Will have a rental car. Is Cinque Terre inaccessible by car or is it just challenging driving? With 1 1/2 days available - where to stay and what to see? Thanks

You will not need the car once you get to CT unless you may want to visit towns outside of the five.

We stayed at Villa Steno in Monterosso and they have a parking lot.

When are you going?

>Is Cinque Terre inaccessible by car or is it just challenging driving?<

There is an access road that runs above the towns with parking for residents only.

Other than that suggested above, for places to stay, look at Levanto, Porto Venere or Lerici.

What to see? http://www.cinqueterre.it/

We drove to the Cinque Terre last July coming from France. Once you exit the autostrada, it was at least a 45 minute drive to Vernazza, where we were staying. The road is very narrow and winding so you should be prepared to drive slow and carefully. What village are you planning on staying in and when are you going?

In peak season, we have heard that the road to Vernazza can be closed to traffic unless you have proof of a reservation. We were there in early July 2006.

There is a public pay parking lot (unguarded, but we had no problems) about a half mile from the top of the village of Vernazza. There is an occcasional shuttle bus that you might be able to catch back down or you can walk. The parking lot attendant allowed us to drive our car to the entrance of Vernazza and unload our baggage before we returned the car to the lot.

After leaving Vernazza, we were heading to Tuscany. The drive to LaSpezia wasn't as bad as the drive coming from the North.

If I can answer any other detailed questions, let me know. This was our 2nd visit to the Cinque Terre and we spent 3 nights. On our first visit in 2002, we trained in from LaSpezia just for the day. You will love it!

Thank you for the information - especially Bellaitalia. My girl friend and I are going May 2008 - we are planning well ahead so we can get frequent flyer airline tickets. She is coming from upstate New York and I am coming from LA, CA. I think we will be driving in to CT from the north (Italy) and then leaving south to Tuscany. Since our itinerary is in the draft stages, we can alter any portion of the trip to stay longer in CT. If we have limited time in CT are the southen towns the ones to see? Thanks again!

A minimum of a 2-night stay is ideal but with limited time, unless you are staying in Monterosso, it is the one I would skip. We skipped it on our first visit but last summer we were spending 3 nights so we did take the train from Vernazza to Monterosso and then took the boat back to Monterosso, which was very fun. We did not make it to Portovenere south of the C.T. but heard it is very nice. The train does not go there but you can take the boat.

We purchased the 3-day Cinque T. Card which covers the park entrance and the local trains from Levanto in the north all the way to LaSpezia in the south, including all 5 C.T. towns in between. You can purchase just a hiking pass but it was nice to be able to have unlimited use of the trains. To go on the hiking trails you must have a C.T. pass as they check for them at the trailheads.

One day we took the train from Vernazza to Riomaggiore, wandered around, had lunch and did the very easy but scenic hike (the via dell'amore) to Manarola. We climbed a ways above Manarola for the spectacular views and great photo ops. but didn't do the hike to the next village of Corniglia (the only village not right on the water). It was very hot and our teen boys wanted to go swimming, so we took the train back to Vernazza and claimed a big rock on the harbor and spent the rest of the day doing what the locals do--swimming.

We love the food here especially the pesto and foccacia bread.

The C.T. has become very touristy but evenings in Vernazza were spectacular after the daytrippers were gone. After dinner on the square, we would sit down at the water's edge and have gelato and watch the local kids play soccer on the beach and the fishermen with their lighted bobbers. This is truly the place for il dolce far niente--the sweetness of doing nothing!

There are five towns and they can be easily seen in one day. They are all five minute train rides apart.

You can also hike between the towns. If you are in good shape, you could do the hike in one day. Or you can alternate between trails and trains.

Monterosso is the largest town and if you all are younger, I would suggest staying there. My husband and I really enjoyed our stay.

Thanks for the post mac!
I was just about to write the exact same thing!!
We will be there in 6 weeks time!
I wonder what the alternative parking and riding is if you don't want to drive into Vernazza. Which end of Cinque Terra would have parking and a train ride to Vernazza?
I hope this question helps us both!
When I've done it I'll report back to you mac
Rosie

Rosie, depending upon where you are coming from you could drive to La Spezia and park. Take the train from there.

Thanks motor-city-girl we are coming from Lake Maggiore and thougth the La Spezia option looked promising.
I guess all the advice we see here will make sense when we see these places...a map tells very little so the advice here is invaluable.
Thanks again
Rosie

No problem. Have a wonderful trip!

Thanks to all for the information...I am so excited to be going and find it hard to wait until April/May 2008...As I move through our trip itinerary I will post more questions. Thanks again! MAC

Rosie on our first trip to the C.T. we parked our car in La Spezia at the train station and took the train to the 5 villages. Be sure to ask for a copy of the train schedule either at La Spezia or in one of the villages. This will tell you all the train times from La Spezia to Levanto and everything in between. Remember "per" means to.