Rome to Cinque Terre and other questions
 

We have booked to go to Rome in May next year and would like to visit the Cinque Terre for a few days. Is it easy/possible to get from Rome to the Cinque Terre by train and if so approximately how long does it take? If we don't rent a car, which town do you recommend we make our base and do you have suggestions for accommodation under $200 a night?

I researched this and it appears the closest train station would be in La Spezia and from there, there are local trains which run to the CT towns.

This is from:

frommers.com/destinations/thecinqueterre.

They say the best way is to walk but surely they don't mean spend all day walking between all the towns?

I'm going to Rome in early April but it may be cold and wet still in CT, from what I understand.

Yes, it is easy, just book one of the many trains that leave from Roma Termini for La Spezia (on that stretch a seat reservation is mandatory and comes with the price of the ticket) where you switch to the regional (slower, no reservations) line that goes along the coast to the five little towns that make up the Cinque Terre. Which town is yours?

I picked Monterosso at random - the trip takes 4:30 to 4:49 hours depending on which train you take.

If you leave on the 7:35AM you get to La Spezia at 11:51. You don't have to take the next one for Monterosso, if you wish to stretch your legs and have lunch, go for it. The next one leaves at 12:00 and gets to M. at 12:24, but there will be many more, so take your time.

I'm doing the same journey in June, DalaiLlama is right about the route. All towns are connected by train so they are easy to get to without a car.

As for towns, I have heard that Vernazza or Monterosso is best to stay in. We are staying at La Mala http://www.lamala.it/en/index.html and the cheapest room there is 150 euro but it has awesome reviews. There are a lot of cheaper good options in those two towns though.

So if it's necessary to book the train, is there an advantage in booking early?

Are the prices lower the earlier you book or is booking merely to guarantee a reservation?

Using the trenitalia.it site? I guess they don't display prices unless you register an account and log in?

Can you walk between the towns?

Here is a link to a site with information about the Cinque Terre.
Click on the links under "Guides" on the right hand side, for some good information. I'm staying 5 nights in Riomaggiore in March, and will use a combination of Shank's pony and the trains to visit the towns.
http://www.cinqueterre.com/eng/infor...terre/what.php

Regarding the trains from Rome to La Spezia, you can just buy the tickets once you're in Rome. The seat reservations are needed because of the type of train DalaiLlama has mentioned. Here is a link to the English language site of Trenitalia. Put in a date in the next 60 days, on the day of the week you'd be travelling, to see your choices. The arrival station is La Spezia Centrale.

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

You'll find on the first site, information about a pass we'll have to buy, to walk the trails, and, I believe, this covers the train trips between the towns. Cinque Terre looks and sounds wonderful; I'm sure we'll enjoy it!

When you buy a ticket, book from Roma to your final destination, so that you don't need to buy a separate ticket from La Spezia. This will still allow you to stop for a meal in La Spezia if you decide to do that because the ticket is valid for 24 hours.

Another very nice town is Levanto, next to Monterosso. Great place to stay b/c it is a real workig town full of locals living as opposed to only tourists.

Levanot is about 4 minutes by train to Monterosso. We opted for the water taxi to travel among the 5 hamlets each day, which was a great way to see the little hamlets, from the water.

If you plan to walk - then bring proper shoes and be sure it is dry.

Top answer scrb's question, yes you could spend all day walking between the hamlets if that's your thing. Otherwise train works or as we preferred, the water taxi.

Do be sure to make your way down to Portovenere too.

Personally from Rome I'd go south to Amalfi if water and cliffs is what you are looking for. But if it is hiking then CT is fun too.

To clarify about train tickets and seat reservations:

1) If a train is of the kind where seat reservation is mandatory and comes with the ticket (il pagamento di prezzi globali ES Italia comprensivo dell'assegnazione del posto), then you are obliged to take the specific train you're booked on and sit in the assigned carriage number on the assigned seat number. (Like an airplane, really.)
The ES* (EuroStar) for example always comes with reserved seats. (Prenotazione obbligatoria dei posti).

2) In the case of the connection Roma Termini > La Spezia > Monterosso, the second part of the journey, from La Spezia to Monterosso, is most likely (with very few exceptions throughout the day) going to be on a regional train where seat reservation is not mandatory (or even possible if you tried to get reserved seats).

That's why you can take your time in La Spezia and pick whichever train suits you to go to Monterosso - you are not bound to a specific train at a specific hour.

3) As far as discounts: Simply by booking in advance you are not likely to get a cheaper fare than on the day of or the day before your trip. However, it sometimes pays to look in advance, because you can catch the occasional special promo offer, like the so-called Amica fares that get posted for certain routes on certain dates.

In a couple of days the new timetables for 2009 will be in force (all over Europe), there may still be a hiccup on some sites until all the computer systems have been programmed and things settle in. If you don't get the results you expect in the next two or three days, don't fight it, wait a bit - after the 14th of Dec. or so everything should be synchronized (across all of Europe - not a small undertaking!).

4) Note that you can't get pricing displayed for more than 60 days into the future.

5) The Italian train website of the principal state-run system (logo: FS - Ferrovie dello Stato - State Railways) is:
www.ferroviedellostato.it - you can click on English at the top when the site opens.

Trenitalia is a catchy marketing term that is used a lot - it stands for the same entity as the more unwieldy Ferrovie dello Stato, and both www.trenitalia.it and www.trenitalia.com work - they both get redirected to www.ferroviedellostato.it. Same thing.

Hope this helps.

I'd second Montorino's advice re the Amalfi coast. The Cinque Terre is good if you want to hike--not really any other good way to appreciate it, but Amalfi Coast beats it overall for lots of reasons.

Many thanks for your helpful reponses. SM