Driving Cinque Terre
 

Hello Fedorites--i'm looking for some help, info and tips for a short drive from Rapallo down thru the cinque terre and out at la spezia and on to Florence. What are the don't miss things and about how much time to allow for this? Thanks a lot

Joe-
There is no "driving thru" the Cinque Terre. Each of the villages do not have any "car roads" in the village. It is a very long, winding access road to the inland access of each village with no connectors between--you have to go back to the main highway. There is no "short drive" as you propose. Parking at any of these points is severely limited as well.

The best idea is to take the local train and return to your car. The train tunnels thru the cliffs where the villages are located and is the only north/south venue.

I'm not sure what you are asking. The towns of the Cinque Terre are car free, except for one or two parking lots. You can't drive in between them, and there is no highway that is a through-route between them.

Leaving Rapallo, if you drive on the via Aurelia instead of the autostrada, you will pass through beach town after beach town until you get to Sestri Levante, but you will see little else but the train tracks and the marina-lined seashore (it's an important ship-building area), because the historic centers are closer to the hills. In the summer and on pretty weekends, this stretch of coast can be one enormous traffic jam.

Sestri Levante makes a nice lunch stop if you are there around lunch hour. Polpo Mario is a destination restaurant.

From Sestri Levante onward, you are nearly forced onto the autostrade, or its high hills rural equivalents. If you want to get back to the seaside, you have to take individual steep roads down the hills, and come back up them to head on toward La Spezia.

The seacoast of Liguria between Rapallo and La Spezia is best appreciated by boat or train, with time for walks and hikes. It is not car friendly.

If you are committed to having a car, one of the most interesting things you can do with it in that area is to drive into the hills above Chiaviari and generally proceed in the direction of Varese Ligure. (Or even just head up from Sestri Levante straight to Varese Ligure). These are mountain roads with pretty scenery, isloated pretty villages or historic borgos. You can easily make a loop like this in one easy day, stopping for lunch.

If you are travelling from Rapallo to Firenze in a single day, it is pleasant to simply take the autostrada, and stop for lunch in Castelnuovo di Magra, which has several nice restaurants, a great castle, an important Brueghel painting in its church and pretty views. If you'd rather eat at the sea, Bocca di Magra is a unique pleasure spot, filled with boats and pretty views of the marble-clad mountains above Carrara, at the mouth of Magra River.

Hope that helps. The Italian Touring Club guide to the Italian Riviera has great driving routes through the hills and good descriptions of what's there.

Stop and have lunch in Portovenere--you will thank me later.

Thank you macanimals and zappole--this is exactly what i was hoping for--Thanks again jw