Patti_lovestravel

Hi fellow travelers. I'm having a hard time figuring out best way to get to Santa Margherita Ligure (SML) from La Spezia. I'll be on cruise and we arrive in port at 7am on 9/15/24. I looked into the train but the timing doesn't work out. It's either too early at 738am, (rather tight since need to get a taxi to the train station or 30min walk), or too late since next train out isn't until 10am and arrives at 1130 (half a day is shot). Private drivers are too expensive (400+ euro 1 way) and there are only 2 of us to share the cost. Ferries don't go there from La Spezia so that's out. Taxi isn't bad at 130 euro but will we find a driver who will be willing to take us that far (50min)? Is there a taxi svc that I can pre-book that with? Or should I just go with the excursion Celebrity offers (leaves 8 or 830 x 8h45m)? I researched the area and know what there is to see/do so we really don't need an excursion if we can manage to get there on our own. Also, the excursion could have up to 50 people on it, which is not something I'm thrilled about. Would appreciate any input anyone has. Thanks.

janisj

This is a case where I'd just give up and take the ship's excursion. It is over 50 miles and you'd need a taxi both ways. The cruise line excursion is guaranteed to get you back to the ship on time.

janisj

. . . not sure why you started another thread -- I'd maybe ask the moderators to delete the other (duplicate) one

KayF

Had a quick look and it seems there are other trains that might work. We were there years ago but the train that links up the Cinque Villages is a local train. The train to La Spezia is a different line. I think. Check getting from your port town to one of the CT villages. Then look at trains onward from there. Check buses too, we caught a bus from SML to Portofino. Rome2rio.com might help.

KayF

Google maps shows a 8.12am on a random Sunday. Try the villages and Levanto to see if anything works.

Reading54

If you are searching train schedule on https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html using 9/15/2024 (Sunday) as your travel date, it could be a date too far to get a realistic train timetable.

Use a random Sunday in April (next month) as a fake travel date to have an idea, and you'll see that there are trains departing La Spezia Centrale to S. Margherita Ligure-Portofino at 07:46(D), 08:12(1-change), 09:47(D), ...., etc. Direct trains take about 58min. Those with 1-change take about 1h 40min.

Reading54

From SML train station, take bus #82 for one stop to the city center.

We had a fabulous "Grilled Mixed Seafood" at Ristorante Da Michele.

neckervd

The arrival time in a port is not necessarily the time at which you cn leave the boat.Actually Sta Margherita Ligure bound trains running on Sunday leave La Spezia Centrale station at 7-46, 8.12, 9.47, 10.15.

neckervd

The arrival time in a port is not necessarily the time at which you cn leave the boat.Actually Sta Margherita Ligure bound trains running on Sunday leave La Spezia Centrale station at 7-46, 8.12, 9.47, 10.15.

Patti_lovestravel

I asked to have the dupe post removed (I posted orig by mistake to just Europe and reposted to Europe/Italy).
I was trying to look at train times using Sept date so as suggested, I'll try a more current date. Looks like there is a 812 train. That should work for us.
Thanks for all your input. It's much appreciated.

janisj

Oh -- just an FYI -- there is no Italy Forum, just 'Europe'. So both your threads displayed on the same board. The country tags are just so folks can search for a specific country (Don't worry - we all forget to tag a thread now and then)

Moderator1

We deleted a duplicate thread and moved one post from that topic to this remaining/original thread.