Hello- Maitaitom
How do I find your trip report ? Was that 2.5 hours by car ?

Hi okoshi2002: I wouldn't really stress the car point. You will not use it while in the CT, so no sense picking one up in Milano, to then leave it in the CT without driving it and paying all the while.....

As I have recommended on many posts, and explained by Tess as well, if you go to the trenitalia.com website and put in the city pairs in the boxes on the L side of the screen (i.e. Milano and Riomaggiore), it will show you all the time/train schedules for the day you want. Print that out, take it with you to Italy and give to the train station ticket agent with the train/time you want -- it's very easy. Unfortunately, there is not a non-stop train, any train you are going to take from Milano Centrale Station to the Cinque Terre is going to stop: in Genova's Principe station and then again down the coast, often in Sestri Levante and also in Rapallo. With the stops and train changes it can take a bit, but it is not unreasonable. As I've said, I arrive in Milano ~ 10:30 and I am down in Riomaggiore by 3:30 ish. It is not a big deal, you will have time to relax, go for dinner later, etc.

If I were you, since you will need a car in Tuscany, just wait and rent one in La Spezia AFTER you have ended your stay in Riomaggiore. From La Spezia, it is a easy hop on the autostrada to Florence, Lucca, and the rest of Tuscany.

Eh it really depends on convenience....yep the car will be much faster leaving MXP and getting to Riomaggiore, yep it will sit a few days oh well...and its there when you are ready to leave. Convenience, convenience.....train you wait, you transfer, you wait, you transfer and so on......

Okoshi,
I'm going to make this easy. Rent the car at MXP, chuck your luggage in the truck and hit the road....be there in less than 3 hours. Eh so it sits parked for a few days, its there when you get ready to depart. Have a great trip!

Hello and thank you all for your input. I think I have been hoping somebody would say exactly what you said traveler863- it helps reassure me that somebody else has done it and found it works. Train travel for the four of us (family) does end up costing more and if there were a direct train to La Spezia it would be more appealing.I do appreciate evrybody's perspective and have found all of it helpful!Thank you.

...and some of the train workers go on strike for a full day causing the whole system to go down for the day. This just happened last week.

Gallery,
Well yes that they are famous for and another reason to rent a car.