What airport do we fly into to get to Cinque Terre?
 

What airport do we fly into to get to Cinque Terre from NY?

How many days would we need to see all towns at a leisurely pace? Which town is best as home base? I know there are no fancy hotels but could you recommend a really nice place to stay? Will get a Rick Steves book, as always, but this trip will not take place until next year and I need to try to get a flight with my miles.

In order of proximity and ease of getting there:
Pisa
Genoa
Florence
Milano
Bologna
Rome

For trains to connect to the Cinque Terre (that is not a station - you need to input the name of whichever of the five towns is yours) look to
www.ferroviedellostato.it

Milan is probably the best place to fly into. Get the RS book for all of the other information you are looking for.

I agree, Milan is probably the best option.

For a base, it depends...if you want to have easy access to a significant number of shops and restaurants as well as a beach then you would want to stay in Monterrosso. If you don't mind having fewer restaurant options and love tranquility then I would suggest Vernazza. I've stayed both places and my favorite was Vernazza. It was extremely crowded with daytrippers during the day but early morning and evenings were divine.

As far as how long you should stay. If you are going to do a lot of hiking between the villages I would say stay at the very minimum 4 full days. If you are going to explore the villages using train and boat then a full three days would be minimum . Optimum amount of time to hike, beach it, explore villages and generally relax would be 5-7 days.

It's a gorgeous place but it's not likely you can enjoy it to the fullest if you go after September or before April. The boats don't run a lot of the time and the water is so cold in the "off" months.

Pisa is much closer than Milan, though Milan may be the best for many as it has more direct flights from the U.S. But if you have a choice, such as intra-european flights then go for the Pisa International airport - about an hour by train from the 5 Lands with trains right from the airport with a change i believe in Pisa Centrale and then changing in La Spezia to the Cinque Terre milk train that stops in all five Lands.

Milan's airport is way out of Milan and requires a long bus ride to the Centrale station - a huge station that may flummox novice rail travelers and then it's about two hours to 5 Lands if a direct train but many require a change at Genoa.

I was in the Cinque Terre in June, 2008. I stayed in Manarola and as it turned out, it was my favorite of the five towns. We stayed at Nicoletta1,at #188, via Discovolo,
Manarola and it was perfect for us. The price was 105 Euro/night. The downstairs had a living area (with couch that made into a bed) and a nice kitchen and upstairs was a large bedroom and bath. We enjoyed having a kitchen.

Everyone will have their favorite place in the CT, but I would have to say that my least favorite was Vernazza because it seemed to be more inundated with tourists. Manarola was quiet and peaceful at night - we absolutely loved it and our time in the CT.

We were there for 3 days and next time I go, I'll want to stay for at least 4 days.

A great place to stay-

http://www.lamala.it/en/index.html

Great deal - the Cinque Terre Pass which allows you on the trails (must have pass to go on the inter-village trails) and also unlimited shuttle train travel between all five Lands (trains run about twice hourly) and also for the bus from Corniglia's train station to Corniglia some hundreds of feet about its seaside train station. Sold locally at tourist offices - and hiking kiosks at entrances to the trails.

I live in Liguria, so I would suggest that if you are coming from the US, and want a transantlantic non-stop, your best bet is Newark to Milano. However, if you are willing to change planes, there are regular flights to Genoa from Madrid, Paris, Rome, Munich and London which can very much reduce the cost and get you closer to le Cinque Terre than a flight to Milan. Also, if you want to fly direct from Newark to Barcelona, you can take an overnight ferry to Genoa.

Since you are not taking until this trip until next year, I suggest that, before you book a hotel, you do a lot more research than buying Rick Steves' book. You need to understand that the villages of the Cinque Terre are not something to be "seen". They are really small settlements that serve the tourist community, and to some extent, what's left of the resident agricultural/fishing community. They are not "destinations" -- and very little in Liguria, or the Itlaian Riviera, is. If you want to hike in nature and enjoy the sea and seafood, and relax outdoors, le Cinque Terre and Liguria in general is a great destination, although there are few high-end accommodations.. If you are eager to see great cultural attractons, have a luxury resort-like atmosphere, or prefer to eat meat, you probably don't want more than a peek at pretty Cinque Terre, which is really a rural location for fishing and limited farming.

The best from JFK is Delta into Pisa 3 days per week--hard to beat---direct and non-stop.

I agree the Delta non-stop to Pisa is very much worth looking into if your miles permit it.

by the way, another option no one has mentioned is NYC to Nice.

From Nice, you have about a 4-hour train trip to le Cinque Terre.

If your only consideration is proximity to the Cinque Terre then Pisa's international airport is the closest to that destination. Plus you can have fun looking for that leaning tower of you-know-where during your plane's area descent. ;-)

Bookmarking.

bkm

That Nice-CT estimate is optimistic - the fastest I see takes 5:00 hours, and most take quite a bit longer. (I picked Monterosso.)

From the Pisa airport train station it can be as quick as 1:56.

From Genova airport you have to first get into town then from there (Piazza Principe station) it can be as quick as 1:15.

From Miano airport (Malpensa) it's a long bus ride as mentioned before, about an hour, then from Milano Centrale station it can be as quick as 2:57 but most take between three and four hours.

There are more flights into Pisa than Genova, so Pisa is your best bet by far, direct, or as a two-hopper flight.

Lufthansa has a very good connection to Genoa from Munich--we find this MUCH more convenient than flying into Malpensa (Italian for bad thought), which demands going from way out of town airport to the Stazione Centrale in Milan and being in the midst of hordes (many with light fingers) after a 7 to 10 hour flight. Flying into Pisa is also very convenient--we know less about this because of having family in Genoa.

Buon viaggio!

Agree with Pisa as the ideal airport if you are only traveling to the CT. Also whole-heartedly second the recommendation of La Mala in Vernazza. We loved Room 31--not fancy, but a clean, almost Scandinavian design,that makes the most of the space. I still remember waking up and looking out of our window to see the lights of the fishing boats bobbing under a full moon. The other rooms are nice, but smaller...and as I recall, one of the windows of Room 26 is at the floor level of the common patio (Room 31 is above Room 26).

For people flying into Malpensa (Milan) who want to get to the sea, there is a daily direct bus connection from the airport to Genova's Principe train station, thus eliminating the bus trip into Milan to catch the train.

I'm assuming the original poster doesn't have infinite options since it will have to be booked with miles.

I wouldn't plan a whole trip -- at least one including a transcontinental flight -- around just the Cinque Terre. A couple days is enough there. You can add in Santa Margherita Ligure/Portofino, Camogli, and even Genoa. And you can base outside the CT and travel there. Possible bases are SML and Camogli, also Sestri Levante and Rapallo.

What time of year do you plan to visit the CT? It's pretty much a summer or, at least, non-winter destination. And in high summer the towns can be very crowded.