jojoblais

If we have about 4 days to land in Venice & return there, would that be enough time to also visit Cinque Terre? How far is it & what is the best way to get there?

Thanks

DRJ

It would take the better part of a day to get there and the same to get back. Venice is one of the great cities of the world. The CT are five little towns.

tuscanlifeedit

Do you mean that your have four days after a plane or ship arrives in Venice, and that you would rather not stay in Venice?

Don't mean to be rough, but your phrasing is a little unclear.

You will see on a map that the Cinque Terre is on the other side of Italy from Venice, and there is no direct transportation there.

You can easily count on 7 hours by train, with changes.

What time of year are you traveling?

dfourh

Cinque Terre is really hard to get to from Venice - - birds can do it much better than people in trains can possibly do it.

If you want side-trips from Venice you might be better simply doing Padua, or Vicenza, or Ferrara, or Bologna. Really - - these are amazing places. Cinque Terre is cool in its own way, but getting there from Venice is like tilting at windmills.

neckervd

Count 7 hrs door to door if your 5Terre destination is Monterossso and if your Venice hotel is very close to the railway station (hotels like Dolomiti, Stella Alpina ...), more if these conditions are not fulfilled.
Standard train fare: 65 EUR/OW.
Fly to Pisa, Milano Malpensa, Turin or Genoa if you want to visit 5Terre.

sandralist

It's up to you, but if I were trying to do this, I would spend the night somewhere along the way to le Cinque Terre. Probably Bologna. Then complete the journey the following morning by taking one of the trains that goes there via Parma. You could get there by lunch. Spend 2 nights in le Cinque Terre, and then go back to Venice via the trains that go through Florence, and stop there, either just for lunch and a look see, or the night. Or go the otherway and spend the night in Verona.

I think you can put your luggage in the Venice train station for the entire time, so you could just go with an overnight bag.

Like I said, up to you. Lots of people would not enjoy doing that, and many people don't think much of le Cinque Terre as a destination. But the traveling is probably more enjoyable if you get off the train and take some breaks along the way.

sandralist

In case my post wasn't clear, I wasn't suggesting stopping in Parma, Just picking that train route. I was essentially suggesting:

Arrive in Venice, take train to Bologna. Sightsee and spend the night in Bologna.

Following morning, take train to La Spezia (passes by way of Parma, but don't get off). Have lunch in le CInque Terre, spend 2 nights there.

Leaving le Cinque Terre, either head inland to Florence to spend some time before reaching Venice, or take the train up the coast to Milan or Verona. Stop there and have a look before being back in Venice.

nytraveler

Will you have already seen Venice? And is there nothing there that you want to see and do?

Are you very interested in hiking? The real reason to go to the CT - other than that there isn;t a lot to do.

There is no way I would give up Venice for the CT.

sandralist

And lots of people who have been to Venice would rather be in le Cinque Terre, or at least on that coast. Food is better!

neckervd

Parma is a charming town with a beautiful old cathedral and battistero and a very good arts museum (Signorelli, Mantegna, etc.). It's well worth to spend a few hrs there. On the (unusual) way from Bologna via Cisa to La Spezia, you have to change trains at Parma anyway.
BTW: Parma ham, Parmigiano cheese and the famous opera composer Giuseepe Verdi come from Parma.

PalenQ

What month are you going? In summer the Cinque Terre is one of the most hopelessly overun tourist traps in Europe - the compact towns are in the daytime often elbow-elbow with tourists - negating much of the inherent charm these old villages have in the off season. So I think the time of year could make a different as to the efficacy of going to the 5 Lands.

Like others say there are places much closer to Venice that are just as charming in their own way - the 5 Terre gets so much publicity - in part because of Rick Steves they say - but yes Vicena, Verona or Lake Garda and Sirmione are much closer to Venice and IME even more enjoyable than a mobbed Cinque Terre.

Peter_S_Aus

We visited CT while staying in Venice. Six hour train trip, two nights in CT, then returned to Venice. We arrived early enough to take a ferry along the CT coast, did a bit of a hike the next day, returned to Venice with a two hour stop off in Florence on the way back.

That being said, if I only had a handful of days in Venice, I would not burn two or three of them on CT.

irun

The Cinque Terre is relaxed. It’s not the sort of place to race around with a checklist of sites and “must do” activities. Resist the temptation to set a cracking pace. Relax, breathe, rest, absorb and enjoy. Spend time seeking out and enjoying the little things – watching the ferries chugging from town to town, seagulls wheeling against the blue sky, or just enjoy the view.

PalenQ

Sounds kind of like watching paint dry! Just a joke and yes that can be relaxed but again in high season I saw little room to even sit and ponder those neat things. The enjoyability of the 5 Terre IME depends a lot on the time of year you go - last time I went was in January and it was kind of neat - locals fixing up establishments and nearly no tourists. Very relaxed.