Can someone please clarify...do I park my car at the La Spezia train station OR do I drive to Riomaggiore and park at THAT station? We will be making a day trip.

When we went to Cinque Terre, we parked in Monterosso al Mare.

Jan, If the trains are running then the <BR>La Spezia station is fine. Riomaggiore <BR>is a vertical town and parking is not <BR>easy. Monterosso is the only village <BR>that has decent parking. You can also <BR>access from Portovenere, but only by tour boat--it stops at Monterosso.

Does the tour boat drop people off there so that they can look around and take a later boat back to Portovenere?

Hello, We drove from Milan to La Spezia. We parked at the train station in La Spezia, took mini luggage, locked the rest in the trunk. We then took a short train ride to CT. If you do park at the train station, which is next to the police station (I believe that's what it was). Be sure to ask for the appropriate parking area so as not to be ticked. We had no problems with this plan, we stayed in an apartment in Vernazza and hiked to the other villages. We took the ferry back to La Spezia then a short cab to the train station to pick up the car. <BR>

Betty, yes---it stops for like 2 hours <BR>but if you take the AM boat you can also <BR>come back on the PM return. That will give you like maybe 6 hours, which is <BR>really not enough time to do the hike to <BR>Vernazza and return. However, check the schedules and you have a risk of weather that may cancel the PM boat.