I have a lot of family friends living there. Do eat some local dishes (penne al pesto and trofie al pesto), as well as the frutti di mare misto (fried fish plate) that is fantastic. Foccacia bread was invented in Liguria/Genova, and is a much thinner than that in the U.S. and quite good. Have fun!

walkinaround

others may disagree but for me, the only reason to visit CT is for the walk between all five villages. to do this walk comfortably and be able to relax at least a little, you really need one full day with no travel on the walking day - this means two nights in CT.

if i only had a day, i would find something else to do.

ALANP

Thanks again for everyones reply. I plan now on staying over one night, arrive early and staying late the next day so I will have time for hiking. I love to hike so I will have no problem hiking most of the trails. Of course I will take time to soak up the local color or the towns. Huitres, do you have any suggestions on where to stay? I don't think I'll have a room reserved, I thought I'd ask about a room when I arrived. I was thinking about staying in Vernazza. Any thoughts?

Huitres

Hi ALANP: I responded to your other post &quot;Staying in the Cinque Terre&quot; and gave you some accommodation ideas for Vernazza. I included a website link to check out all 5 towns in the CT with information on the weather, lodging, restaurants, etc.

stormygirl

Just back from 5 days in CT, you will love it- it's beautiful!

&lt;&lt;Then back on a train to Corniglia (lots of steps to climb up from train station to reach town - be prepared!)&gt;&gt;

There is actually a bus that goes from the train station to the top center of town if you don't want to do the 375 steps!

I think you would like staying in Vernazza. We went twice in the evenings for dinner and it was nice. There is a tourist office right at the train station that could help you with lodgings.

We stayed in Montorosso which is the largest and most busy of the 5. It was great for us as there were 7 in an apartment but for more charm I'd stay in one of the others.

You can buy a 1, 3 or 5 day pass that covers your hiking and trains between towns at the park office at each train station.

miaspapa

Alan I am wondering in November what the C.T. will be like.I am not sure,but I believe being on the ocean the towns will be less hectic ,which probably is o.k.I would rather visit at that time rather in August when its elbow to elbow.Good luck.

ALANP

Thanks again for your replys. I did see your reply as well Huitres. Some great information here. I do prefer the cooler temperatures with less people and am looking forward to my visit. Thanks again.

nessundorma

While walkinaround made it clear he or she is only expressing a personal preference, I wanted to add for the anybody reading this thread that I personally know many people who very much enjoyed visiting the Cinque Terre and didn't walk between all five villages. I recommended Cinque Terre to a young couple I know, and they seldom left the town they chose to stay in, preferring to spend their days swimming and relaxing. Others I know have enjoyed seeing the town by boat alone. And some people doing a day visit only take one of the walks, and have a nice lunch.

LucieV

ah, nessundorma: a voice of reason, a breath of fresh air! Whenever anybody says that &quot;the only reason to X is Y&quot;, I have to wonder about that person's imaginative capacities. Bless you for your open mind!

kwren

Does anyone have a thread with pictures? I'd love to see some!

Pilates

Since you're arriving early and staying the night, you could always break up the hike. You could hike the first 3 villages and take the train back to the town where you'll be sleeping. The next day you could finish the hike by taking the train to the town where you left off and continuing to hike the last two towns.

I did the hike starting in Riomaggiore. We broke for lunch in Vernazza and continued until we finished in Monterosso. I think it took about 5 or 6 hours including our lunch break. The views are spectacular. By the time we arrived in Monterosso my quads were shaking a bit, but it was not bad and TOTALLY worth it!!

We stayed in Riomaggiore. We booked accommodations with Mar-Mar. It's not a hotel. They own quite a few apartments in town. We had a fantastic view and the apartment was CHEAP!

stormygirl

I only hiked between 3 towns, others we were with did 5. We all loved taking the ferry to all 5 though cause you could really see the little villages perched up on the cliffs.

I thought the only reason to go to CT was to relax!!!

MaureenB

Here's a thread with information about the Cinque Terre trails themselves:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34871747

Have fun!

&gt;-