Need some help from the experts out there. We're driving to Lucca and plan to spend 3 nights. We'll take the train to Florence and Pisa for day trips and back to Lucca for the night. For our visit to Cinque Terre we were thinking of driving to La Spezia, staying overnight and then taking the train to Cinque Terre. Or would it be better to just take the train from Lucca to Cinque Terre and then back to Lucca for the night?

What time of year?

What do you want to do/see in the Cinque Terre? How many towns did you want to explore?

If you spent the night, why wouldn't you stay in a CT town rather than La Spezia? FYI, I think La Spezia has a ZTL, but I wasn't able to find a map.

Several years ago I took the train from Lucca to La Spezia and on to Monterosso. It was, I think, the easiest and most efficient method. The stations on the Cinque terre are close in so I don't see any reason to mess around with a car. But then I always prefer a train to a car if they go where I want to go. And in this case they do.

I'd be darned if I would spend the night in La Spezia when there are several beautiful towns a few minutes away.

Do as MmePerdu did.

One reason to stay in La Spezia (as I did in 2009 at a hotel just down the street from the train station to CT) is that you can probably book at the very last minute. The train ride from La Spezia to the first CT town is about 10 minutes. I liked La Spezia actually--it's a real working town. Also, take the bus to Portovenere. It was one of the beautiful places I saw in 6 weeks in Italy in 2009. It's a small beautiful down also on the Bay of Poets, just not on the train line. The public bus from the center of La Spezia took less than a half hour and the ride was pleasant. Portovenere was IMO more beautiful than any of the CT towns--it means Port of Venus, after all.

That should have read small beautiful "town" not down of course!

Thanks for all of your input. We're going to Italy in just a few weeks, so yes, this is last-minute. We were looking at La Spezia because my dear hubby thought it was a good idea. Sounds like there are better places to go. Now we're thinking maybe just stay in Lucca and take the train to CT for the day. How long is the train ride? Could we visit all 5 towns in 1 day or do we need 2? We're hikers and love the outdoors. Also love to sit at an outdoor cafe, have some wine and watch the local culture.

Early morning trains from Lucca take 2.5-3 hours, depending on where you want to arrive. You'd need to pay attention to the last return. It won't be late in the evening but may be late enough for you to have an early dinner.

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

Whether you could visit all 5 towns in one day depends on how fast you like to move, how much time you sit at an outdoor café, how much hiking you do, etc. You definitely wouldn't be able to hike from end to end because several trails are currently closed. You should watch the link below for updates and plan your hikes accordingly.

http://savevernazza.com/traveladvisortrailupdates/

Thanks for the links, they are very helpful. The train ride is longer than I expected. Seems like an overnight in CT might make more sense so we can do some hiking.