While in Europe my son and I would like to do an overnight stay in Cinque Terra. Would the best way be a train from Milan? And can anyone suggest a budget place to stay one night in Cinque Terra?

Why bother for just one nite. It will cost you 2 days when you include the coming and going.

Agree...if you want to see anything you will need at least two nights...1 night and you won't really have time to do or see anything when you add in travel time...

I agree; if you can't fit in two nights, just skip it.

Hotel Baia Lungomare Fegina 88, 19016 Monterosso, it was nice and love this village. It is close to where you hike and very close to the train station also that you take from Milan. We took a train from Florence and changed trains in Pisa. Take the earliest train you can and the latest the next day so you can see some of the other villages and hike some.

There are some direct trains from Milan to Monterosso and some that require a change in Genoa. The trip is about 3 hours depending on the train you choose. You will love it even for one night it is worth it imo.

Depends on what you call budget. We found cinque Terre quite expensive. From memory we paid more per night to stay there than we did in Venice.

Yes, cheap accommodations in the CT seem to get harder to find every year. I remember how lucky I felt to find a clean no-frills B&B in Levanto for $45/night at the last minute in September 2011.

I took the early train to Milan my final morning (direct from Monterosso and Levanto) to catch a plane out of Milan that afternoon, and it worked fine. If this is late enough in the season and the days are long, the OP's plan wouldn't be an impossible trip. It doesn't really take a whole day taking the train from Milan. There would be enough time to see all of the villages though perhaps doing all the hikes would be a bit of a push with two half days. It would be a bit of a push but doable.

You don't need to go to Milan to catch a train to the Cinque Terre. Whether you'd have to connect in Milan depends on where you're starting from.

You can check train timetables here (use Italian spellings for all cities):

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...0080a3e90aRCRD

jackie, A lot depends on the month/season you will be going for the price but I just checked trip advisor and the prices are under 200.00 and many under 150.00 for end of April for B&Bs and hotels. Just search Monterosso al Mare Hotels. Is Milan where you will be coming from? You can click on the maps and try to find one close to the train. The train there will take you to the other villages if you don't want to hike. It was all very easy to figure out.