How to Get to the Cinque Terre by train
The Cinque Terre is a series of five coastal towns in Italy’s northwestern Liguria province. The area has become widely known and popularised for it’s UNESCO world heritage status, it’s quaint, colourful towns and the trail that connects them all, most commonly referred to as the blue or Sentiero Azzurro trail.
The most central city to access the Cinque Terre is La Spezia, widely considered the gateway. It is here that you’ll find the La Spezia Centrale train station, which reaches all of Italy’s major cities and services each of the five towns, making public transport one of the most cost-effective and effortless ways to explore the region.
Manarola, one of the southernmost towns on the Cinque Terre and popular with families due to it’s size and access to the sea, only takes about 10 minutes by train from La Spezia.
Booking Your Ticket
Purchase a ticket in advance through the Trentalia website, or pick up a ticket on the day via one of their self-serving ticket machines or ticket booths.
When booking, choose your departure city and your destination as either La Spezia (if you’re hoping to spend some time in the port city or have a bit more flexibility with time) or the town you’ll be staying at on the Cinque Terre (to avoid purchasing another ticket once arriving in La Spezia).
Ticket prices can vary depending on the season, but as of July 2023, our ticket prices from Roma Termini to La Spezia were €16-€19 one way, and from La Spezia, it’s a €5 per journey Intercity ticket to any of the towns on the Cinque Terre (no matter if it’s the closest or furthest town on the coast).
If you book online, you’ll receive an email with your details and be given a QR code to access your train, and if you opt to get a ticket on the day, you’ll receive a hardcopy ticket.
Make sure to look out for your train number and departure time rather than ‘La Spezia C.’ at your city terminal as it will rarely be the last stop on the journey. At Roma Termini, our train displayed as the destination Torino P.N. with La Spezia Centrale as one of the stops along the way.
What to do if your ticket needs to be ‘stamped’
Your hardcopy ticket may need to be validated, and you’ll either be told this by the ticket attendant, or notice it on the bottom of your ticket (see photo below). Failure to validate your ticket will mean it’s invalid to travel with.
You’ll have ‘Convalidare prima della partenza’ or ‘validate before departure’ heading a rectangular box on the bottom of your ticket if you need to do so and this is where you’ll need to get a stamp at the station prior to it’s use. If it states ‘vale 4h da convalida’, or another numerical denomination, it means that the ticket is only valid for the number of hours displayed after validation, meaning if you want to take a layover, validate the ticket only when you hope to hop aboard.
How to get your ticket validated
You can either take the ticket to a ticket desk to be stamped, or, if you’re pressed for time and would prefer to do it yourself, look out for a blue and white stamp sign in the train terminal (photo below), right below this sign will be a small self-service machine. Stick the end of your ticket that displays the ‘validation needed’ box in the machine and it will validate it for you, stamping a row of text on the ticket.
From La Spezia to the Cinque Terre
Once you arrive in La Spezia, you can get a regional train to any of the five towns from the self-serving ticket booths in the main station if you haven’t already pre-purchased your ticket online/ from your departing station.
Riggatorie is the furthest south and closest to La Spezia and only takes 9 minutes on average, followed by Manarola (11 min), Corniglia (15 min), Vernazza (20 min) and Monterosso al Mare (23 min) to the north.
The tickets go for €5 per person per journey, whether you’re going to the first or the fifth town on the Cinque Terre, and the trains are frequent and easy to navigate. Each town has one train station that is centrally located and has two lines, each going in a different direction (La Spezia to the south, Levanto to the north). There are self-serving ticket booths at every station platform for when you’re looking to get around the Cinque Terre once here.
If you’re planning on hiking the trail that connects all of the towns on the Cinque Terre, using the trains on your return is a great option.
For more on the Cinque Terre, including where to stay and a comprehensive guide to hiking the Sentiero Azzurro trail, please give us a follow or subscribe on the blog!
Happy Travels,
Sam + steve
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