Train from Villefranche to Cinque Terre
 

HELP!

My husband and I are trying to book a train from Villefranche Sur Mer to Monterosso (Cinque Terre). We have our France/Italy Eurail passes and have emailed the company directly to try to reserve our train tickets all along the way, thinking this is something we needed to do in advance. It will be high season (Sept) when we go. Eurail emailed me saying that it can all be done once we are there. I know that we need to go from Villefranche to Nice, Nice to La Spezia and la Spezia to Monterosso....but since we are travelling from one country to another shouldn't we pre-book?

Any recommendations on this? The train system seems really confusing...

Thank you in advance!!!

I have never pre-booked my trips to Italy. I have traveled from Nice to Santa Margherita dozens of times. I just buy the ticket the day before I leave Nice. The train I take does require reservations.

There are several routes to Monterosso from Villefranche-sur-mer.

Look at: http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

It's a German train site, but it has all the European train schedules. It is easier to look up schedule than the French or the Italian railroad sites.

Some possible options:

Faster:
Villefranche-Monte Carlo-Genova Piazza Principe-Monterosso

Slower:
Villefranche-Ventimiglia-Monterosso

The one with only one change is actually slower; it is all by slow trains. If you get to Monte Carlo (or Nice), you can use a fast train, at least up to Genova.

Booking (reservation) is needed or even accepted only if you use EC or IC trains. You need to catch these express trains at Monte Carlo or Nice. R or RE trains don't even sell reservations.

If you take the slower route using R and RE trains only through Ventimiglia, I don't think you need anything more than your Eurail passes.