Train from Cinque Terre to Rome
 

I would appreciate any advice on taking the train from C.T. to Rome. For eg. is it best to book when we get to Italy? Which train is the fastest? Is there a big difference in the level of classes? Thankyou Jim

My friends and I took the reverse trip and purchased tickets the day before. There are quite a few trains that make the journey each day so you shouldn't have a problem. You can look for train schedules on http://www.trenitalia.com which is the national rail website.

Purchasing tickets will also depend on when you would be going. If you are travelling during busy season, some trains could sell out earlier than others.

The difference between first and second class on those trains is generally not much. Slightly larger seats are one thing I remember. However, the second class cars were fine.

Generally, I'd recommend buying the tickets a day or so before you travel and make sure you have a good time.

Thankyou Jim

Hi sabbin,

I just did that trip a few weeks ago. We boarded at Manarola, using our train/park pass for that leg.

We bought our tickets the day we traveled in La Spezia for the LS - Rome leg as you can't buy that in Manarola (not sure if you go through Pisa) and we didn't have a chance to buy them earlier.

We bought first class since the difference was very little. We also bought "reserved" seats so we would be assured we didn't have to move during the trip (if a person getting on at a later stop has reserved the same seat you've chosen, you have to move! -- at least that is what the agent told us).

As capkirk says, you can find the schedule on trenitalia's website. We took an earlier train from Manarola to LS than shown on the site schedule to be sure we had enough time between trains to buy our tickets. I'm glad we did as we weren't rushed. Experienced train travelers wouldn't need it, but we did!

All in all the trip was fine and cost us about $50 each in first class. I apologize if you already knew all this, but I was clueless about the whole process.

Celiaanne, Thanks for the helpful information. Could you tell me how long the train took to get to Rome? Tx Jim

The only way to find how long the train journey takes is to look at the schedules on www.trenitalia.com or www.bahn.de. Some trains are faster than others, and schedules may have changed since someone else made the journey.

Hi sabbin,

As Geoffl says, the times change with the type of train, date, etc., but ours took about 4 hours from La Spezia to Rome and it's only 10/15 minutes from Manarola to La Spezia.

Thankyou to all. Jim