Recommended Travel Tip: Train To Cinque Terre From Pisa

For years, my mum has talked about travelling to Europe and visiting the Cinque Terre. And after seeing pictures on Coles post from a few years ago, I wanted to see it for myself too! However, after doing a bit of research, I was still stumped as to HOW to get to Cinque Terre from Pisa, and was not confident as to WHERE I could or should book accommodation. Everyone travels there and posts their pretty as a postcard pictures, but NO ONE gives facts on getting there from Pisa!

First of all, I didn’t know what to search – Cinque Terre, Cinque Way Terre or one of the many names of towns I kept coming across…

Vernazza

Train to Cinque Terre from Pisa

Catching the train to Cinque Terre from Pisa was EASY! So easy in fact, that I do not know what I was worried about.

First of all, we caught a train to La Spezia. At Pisa Central train station, we were able to turn up and buy our ticket right there and then from a machine to La Spezia Central. We must have struck luck as the next train departed in 5 minutes and tickets only cost 7.20 euro per person. Warning: Do not forget to validate your ticket before boarding the train!

Once you are in La Spezia you will then need to purchase a Cinque Terre Card, which will give you access to the train line that travels to all the towns along the Cinque Terre, plus it gives you access to the ‘official’ walking tracks.

Note: You can also reach Cinque Terre from Genoa. You simply need to board the Cinque Terre train from the other end in Levanto (scroll further down to see a map).

The beach in Vernazza

Cheap accommodation in Cinque Terre

With so much tourism, nowhere is CHEAP in Italy, let alone Cinque Terre. The cheapest option I could find (during September) was a hostel in Biassa called Ostello Tramonti which was cheaper than Coles 80 euro private room in Monterosso but the reason it was cheap, is because we were bunking in a dorm room.

We suggest grabbing a takeaway pizza and gobbling it down with this view in Riomaggiore

Where does the Cinque Terre train stop?

Cinque Terre is famous for 5 of its towns, but just to make your research confusing – there are more than 5 beautiful towns! Here is a map of the Cinque Terre region. The train follows the coast, starting and ending at each of the train icons, visiting each of the 5 Cinque Terre towns (marked by hearts). Some of the towns can also be reached by car eg Monterosso and Riomaggiore, but they are certainly easiest to reach via train. I have also pointed out Biassa, which is where we stayed, and the ‘other’ beautiful town called Porto Venere (which is not accessible via train).

Apologies, this map has temporarily been disabled 🙂

How long does it take to walk the Cinque Terre?

Unfortunately, when we visited in September two of the tracks were closed due to landslides. From looking behind the barred gates we assume that these two pathways between Riomaggiore – Manarola – Corniglia, would have been the two easiest and most beautiful as they hug the coastline. There was no sign to say if or when the paths will be fixed. However, the two that are open, were fairly hilly but only took us one day to walk. Yes we were exhausted, but it was a great day!

Two of the Cinque Terre walk ways are currently closed

How many nights should we stay in Cinque Terre?

We stayed three nights and this was perfect! However, if the other two tracks had been open we would have needed 4 nights. It gave us enough time to have a dinner in Riomaggiore, and Manarola, see the main 5 towns in one day, plus spend a day walking to Portovenere.

Doria Castle (Castello Doria) is open from 10am – 8pm. Make sure you climb to the top of the tower!

Doria Castle (in Vernazza) is open from 10am – 8pm. Make sure you climb to the top of the tower!

The ‘other’ beautiful town near Cinque Terre

Porto Venere is like the forgotten youngest sibling, however it was one of our favourite towns! You cannot travel there via the Cinque Terre train. Instead you can bus, drive or trek. The owner of our hostel suggested a route to trek there from Biassa, so we took his advice and even though it was a terribly rainy day, we had a blast!! The path was a lot more challenging than the famous Cinque Terre walk, so I’m almost proud to say I only slipped over once!