Help with Cinque Terre and Tuscany
 

My husband and I will be travelling in late April from Zermatt, Switzerland to Cinque Terre and the Tuscany area. We will have 1 week before returning home from Milan. Any suggestions on where to stay and how long to stay in these areas? Can we rent a car in the Cinque Terre area and return it to Florence before going by train to Milan with out costing an arm and a leg? Or should we wait until we get to Tuscany to get the car and then take the train to Milan. Thanks for your help!

tropicaltraveller,

I would wait to rent the car just for Tuscany. You really don't need one in the CT.

We stayed 3 nights, 2.5 days in Santa Margherita Ligure. We hiked 4 out of 5 towns one day and the next day took the earliest boat over to Portofino, wandered and lunched. Spent the afternoon and evening wandering around SML. We would have enjoyed a 4th night.

If you have never visited either area, I think your split of time depending on how much hiking (if any) you want to do. Spend either 2 or 3 nts at CT and the rent in Tuscany.

You can never have enough time in Tuscany and places to stay and see are unlimited!

Buon viaggio!

Oops, make that the "rest" in Tuscany!

No you can't rent a car in 5T. I would rent a car in Pisa and drop off in Florence. Go to the Autoeurope site and you'll see all kind of options.

My favorite village is Vernazza and you can see most of the area in one or two days.

If you like to drive you could pick up a car in Milan, drive down to Parma to A15 and 5T (2 1/2 hour pretty drive) After 5T,tour tuscany and then drive back up to Milan on via A1. You can drive into your village (curvy but doable)OR park in Lerici and take the boat in OR stay or drive into Levanto.

Thanks for your help. I like the idea of renting the car in Pisa and returning to Florence.My husband and I want to drive around the visit several small towns.

If wanting a car to drive from 5 Terre south La Spezia, a few minute train ride away would be a good place to rent

parking is problematic and expensive in 5 Terre and you can't drive anyway.

As PalenQ says, rent it in La Spezia and then include Lucca in your agenda.

I agree about not renting a car in Cinque Terre. You won't need it with the train service to the small towns and the boat service to Portofino and some of the other villages. As you probably know, there is great hiking between the five villages and you can then take the train back to your base town. Bob