Best Route from Pienza to Cinque Terre
 

Has anyone made the journey from the Pienza area in Tuscany to the Cinque Terre? I don't know if it is reasonable to think we can do this in one "very full" day, but would like to try it if it is feasible. I'm not planning to drive there (or at least not all the way there), but not sure what trains are available from point A to point B. Also, I would at least like to take the ferry at some point during the day there to see the beautiful coastline. Any advice?

Driving across Tuscany is so beautiful and easy, that's what I'd do.

Train lines do not go to Pienza. You would have to get a bus to a nearby town such as Siena or Buoncovento to catch a train onto CT. Here's a bus map for the area.
http://www.sienamobilita.it/mappe/Mappa_EXT.pdf

1. TRA-IN bus from Pienza to Siena (NOT a train!!)
2. TRA-IN/SITA bus from Siena to Firenze
3. Trenitalia regionale train from Firenze to Pisa
4. Trenitalia regionale train from Pisa to La Spezia
5. Trenitalia regionale train from La Spezia to Cinque Terre

www.trainspa.it
www.ferroviedellostato.it

I don't think it is a reasonable day trip. There is so much to explore within the Pienza area, I can't imagine going all the way to the Cinque Terre for a day. Way too far.

How much time will you be spending near Pienza? Do you need suggestions for exploring in the area?

Thanks everyone.....we are going to be based in the Pienza area for a week and have several little towns and villages in mind to visit that are not as much of a day trip as the CT. I finally pieced together with everyone's help, the "potential" journey via driving to Siena, catching the train there, connecting twice and arriving 3 hours later in La Spezia, to take the local train into the CT. The only problem seems to be the return route that same evening....didn't see anything leaving La Spezia after 7:10 so that doesn't give us a very long time to explore.

Oh my! Didn't understand that this was going to be a day trip from Pienza to CT. It would be a very long day of transport just doing one way. You need a rental car for Pienza. It's difficult to travel by bus in these areas as they aren't frequent between many of the towns. Have you looked at actual bus schedules for the towns you want to visit? Even if you were to take the 7:10 train from La Spezia, I doubt you would find a bus connection that late back to Pienza.

Just looked at Siena/Pienza bus. Last bus is at 5:45 work days.

We do have a rental car during our stay in Pienza and plan to drive to Siena (we were told it is an hour drive) early morning to catch the 6:39am train. We do change 2 times before we arrive in La Spezia at 9:51am. So, we're thinking we should be in CT by 10:30 am and have until 7:10 train out of La Spezia which gets us back to Siena at 11:14pm.....so with another hour drive from there we should be back at our agriturismo no later than 1:00am. We're tough old birds, so we'll see if we are up to it once we get a few days of Tuscany under our wings.