Getting into and out of Manarola
 

We have booked three nights in Manarola in October. We are arriving from Venice by train and routes and times look good but leaving on a Saturday morning going to Pisa doesn't look so good. Is there any other way for us to leave Manarola early (around 8 AM) and get to Pisa in time to pick up our rental car by 12:30. Also, what is the difference between first and second class? Any and all help would be appreciated.

Why don't you pick up your car in La Spezia?

Trains take about 1.5 hours with a change usually in La Spezia - a quick glance at bahn.de - the German Railways site that has schedules for all European trains and is the easiest i have seen to use - shows departures around 6:30am; 7:30am, 8:30am, etc - plenty of time - many of these trains are regional trains where the difference between first and second class is negligible IME - some indeed may only be 2nd class. To reference schedules for your actual date use the Wunderbar bahn.de site - to easily reach its English schedule page go to the home page of www.budgeteuropetravel.com and click on the link "All European Railway Timetables" (or some such wording) and it takes you to the English schedule page where you just put in From - Manarola and To - Pisa Centrale and the date and you'll get all the train times. I mention this home page link because it also gives you several useful tips on fully using the Wunderbar bahn.de site that may not be apparent at first glance - like finding out which trains may be subject to 'obligatory seat reservations' before boarding - etc. Trenitalia.com is the web site of the Italian Railways but i find the bahn.de site much much easier to use.

Cheers.

Found 2nd class to be roomy and inexpensive. 1st class is nice and private but you are not guaranteed a private area. They sell as many tickets as they have seats (not rooms)

We would have liked to pick our car up in La Spezia but nothing available there on October 9.
Thanks for your reply Palenque. I will follow your advice. I understand that we don't have to reserve tickets ahead of time, right?
Are there local buses also going between towns in Cinque Terre?

No, you don't need to reserve your tickets ahead of time. You have the train or the boat which connects you between the 5 towns. The train leaves at least every half hour.
Manarola is extremely charming! Here's a post from a friend of mine in Italy about their visit: http://tuscan-wine-tours.blogspot.co...que-terre.html

"IC 651 Intercity
Subject to compulsory reservation"

nano - Well yes you do have to reserve a seat on most of the connections it seems - this is why i say to search the bahn.de site and see if it says'subject to compulsory reservations' as all IC trains do in Italy - you will get the seat reservation when you buy your ticket - it will be onthe ticket.

There are some connections that involve two R or regional trains and those you just hop on with a ticket as they are no reserved seats

So scan the schedules and if you see IC like i copied from the bahn.de site above then you must sit in your assigned seat - there will be NO problem getting reservations but anyway go to the station as early as possible and book unless taking only R (regional) trains - but again most it seems - with a quick check - involve IC trains that require seat reservations before boarding.

We stayed in Manarola for 4 nights a few years ago and really loved it. It's a beautiful part of the world. As far as I'm aware there are no buses between the Cinque Terre villages, only the train or walking. There is a boat but it's seasonal and may not operate when you are there. The train is reasonably frequent but we did have to wait quite a while a few times - Sundays etc. You can pick up a timetable when you arrive. The train is also in tunnels most of the time along that stretch of coast so don't expect great views.

Kay

Are there local buses also going between towns in Cinque Terre?>

No as there are no roads between the 5 Lands - only boats and the train line - you can hop shuttle trains that leave about twice hourly and stop in all 5 towns - well Corniglia's train station is hundreds of feet below hilltop Corniglia but the other 4 Lands are smack on the sea and trains stop right in each town. (From Corniglia's train station a mini-bus scoots up the steep hill to the actual town.)