Cinque Terre Day Trip from Florence, Italy
Do you want to plan a Cinque Terre day trip from Florence, Italy?
Here’s everything you need to know about visiting this stunning destination on a day trip!
Cinque Terre, meaning “Five Lands” in Italian, is a collection of five colorful towns along the Ligurian Coast. Once a cluster of quiet fishing villages, Cinque Terre has become a popular tourist destination thanks to the charm of the five towns, the amazing scenery and sea views, and the epic coastal hiking paths.
I’ve been to Cinque Terre twice now. On my first visit, I spent three days staying in one of the towns and fell in love with the destination. A few years later, I returned on a day trip from Florence.
While I highly recommending spending a few days in Cinque Terre if you can, I know that a lot of travelers in Italy are short on time. Luckily, Cinque Terre is totally doable as a day trip from Florence!
This guide will show you everything you need to know about visiting Cinque Terre on a day trip from Florence, including how to get there, the best things to do, and how to maximize your time.
I’ll also talk about how to get there on your own vs. taking an organized tour.
Already know you’d rather book a tour than plan a day trip yourself? Here are my top picks:
- Cinque Terre Day Trip with Optional Hike
- Seaside Beauty Day Trip to Cinque Terre
- Cinque Terre and Pisa Day Trip
The Five Towns of Cinque Terre
Before we get into the logistics of a day trip to Cinque Terre, let’s talk about the towns.
These are the five villages that make up Cinque Terre:
- Riomaggiore
- Manarola
- Corniglia
- Vernazza
- Monterosso al Mare
Riomaggiore, Manarola, and Vernazza are, in my opinion, the prettiest towns. Each of these three colorful towns has amazing views. None have beaches, but they all have harbors where people swim.
Monterosso al Mare is the largest town and the only town with a proper beach. Corniglia, on the other hand, is the smallest village and is also the only one without any water access, being high on a hilltop.
All of the towns are quite small, with populations ranging from 150 to 1,300 people.
How to Get There
The easiest way to get to Cinque Terre on a day trip from Florence is by train.
This is what I did, and it’s what I recommend you do too. Renting a car is not a good idea because driving takes much longer, there aren’t direct roads between the towns, and parking is a nightmare.
The train is much easier. The closest city to Cinque Terre is La Spezia, which is where you’ll go first.
From Florence, you can take the train directly to La Spezia in just over 1.5 hours. You should purchase your train tickets for this journey online in advance. I recommend taking the earliest train available to maximize your time. In my case, this was a train leaving Florence at 8 AM and arriving around 9:30 AM.
Round-trip train tickets from Florence to La Spezia can be anywhere from 30 EUR to 75 EUR.
At the train station in La Spezia, you will buy a Cinque Terre train card. This card gives you unlimited access to the Cinque Terre trains for a full day, as well as the hiking trails that go between each town.
The train card costs 19.50 EUR to 32.50 EUR depending on the time of year. There’s an additional supplement if you want to access one of the most popular walking trails, the Via dell’Amore.
You can buy the train card in person or buy it online in advance.
From La Spezia, it’s just a seven-minute train ride to Riomaggiore, the first town. Each of the subsequent towns in Cinque Terre is just a few minutes from the previous one along the coastal railway line.
What to Do on a Day Trip
As I mentioned above, you should book the earliest train out of Florence that you can. Similarly, I recommend booking the latest train back to Florence from La Spezia to maximize your time.
Depending on the time of year and the train schedule, this could be around 7:30 PM.
Riomaggiore
I recommend starting your day trip in Riomaggiore. This picturesque little town is perfect to wander around for about an hour. Next, you can take the train or walk to the next town, Manarola.
Both times I visited Cinque Terre, some of the most popular hiking trails were closed for maintenance. However, they have reopened now, and you can always check the status of the trails on this website.
Via dell’Amore is an easy 30-minute walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola along a flat, paved path. You’ll wind along the coast and take in some breathtaking views as you walk between the two towns.
If you are purchasing the Cinque Terre Card, you can select the option to add the Via dell’Amore for 10 EUR extra. I recommend doing this so you don’t have to wait to purchase your ticket in person.
Manarola
In Manarola, another picture-perfect town, I recommend stopping for lunch at Nessun Dorma. This restaurant has absolutely incredible views overlooking the town and the sea. They don’t take reservations for lunch, so get here right when they open and be sure to ask for a table on the side facing the water.
