svicious22

I am considering a day trip from Genoa to Cinque Terre. Has anyone visited Cinque Terre and used Genoa as a base for a daytrip or knows enough to either give tips or say it is just a bad idea?

Also, although I would like nothing more than to hike all five of the towns, a bad knee means I must limit hiking (and especially stairs, doctor's orders) somewhat. Is there a particularly flat (yet picturesque) section between any of the two towns? And if you see multiple towns by either train or boat, do you miss out (vs hiking) on the views and the whole experience?

Snabes

The CT from Genoa would be an easy day trip. I'd suggest going to the southernmost town, Riomaggiore and hiking north to Manarola along the Via d'Amore which is a very easy hike along an improved pathway. From there you can catch the trains to the other towns and pick your way north before heading back to Genoa. Traveling by train will limit some of the experience of the CT, but would be impossible to accommodate by "limited hiking especially stairs".

svicious22

Thank you for the response Snabes. It's good to know being based in Genoa isn't too horrible and is a viable option.

Can anyone recommend a hotel in Genoa near the train station that would be the departure point for Cinque Terre stops? Or, if we go a day early then perhaps a night in Levanto would be workable-anyone who can say whether this would or would not be a big advantage vs Genoa, comments would be appreciated. My sense is that Levanto would only be an advantage if wanting (or being able to) spend more than a day in Cinque Terre vs. Genoa proper/elsewhere in the region.

bobthenavigator

A helicopter would help unless you do not mind spending 4 hours on trains that day. I would do an overnite for sure.

nessundorma

If you have a bad knee, Genoa is not the town for you. It is one of Italy's steepest hilltowns. Is this a day trip from a cruise? If so, consider taking a train to La Spezia and hiring a taxi to take you to the top of one of the Cinque Terre towns, so you can walk downhill (or simply see the view and leave). Or go to La Spezia and get a boat to see the towns.

If you are staying overnight, I suggest you base yourself in Santa Margherita Ligure or Sestri Levante, both of which are flat. Sestri Levanti may be particularly good for you, since the walk to the train station is also flat (in SML, it is uphill).

Another possibility is La Spezia, which is much closer and which I believe is flat (I've never been there). From there, you can take a boat or train to Cinque Terre.

I would warn you the Via dell'Amore may be a disappointment to you (it's paved over and many parts have concrete walls covered with sprawling "lover's" graffitti or has chain link fencing. Plus, if you enter from the Riomaggiore side, you will have to walk up many steps.

Still yet another possibility is to walk the long seaside promenade in Nervi (one town south of Genoa), regarded to be one of the most scenic in Italy, although it does not have anything like the vertical height of Cinque Terre. Hope that helps.

nessundorma

PS:

Sorry svicious for not seeing your second post. Since you are spending the night, I recommend Sestri Levante. I haven't been in Levanto. Perhaps others who have can comment on whether reaching the train station requires doing some climbing.

alison

if it's for one night, i'd suggest staying in monterroso as it is flat walk from train station and the "cute" area is flatter than the other towns. genoa is VERY hilly. if walking is a problem, you can boat to all the towns except corniglia. at least once a week there is an all-day boat trip from genoa directly to CT. You might want to look into that. the view from the boat is lovely and you can get on and off and see as much as you want of the towns without hiking between them.

svicious22

Thanks to all for the replies. Nessundorma, no it's not a day's cruising port stop, rather we would fly into Genoa Friday or Saturday and plan on trying out the Easycruise leaving there on Tuesday. Genoa itself is of less interest than CT but, having to be in Genoa twice in a four day span, I was thinking it might be easier just to base there than to go down to one of the towns closer to CT and then come back shortly thereafter.

Is there any good option to get to any of CT/La Spezia/SML/Levanto directly from the Genoa airport without taking a taxi to the train station?

Micheline

On researching my trip I found a posting from Huitres where she says there is a Volabus #100 that goes from Genoa airport to the train station.

Huitres

Hi Micheline/svicious22:

Yes, indeed there is the local Volabus #100 that leaves every 30+/- mins from the Genoa airport for the Genoa Principe train station. I use it all the time when flying into Genoa's Christopher Columbus airport and having to connect with a train out of Genoa for the Cinque Terre. It costs under 3 euros for the ticket.

MaureenB

If you can't do stairs, definitely don't try the trail from Vernazza to Corniglia. It's solid stair steps going uphill. Takes 90 minutes of climbing. Beautiful vistas, but torturous stairstepping.
I also suggest Santa Margherita Ligure for a base. It's a quick train trip to the Cinque Terre, and Santa Margherita is a very nice little harbor town with good restaurants, markets, shops. We liked the Nuova Riviera B&B there. Also quite inexpensive.