Cinque Terre - Driving - please help!
 

Hi, I will be visiting Vernazza in October 2003. I will be driving from Florence that morning. We drove to Vernazza before and parked at the top of the hill and walked down (and back up next day) and that was not a problem but this time I will have my 7 year old niece with me. I think that walk will be too much for her. I know there is parking in some of the other towns, is it possible to park for a few days and take the train over to Vernazza? Is that more convenient than trekking up and down the hill? Thanks a bunch!

There is ample parking in Levanto, the '6th' CT town. The train ride from Levanto to Vernazza is about 15 minutes.Levanto is much bigger and more spread out than the other 5 towns, but has the best beach, and there should be parking near the train station.

Levanto, Monterosso, Portovenere all have good parking and easy connections.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by parking "at the top of the hill" in Vernazza but if you mean parking at the small lot above the town, there is a shuttle bus that carries people back and forth, so there's no need for you and your 7-year old niece to walk, should you decide to stay in Vernazza and park there.

There won't be parking problems in October, but I think it would be better to get around Cinque Terre by train departing either from La Spezia or Levanto . It's faster and safer then driving along crooked roads and can be an experience for your young host.
Timetables can be searched on www.trenitalia.com

We just returned from CT, stayed in Monterossa, saw all five villages by both train and boat (too hot to hike). Be sure to buy an all-purpose pass, which allows you on and off access to train, boat, bus and trails. Advice: in two or three of the towns, when you get off the train, take the small shuttle bus ("The Green Bus") up to the town centers. Some are quite distant from the station, and mostly up-hill. The bus stops are quite well marked.

Thanks for all your help, its really great to be able to put together a plan. By the way, yes, I did mean at the parking lot above the town, (its the only parking at the top of the hill) but the attendant advised me that there is not always shuttle service available, so you really cannot depend on it for small kiddies or if you will have a problem walking it. My husband and I run and weight train 5 or more days a week constantly and we both found that hill tough going. But thank you, this is very helpful.

Re: "but the attendant advised me that there is not always shuttle service available,"

Interesting. How long ago were you there? We were there a year ago last spring and didn't receive the same advice.

I was there on June 19th and 20th of this year. We arrived at 2:30 pm and parked at the top of the town/hill about 900 meters from Vernazza. There was a chain blocking the entrance to road down to the town. The parking attendant (a bearded man of about 34 years old) wrote up a parking permit for us and told us that we would have to walk down and up again when we came back and could pay the balance of the parking if we stayed longer when we decided to leave. I asked if there was a service available and he said not always. We walked up and down the hill (cross my heart). Maybe the shuttle was out of service or something . That attendant said that there is not always shuttle service available ? sorry - I certainly hope there will be. (I know its hard, but you will have to learn to accept these things! - just kidding) Thanks for your help, in fact, I was going to follow your advice above anyone else?s.

Thanks Aine. Good luck to you in whatever you decide to do this time.