Two days between Milan and CinqueTerre
 

We will be spending 3 days walking in Cinque Terre at the end of September and then heading up to Piedmont. I am looking for some options for the first two days before arriving in CT. We will be landing in Milan, but I would just assume spend the first couple of days out of the city before arriving in CT.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Rapallo!Train or ferry to other small towns on the Italian ligurian coast. Zeppole lives in that area so perhaps will chime in with other suggestions-very helpful!

Parma. Parma. Parma.

And if you like, you could go to Parma.

Seriously. It's a beautiful small pedestrianized town with incomparable food, fascinating history and stunning art treasures.

The only problem is that once you eat Parmagiana reggiano for real, you'll only be willing to eat it in Parma.

If you have a car, you might want to take a very short trip outside the city to Torrechiara.

http://www.festivalditorrechiara.it/Torrechiara.jpg

Parma always sounds good, especially now since it is time for Pranza!

Worse than the great Parmeggiano-Reggiano is the fact that for sure you will never eat Prosciutto di Parma outside of Italy again!

Parma old town and new town is great. I think it is one of the nicest towns in all Italy. Nice people, clean, etc. etc.

We love it there and visit Parma everytime we make it to Italy. We also love Bologna.

We just stayed in June in Parma at Hotel Button, and for 100 euros it was great.

If you are not a foody, more of an artist type then there is Pietrasanta and Lucca on the Tuscan coast.

Nice video of Pietrasnata here:

http://www.webvisionitaly.com/catego...p;ref_item=373

Sorry about the typo: Parmigiana-Reggiano

Bologna does not have good train connections with le Cinque Terre. And it doesn't make sense to take a car there, I think.

I'm not a big fan of Lucca, but I don't think it is easy to get there by train from Milano, although it's not hard to get to le Cinque Terre from Lucca, by train or car.

If you go to Parma, pick a hotel close or inside the city walls. I've never stayed at Hotel Button, but it's recommended by Michelin and it's close to the train station.

By the way, I'm assuming it's not hard to get from Parma to either Genova or La Spezia by train, and then on to le Cinque Terre. I've only driven from the sea to Parma, so you'll want to check the Trenitalia if you're not taking a car to le Cinque Terre, which is not advisable anyway.

Thanks for the fast and great responses. My sense is that Parma is a winner. I have never been there, but once at a great restaurant not far away - Del Pescatore.

We are absolutely foodies and would love any recos on places to stay (character and hospitality always appreciated), great spots to eat, and things to do.

Thanks

Sue

I took the train a few weeks ago from Parma to CT, direct. City train, with stops, not the rapid, took about 3.5 hours.

We left on the 7A, right through La Spezia (without a change), we were at our hotel in Levanto by 11A, on the water taxi by 12P, and into the CT for the whole afternoon by boat.
It's a great train ride through the mountains and eventually right to CT.

I also stayed at Hotel Toscanini a few times. It is more expensive than Button. I liked location and price of Button.

Button is literally one block from the central square. It is perfect location.

I'll post some restaurants in Parma later - as we are finishing a film of one of the greats this week.

We are also finishing our more in depth programs about Parma and its history.

Unfortunately, I didn't like the Best Western Faranase for its location, slightly outside town. If you are arriving by train, you should definitely stay in town. Otherwise, if you're driving, I believe there are some tasty albergo ristorante or agriturismos, but you'd have to dig.

Websites like Chowhound and egullet have current recommendations for food. So does the Michelin guide.

There's a lot of good information on the web about multifaceted Parma -- whether your interest food, art, history, violets, Stendahl or music, or fashion shopping. It's just a lovely place. But the interior of the duomo and the bapistery are very special and worth your time to visit.

We stayed at Hotel Torino in Parma. Perfect location, charming staff, our room had a balcony and view, secure parking on site available.

One of my best memories of Italy happened in Parma. When it was apparent that we were tourists looking for our hotel, the gentleman in the car next to ours rolled down his window, asked where we were staying and said to follow him, he would take us there. You don't get much kinder than that!