cinque terra from florence
 

if i plan to do cinque terra as a day trip from Florence, is it doable? which station should i get off to go to cinque terra?

It's a shame to do cinque terra just for a day trip, you should try to stay overnight. I went there a long time ago, taking the car. I loved it.

Hi Sasha, it is definitely doable in a day. We did it this year on 11 January - it was a glorious day and brings back happy memories. We caught an early train from Florence - think it left around 7.50am - it arrived in La Spezia (this is the station you need to go to and then change trains to the CT) around 9.50am. We had time to buy the tickets in La Spezia for the train to the villages. (I had tried to pre buy them at the Florence station, but the guy there said I could only get them in La Spezia). In La Spezia, I could hardly understand the ticker seller - I thought he was telling me that I could only buy tickets to the fifth village -Monterosso - and that the train didn't stop between. (Guess we just didn't understand each other). Anyway, in the end I just hoped for the best, bought the tickets and we jumped on the train, which I believe left about 10.07am from La Spezia. From there it is only about 10 minutes to the first village (you go through a couple of tunnels, then you are on the coast). We weren't sure whether it would stop at Riomaggiore - but of course it did, and we got off there. After Riomaggiore we walked to Manarola and it was a very pleasant walk. We also tried to walk from there to Corniglia - but halfway around the track had been closed due to a landside, so we had to go back to Manarola and catch the train. The day really was incredible and we had a great time. It was 16 deg C with beautiful sunny skies and no wind. It was totally gorgeous. Also because it was January, there were no crowds - we kept bumping into the same people - and had some pleasant conversations with them. There were only about 8-10 other couples, the rest were all locals. Don't let anyone tell you you can't see it in a day - as long as you have no intention of walking the entire track, you can do it. We had about 7.5 hours in total and spent time in each of the five villages and took many photos. We had plenty of time to stop for coffee and lunch. The trains are great - always running to time. From memory, they go through the villages every hour, either direction. You can pick up the train timetable for the CT at the information centre in Riomaggiore. On the way back, you need to change trains again at La Spezia to go back to Florence. It isn't a big deal though. We arrived in Florence about 8.30-9pm, tired but satisfied.

thanks A - that is of great help.
J - i'd love to stay there overnight - but dont have any time. It has to be a daytrip.
Why do i only have 2 weeks in italy and so many things to see!!! :(

No problem Sasha, we only had time for a day trip as well. We really only decided the day before to make the trip to CT - were tossing up whether to even go or not, and am absolutely soooo glad we did, it was worth every minute. We bought the tickets from Florence to La Spezia the day before the trip so we didn't have to worry about it early the next morning - just arrived at the station and got on the train.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

There's no reson why you can't buy a ticket from Firenze ("Florence") to the Cinque Terre, but you need to specify a station - each of the villages has its own station. From Firenze to Riomaggiore, for example, is 8.20 euros one-way in ordinary second-class trains. If you don't know where you will be alighting, buy a ticket to the furthest station, Monterosso. Times and fares are on www.trenitalia.com.

thanks G - doing that right now :)