Vernazza or Riomaggiore with mom

Hello,

I will be staying for two days in Cinque Terre in Vernazza and then leaving to Lake Como to stay in Menaggio. I'm having some difficulty figuring out transport. I'd ideally like to take the quickest route available via train. Can someone please provide some information regarding or where I would be able to get some infomation?

Thanks.

Hi everyone!

My wife and I are traveling to Italy for two weeks. Do you have any suggestions on what to do or see? Here is our route with car and ferry:

1 night in Milano

1 night in Santa Margherita - visiting Portofino

2 nights in La Spezia - visiting Cinque Terre, Vernazza and Riomaggiore

1 night in Florence

5 nights in Amalfi - buss or scooter around the coast

3 nights in Capri - buss or scooter

1 night in Rome

So we were thinking about leaving the car somewhere in Amalfi because it seems that using car in the Amalfi Coast is unnecessary. Then we take a ferry from Amalfi to Capri.

experts we are planning a trip to Cinque this fall and rather than taking the train connection from Rome etc. We are thinking of renting a car parking it for our stay in Vernazza. Given we are 3 it would elevate the headache of luggage thru trains even though we are traveling light and gives us freedom in terms of arriving leaving etc. Any suggestions from experts?

First off- this may be a bit of a 'bouncing around' post. Sorry! Trying to keep it clear...

I'm planning a trip for Spring 2022 Italy and France. So far, I have booked:

A) Flight into Rome and out of Paris

B) 3 nights in Rome and the following 4 nights in Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore).

This leaves 8 nights before my flight home.

I planned to get from Rome to Riomaggiore by train, via Florence, but this isn't booked yet.

I had thought after check out in the CT that I would go to Milan on an early bus or train, spend the day, and take a night/sleeper train from Milan to Paris, which I would then make my base, and do day trips here and there. I have been to Paris before, as well as Marseille and Nice. LOVE all three - want to see more of France, but also want to have a home base, to feel less nomadic.

I've found plenty of advice to take the Thello train for this. However, I also saw somewhere credible (of course...I can't find it again to quote here... it was on the Thello or Eurail website or something like that...), it looks like the Thello Paris-Milan/Venice is discontinued. Is this true? Are there any other sleeper train options Milan to Paris? I would really like to be able to do a few hours/day in Milan, but am completely open minded.

As a follow up question - I had thought it may be worth it to get the Eurail global 10 day pass. I believe it's good for 10 random days within a one or two month time period. Is this a better plan, to get me to my base camps, and use for the day trips from Paris, allowing me to do them solo rather than booking viator, or some such tour company?

Appreciate all friendly pieces of advice and responses!

Hi there!

I have traveled to Italy a few times, but have always stuck to the major touristy cities and relied heavily on the Italian train system to get me to and from the cities. I am planning a family trip to Italy and my family loves drinking wine and I would love to treat them to one or two nice tuscan vineyards.

I've been searching and trying to figure out the best vineyard itinerary and am unsure of how to get from vineyard to vineyard and where to stay / how to get to wherever we stay. The plan is to go from Milan >> Cinque Terre >> Florence (or a smaller city closer to vineyards, if I can figure out the optimal location).

If anyone could share their suggestions and if I need to rent a car, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you in advance!!

I'm trying to not spend too much money. For example staying at Castello Banfi for the night, which is something I saw come up a few times is out of my budget.

Hello,

looking to stay in both - would like to stay at least 1 night in Arbellobello - can someone recommend a trulli to stay in?

also looking to stay at masseria - preferably that has a farm/olive/wine on site, i think in Ostuni area, there are so many of them that i kind of lost in choices, can someone recommend one they stayed please

most likely last week of September - first week of October 2021. will have a car

thank you

Experts flying into Rome at 745am arrival. then and catching a Trenitalia to Vernazza question. Given these uncertain time and capacity on train It is a Friday in September should I buy the tickets in advance now? The train departure would be at Noon which is 4 hours after my arrival and should give me more than amble time to travel to Termini to get the train. Thoughts?

Elderly couple 60+ planning 5-night stay in Rome + 5-night stay in Amalfi + 2 or 3 night stay in Naples. April 17-30,2022

Our requirements: Air conditioning, Elevator, Free WiFi, Breakfast included, very very close to public transportation (train in Rome),

Hotels/B&Bs/AirBnB - anything is fine - just looking for a clean bed/s and a clean bathroom. No external noise. No 5-star hotels, please.

As is I posted my first question on the group couple of days ago, regarding my next trip to Italy, and I felt so warmly welcomed and thoughtfully advised, I felt like sharing with you all my plan.

We will be travelling from the 2nd till the 7th of October, from Lisbon to Pisa. We are a group of five (42, 58, 60, 67, 78) and we have been traveling in Italy together 2 times, in pre covid reccent past.

And our next plan is :

Arrive in Pisa on the 2nd of October, at 11am, store our luggage, grab a taxi to piazza dei miracolli ( visiting only the duomo), have a short walk through piazza dei cavallieri, cross borgho stretto, and end up on the riverside Arno, to visit santa maria della spina. From there we will grab a taxi, pick up our luggage and our car in pisa airport around 16h and drive to Lerici, where we will stay in a beautiful airbnb, meters away from the sea and centro storico. We hope to see sunset there, have dinner and a little walk on the centro storico.

Next day we plan to depart very early in the morning and go straight to Vernazza, where we can reserve a parking spot in advance. From the parking lot they have free buses that take us downtown.