Before and after lunch, you can spend some time wandering around the town. Like Riomaggiore, there’s not much to “do” here except walk around and admire the beauty and charm of your surroundings.
Next, hop back on the train and head to Corniglia, or you can skip it and go to Vernazza.
Corniglia
If you’re going to skip any town on your day trip to Cinque Terre, I’d make it Corniglia.
This town is lovely, but it’s harder to access than the others, and can eat up your limited time on a day trip. It’s the only town that doesn’t have access to the water, and it’s located way up on a hilltop.
From the train station, you can either walk up nearly 400 steps to the town, or wait for a shuttle bus to come around (which is free with the Cinque Terre train card) to take you up to the town.
I personally skipped Corniglia on my day trip to Cinque Terre to have more time in the other towns.
Vernazza
Vernazza is the next town in Cinque Terre, and it’s yet another gorgeous one.
There are some great viewpoints you can reach here if you start walking on the hiking trail that leads to Monterosso al Mare. (However, don’t try to do the whole route because it takes two hours!) But after walking for just a few minutes along the path, you can get some great shots of Vernazza from above.
This is another town to have a leisurely stroll around for about an hour.
Monterosso al mare
The last town in Cinque Terre is Monterosso al Mare.
This is a great place to end your day trip. As I mentioned earlier, Monterosso al Mare is the only one of the five towns that has a real beach, so you can go for a dip here or relax on the sand.
You can stop for a gelato or a bite to eat here before heading back to La Spezia.
From Monterosso al Mare, there are faster trains that go straight back to La Spezia in just 15 minutes. However, I’d be cautious and allow for extra time so you are sure to make your train back to Florence.
Taking an Organized Tour
I’ve shared how to get to Cinque Terre on your own from Florence and how to spend your day there, but what if you don’t want to deal with the logistics of figuring out the trains and planning everything?
That’s where an organized tour comes in!
Organized tours are a great way to experience a destination without the hassle of logistics and planning it all on your own. The tradeoff is that you don’t have as much flexibility in your schedule or itinerary, and you might have to walk around with a big group instead of being able to go off on your own.
However, it can be worth it for some travelers. Although I haven’t taken an organized tour to Cinque Terre from Florence, I have done a tour to Tuscany from Florence which I imagine is quite similar.
And since getting to Cinque Terre by train can actually be quite expensive (anywhere from 50 EUR to 100+ EUR depending on how much train tickets are), a tour is a pretty decent value for money.
Below I’ve researched the best organized tours you can take to Cinque Terre:
Option 1: Cinque Terre Day Trip with Optional Hike
If you’re looking to hit the highlights of Cinque Terre, look no further than this tour. It includes transportation to and from Florence, train tickets for Cinque Terre, and a knowledgeable local guide.
You’ll visit four of the five towns (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, and Vernazza) as well as do a boat tour. And you will also have the option to add on a guided hike from Corniglia to Vernazza.
Option 2: Seaside Beauty Day Trip to Cinque Terre
Another great tour is this full-day trip to Cinque Terre. It’s similar to the one above and includes round-trip transportation from Florence, all your train tickets, and a guide who stays with you.
You also do a short boat tour and visit four of the five towns (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare.) So the difference is that this one skips Corniglia and adds Monterosso al Mare.
Option 3: Cinque Terre and Pisa Day Trip
The first two tours would be my top picks since you make the most of your time in Cinque Terre, but I wanted to include one more option too. This full-day tour goes to Cinque Terre and Pisa.
The catch is that you only have time to visit two of the five towns (Manarola and Monterosso al Mare.) However, if you really want to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and you’re short on time, then this could also be a good option for you. You get a taste of Cinque Terre, but also get a couple of hours to spend in Pisa.
How to Take a Cinque Terre Day Trip
This guide showed you how to take a Cinque Terre day trip from Florence, Italy.
Cinque Terre is one of the most beautiful destinations in Italy, and each of the five villages has its own unique charm. Cinque Terre would be one of my top picks for a day trip from Florence. If you want to escape to the coast, explore lovely villages, and soak up the sun and sea, Cinque Terre is perfect for you.
Enjoy your trip to Cinque Terre!
Related Guides:
