Cinque Terre or tuscany?
 

Hi

Hoping for some advise. We are leaving a cruise ship in Genoa on the 29th April 2012 and fly home from Rome 4 days later. We would like to spend a couple of days in Rome and are planning to catch the train from Genoa to Rome.

We would like to stop somewhere on the way for one night, would you recommend stopping at Cinque Terre or somewhere in Tuscany.

We dont have much time which is why we thought to catch the train then at least we can say we have seen the countryside.

Thank you

jeannine

With only one day and no car, I'd say the Cinque Terre. But you need to track the recovery/repair efforts following last month's disastrous floods. In case you didn't know, Vernazza remains evacuated and closed with no estimate of when that will change. Walking trails have been damaged.

Three of the le Cinque Terre towns suffered no damage whatsoever due to floods. If Vernazza is not fully recovered by next April, trains won't stop there, and you won't be able to book a hotel, so you'll be protected. As for hiking trails, there is never a guarantee they will be open, so if your main interest in le Cinque Terre is hiking, take that into consideration.

However, I would think that if you don't want to fly to Rome, and you want to see something of the Italian countryside, le Cinque Terre isn't going to give you much of a change of scenery from what you've been experiencing in cruise ports.

My recommendation would be to take the train into the interior of Tuscany and overnight in one of its beautiful small art cities. Both Arezzo and Cortona are on the train line that goes to Rome. You can take a fast train from Genova's Principe station and reach either Arezzo or Cortona in about 4 hours plus.

Take a look at both Cortona and Arezzo on the web or in guidebooks. They are both beautifully preserved Renaissance towns in true Tuscan style. Cortona gets about 10 times as many tourists as does Arezzo, which puts some people off, so take that into consideration if you think by the end of your cruise you'll want to be away from the tourist scene for a moment before heading to Rome.

Always stop at Santa Margerita Ligure Train station

Roll my bag 1 block downhill to www.metropole.it

awesome rooms sea view red lodge breakfast 120 euro

ferry to cinqueterre.com portofino from there to tour.

PERFECT beats anything in Tuscany though

www.lucca.info nice for an overnite if time.

I absolutely agree with Zeppole. Arezzo would be an easy and pleasant stop on the way to Rome. Do some research on Cortona and Arezzo and make a choice. While I love Cinque Terre, I would choose Tuscany in a minute. Happy travels.

I also would choose Tuscany. I loved, loved Cortona, but I also liked Arezzo, which many people forget about.

Hey thankyou so much for your advise. I had not heard about any flooding.

Thanks Zeppole, I was also thinking that we are spending 14 days cruising the coast line and visiting many places similar to Cinque Terre but everyone says to go there. I have looked up Cortona and its sounds very peaceful.

We live in the vineyard province of Marlborough in New Zealand so vineyards are kind of like being at home but the villages look very interesting and worth a visit.

Although I absolutely adore the Cinque Terre, I wouldn't choose it for a one night stay... It's a little bit out of the way and I would do two nights minimum. I would consider Florence for one night, it is easy to explore on foot with minimal time if you stay close to the Duomo.