From here we will start our journey in cinqueterre. We will buy the boat pass, and concentrate mainly in Riomaggiore, Manarola and Vernazza ( just to enjoy the towns and views, and skipping the amazing trails - since via dell 'amore seems to still be closed) . If we have time, maybe have a short glance on Monterosso or Corniglia ( in a dream we would also see Portovenere, but if we' ll be able to enjoy the 3 main goals we have set, I'll be more than happy). To end our journey we plan to take the train to Vernazza, get our car back, and drive straight to Florence. I am aware that it would be cheaper and maybe easier to park in la spezia and take the cinqueterre tram. But we do prefer to have the boat rides, and we prefer to focus on the 3 i mentioned and try to avoid la spezia at the end of the day, from where i believe many people will be heading and departing from after a sunday daytrip in cinqueterre. I also think this will make it easier if unexpectedly we decide to depart earlier to Florence.

I expect we will be arriving in Florence around 21/22h, park the car outside ztl, and grab a taxi straight to our place near Ponte Vecchio. Leave our luggage and just try to eat something simple ( i'll do my research on where) and then stroll around those beautiful and so missed streets.

Next day is totally for Florence. 4 of us know the city very well, and we have already visited all the main attractions at least one time. I still want to wake up early for the sunrise, visit the uffizzi ( i plan to buy tickets in advance for 8.15h), and along the day visit Santa Maria Novella Basílica, the duomo (eventually the battistery) and end up our day visiting San Miniato al monte and watch sunset in piazzale michelangelo.

On the 4th of October , we will start our departure before 8h, taking a taxi to our car, and driving to Certaldo or straight to San Gimignano (depending on traffic conditions, time we spend on our way). Here we plan to visit palazzo publico and the collegiata. Monteriggioni and Cole di vale d'elsa were also on our sights, but this may take us too long to arrive in Siena, and we don't wanna rush in SG. We plan to depart from San Gimignano somewhere after lunchtime, to arrive in Siena around 3/4 pm.There, we have rented an airbnb, just by one of the city gates, with private parking for our car, at a short walking from Siena centro storico. There we will focus on Siena Duomo, which by then will have their floors uncovered, and the visits are extended until 7pm( if we have time left we will also visit the battistery and crypt (obviously skipping the museo and porta del cielo tour), then, we hope to end our day in piazza del campo.

Most of us also know well the city so i believe this is doable, even if we take a longer time driving back from SG.

Next day, in the early morning, I will visit palazzo publico( i really want to see the good and bad government frescoes, which i missed the last time) as part of the group will visit Santa Maria della Scala, and then say goodbye to Siena.

From there we will drive to Abadia Monte Oliveto, then pass through Asciano (probably just pass through) , and after drive back to Florence, through the Chiantigiana , with eventual stops in Greve in chianti or Radda.

We would love to go a little further down south , to Montalcino or Montepulciano, but i think that to keep a realistic plan, we must have to include Vale d'Orcia in another trip.

We want to be in Florence by night, and again park the car in a non ztl zone, grab a taxi to our airbnb, which will be steps away from the duomo. Next morning we will still have time to wake up early, for a walk along the centro storico, some little shopping, and a sneak into santa trinita church to see one of my favourite paintings ever, in capela sasseti, and then saddly say goodbye. See you soon, dear Firenze.

We hope to start driving to Pisa around 13h, to be there at maximum 15.30h, to catch our plane at 17.40h.

It may seem a bit ambitious plan, specially adding the variant car in the equation, anyway, i have also plan b's for each day, and there is always space for last minute adjustments.

Despite how difficult, and expensive, driving, parking, and all around it, may be, it was the only possible way for us to visit all these places in such a short time. In terms of costs, as we are 5, in the end we would spend quite the same, or even more, in train tickets, transfers, luggage storages, etc ( which would also take us some extra time and specially takes out our freedom of moving and even adjust plans at last minute). Also, 2 in our group are in their 70's, and i believe a car makes part of the trip more comfortable for them.

The actual covid situation is also a worry for us, and despite the fact that we are all vaccinated, being the elders in a risk group, we would be more comfortable avoiding as much as possible closed places with crowds, like trains, buses and so on.

We may have settled a lot of things to do/see in a short period of time, but we have been travelling together for a while, with "ambitious" trip plans, and all have been running smoothly, in a good pace and without much adjustments needed.

We usually save some time by not having big stops for breakfast or lunch, but having instead some grab and go simple food, and snacks during the day, and then have a good dinner where we stay.

After our return i will be happy to share with you how it went.

Hello, I posted my question on the main Italy TA forum, but as I've been narrowing down our options, I wanted to ask people specifically knowledgeable of the Italian Riviera/Liguria.

My husband and I will be vacationing in Switzerland Sept. 20 - October 21, ending our trip in Lugano, and would like to extend our trip to include the Italian Riviera area. We have up to 2 weeks to spend, and will need to get back to Zurich for our flight back to the US. We would prefer using public transportation, rather than renting a car. We have been to Cinque Terre, and hiked between some of the villages, but only as a day trip from our stay in Florence. That is really the only part of the Ligurian coast that we have seen.

My specific questions a is 2 weeks to long to spend in this region? We want to hike, sightsee, visit Portofino for the day, and just wander around in the villages of note. We are not looking for a lot of nightlife; just mostly scenic beauty, or interesting towns/villages. If two weeks is not too long to spend in this area, then would the recommendation be that we divide our stay between one place along the Riviera di Levante (Santa Margherita Ligure was recommended), and one base in Riviera di Ponente? We could also spend one week in this area, then move elsewhere (still saying north for train from Milan back to Zurich), but knowing we will be ending our trip the end of October/early November, weather will need to be considered. Appreciate advice on my 2 week plan in this area. Thanks so much.