Stoked

I was hoping someone could give me some advice. We are finishing a 10 day boat trip through the croatian islands in Split. We are thinking of going to the Cinque Terra from there. What is the best way to get there? A plane to Milan takes 4 hours with a connection and then the 3 hour train to Monterosso. Is there an easier way. How long would a train from Split to Venice take? I think a train from Venice to Monterosso would be about 51/2 hours?? Cheers!

KayF

There is a ferry from Rovinj to Venice, there may be one from Split to Venice as well. Worth checking out. Then train to Cinque Terre. It may be worth checking connections from Trieste as well. I'm guessing it's not going to be an quick, easy trip but you could treat it all as part of the holiday. Rovinj is lovely, by the way, if you have time to stop there.

Kay

GeoffHamer

The railway from Split goes to Zagreb, not along the coast. The afternoon train from Split to Zagreb connects with the overnight train to Venezia. Schedules are on www.bahn.de.
There are buses along the Croatian coast, but Split to Trieste (the first city in Italy) takes about ten hours.
There are overnight ferries from Split to Ancona (www.blueline-ferries.com or www.jadrolinija.hr), but none from Split to other Italian ports. Ancona has good train connections, but no direct route to the Cinque Terre.

yorkshire

Have you been there (CT) before? Is Italy your final destination, or are you departing from there? It seems like a lot of time-consuming travel to get there, when there are some pretty amazing areas in Croatia to hike (without thousands of others). Just saying...

bobthenavigator

Forget Italy this trip---too much hassle.
If you have not seen Slovenia I would go there. See Ljubljana, Bled, and Piran.

Stoked

Thanks for all the advice.
It does seem like a lot of hassle. My partner was hoping to go back there, but I have been 3 times now and am more than happy to spend the time elsewhere.
We have a week before Croatia and I am tossing up between Greek Islands and Spain. Worlds apart but but I havent been to either. Have seen a fair amount of Italy and France so think somewhere new would be good. We are finishing in Scotland for a week. We are from Australia so a long way to come without covering some new ground. Any suggestions are welcome. I will continue to research this very helpful site!

yorkshire

I guess to Australians who get such generous vacation--but have to travel so far--there is a strong pull to see very different places. But I, and I think a lot of people on the forum, will advise that you stick to a more confined geographic area so you don't have to move around so much, or so when you are moving you still enjoy it. So, I suggest looking into seeing more of Croatia (a week goes by so fast--and it has a lot of variety for its size), or one of the adjoining countries (lots to see--including lots of outdoor/hiking opportunities--in Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro), or, if Italy is still in the running, why not just hop over on the ferry and explore that region instead of then continuing across the country. I find the lesser known areas of Italy to have lots of appeal. Enjoy the planning!

KayF

I have to say to Yorkshire that having just returned to Australia after living in the UK for a number of years, I no longer thank Australians have generous vacation time. All of Europe that I know of, including the UK, gets more days than Australians (20 in Oz, at least 25 in UK, plus public holidays in each case). I do realise that the USA gets a lot less which is such a shame.

Kay