We will be doing a day trip to Cinque Terre from Lucca. We will be arriving by car. We are traveling with small children, so do not want to have to do too much walking. What would be the best way to do this? Where would be the best place to start and leave the car?

searae

It is interesting to want to visit a hiking destination and not do too much walking.

Perhaps your children would enjoy a boat trip to/among the villages? You could still see the scenery and not worry about the walking.

I can't give you advice on driving there, except that mappy.com says about 90 minutes between Lucca and Monterosso al Mare, and I would add a bit to that for getting in and out of town, plus parking.

As far as I am aware, there is not parking close to any of the train stations in the CT. But you could park at the station in La Spezia... but driving in La Spezia isn't pleasant.

I would carefully plan this because some of the stations in the CT require walking and stairs.

I'm sure people here can give you better specifics than I can.

When are you going? How small are the children and how much can they walk and do stairs?

I might start thinking about Portovenere, parking, then do Cinque Terre by boat all the way up the coast.

One ticket all day, get on and off.

CT is great to see by boat.

Going north from Portovenre I sit on the right. Lord Byron and his cove (the medieval church carved from stone is a highlight), Golfo di Poeti,Riomaggiore, Manarolla, corniglia, vernazza, and Monterosso.

I'd get off in Vernazza and Monterosso, maybe one other. Might be too much. Greta views, great day, no walking.

The boats only run at certain times of year from Portovenere, and never when the sea is rough -- which isn't always obvious on a sunny day until you reach the docks and are told the sailors refuse to sail. Also, if you are going in high season, the one road to Portovenere can make for slow going.

I've never driven to le Cinque Terre but it's my understanding that the few parking lots are above the towns, requiring a long walk down and -- more importantly -- a long walk up back up a steep hill.

The safest bet weatherwise is take train from La Spezia or Levanto, or points further up the coast. If you are going in high season, traffic will be heavy and parking will be tight.

There are almost no walks in Cinque Terre that are suitable for children. At most you will simply get off a train station and find yourself in a tiny, steep village.

If you would like to experience something of Liguria without the difficulties of le Cinque Terre, some flatter which have amusements for chidlren are Lerici (the closest to Lucca), Sestri Levante, a fairy tale (almost literally) town with two huge sandy beaches, and the most distant, Camogli.

We stayed in lovely Levanto for 2 nights. Drove our car right to the train station and parked in their parking lot. Took the train to the 5 towns,,getting off at each one to see the beauty and do a little walking around the towns.(well , we took the train to the southernmost town, and worked our way back to Levanto (first town N. of Montorosa, I believe?) I had a bad foot, my husband a bad knee....so we rationed our walking (still did a LOT). When getting back on the train each time you DO have to go down steps, walk "under" to the other side and climb back up.
It;s full day, but with research you can skip a couple of the towns and see what you want. You can't see much from the train (each town is about 10 minutes from the next) as you are mostly in tunnels.
Some say a boat ride gives you good views IF you are there in high season.

Thank you so much for all of your replies! Our children are 4 and 1. I am thinking that we will do the ferry. Parking in Levanto sounds good, then I guess that we sould take a train to the ferry? Is there any walks between the towns that are shorter? Maybe less than 1 hour?

You can walk a mostly paved sidewalk with seaviews between Manarola and Riomaggiore. You will need to walk up and down stairs to reach it, and there is a fee.

There are buses and elevators in the towns. Not terribly far up the hill in Manarola is a pretty church, and near the church is a mill with ducks (if no one has eaten them!) If the minibus goes up there, it might be enjoyable.

If you park in Levanto I would take the ferry from Lavanto.

Or take the train to Monterosso and ferry from there.

Ferry is great. Just pick your day.

We'll have video and ferry schedule of the CT boat trip posted this weekend on the WebVisonItaly website. We'll also post train times.

IMO, the best way to see CT is by boat. Hiking you see the water. from the water, you see the real CT.

Buon Viaggio!

Drive to Monterossso and park there---why train from Levanto with kids?

Yes, Bob is probably right....can't one just park down by the ferry dock in either town...preferable at "one end' ..like Monterosso.
We were there off season,,, the reason for mentioning the train as I don't think the boats were running when we were there.
The boat WOULD offer the prettiest overall view.

But what's the parking scene like in Monterosso in August or September? People relate stories about being in long lines of traffic after exiting the autostrade and having to wait for availability in the lots.

Is there any time of year you would change your advice about not trying to get into the towns themselves by car?

This, from Travel Intelligence:

"Riomaggiore and Manarola, the easternmost villages, are the only two that are easily accessible by road from La Spezia. Cars are banned from the centres of all the villages, and in high season motorists may find themselves forced to park a fair way up the access road. A smarter move is to drive to La Spezia, park the car by the station and take the train - the journey even to the most distant of the Cinque Terre villages, Monterosso, takes only twenty minutes. It is from here - moving along the coast from west to east - that the following tour departs. All prices quoted refer to the high season (a couple of weeks around Easter and mid-June to mid-September), when many hotels insist on applying half-board.)"

http://www.travelintelligence.com/tr...que-Terre.html

Monnterosso has a large lot on the water and is easy to access---totally unlike the other villages.

Or, take the train from Lucca. It might be fun for the kids. I believe 1-2 easy changes would be required.

Monterosso's seaside parking lot is right by its train station and boat dock. When i was in town in Jan there were expanding the parking lot.

There is one 5 Terre walk that is suitable for kids - the Via d'Amore (sp?) between Riomaggiore and the next village up - Manorola i think

it's a broad paved seaside promenade that baby carriages even go on

And if you buy the Cinque Terre Pass covering train travel between the five it also covers the 5 euro or whatever fee they charge to get on any 5 Terre trail.

Corniglia is hundreds of feet and steps above its seaside train station - a mini bus waits outside the station to go up to what many call the most spectacular 5 Terre town - due to it being perched high above the sea whereas the charm of the others is their seaside location

I've never done it, but I'm curious: Is there never a problem with taking a car to le Cinque Terre, even in summer?

This from the Slow Travel website:

To get to the northernmost town, Monterosso al Mare, is an easier drive that to Riomaggiore. If you want to do part of the walk, this starts with the longest section - 2 hours to Vernazza. Monterosso is a nice town, but it is not built into the cliffs like the other towns, so is not so dramatically beautiful.

Directions: Exit from the A12 at Carrodano-Levanto. Take the direction west to Levanto. Before you go into Levanto take a left towards Monterosso (or Cinque Terre); there is a sign. This road takes you right into the town.

Parking: In Monterosso al Mare it is also easy to find the parking lot. The road comes in to the northern edge of the town and the parking lot is a big dirt field (fenced) on your right, by the water's edge.

This from the Cinque Terre website is good to add for reference:

http://www.cinqueterre.com/eng/infor.../where_car.php