This will be our first european cruise and I wanted to know if anyone has gone to Cinque Terre from the Liverno port and if they have any suggestions on the best way to get there.

Our first choice when we get to Liverno would be to see Cinque Terre. So any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks so much.

This is the same question that I asked myself about 2 months ago and I have done extensive research on the subject since then. (I lived between Livorno and Pisa for 3+ years so I am familiar with the area.)

First of all, how long are you in Livorno? One day or overnight? Could make a difference on how you approach the area. Time of the year can also matter.

Basically you have 3 options: (1) Ships excursion. (2) Private tour. (3) Self tour.

From what I have read, ships excursions seem to be geared around the one day in Livorno visit. Bus to the La Spezia area and water taxi/ferry to 4 of the 5 villages. Time in the villages is shortened because of the time it takes the boats to travel between the villages (as opposed to mere minutes by train.)

Private tour would possibly make sense if you are a party of 3 or more. The general mode seems to be drive you to the southern end and pick you up on the northern end. It varies by excursion provider.

The third is a self tour. You take the train both ways. This approach will work for those on a one day stop in Livorno but your time in Cinque Terre is somewhat limited. If you are overnight, and therefore have the luxury of a late night out, you have a lot more time. Train connections are quite good and train travel in Italy is quite easy (especially if you don't have luggage.)

I have two documents, in the advanced draft stage, on the subject. Let me know what you port schedule is and I'll post the appropriate one.

Thanks for your response to my inquiry.

I have been trying to determine the best way to get to Cinque Terre and maximize my visit of the area.

We are on the Grand Princess arriving at Liverno on May 4, 2008 with a scheduled port arrival of 630 am and leaving port at 6 pm that day.

I'm not sure if Princess will be offering a shore excursion to Cinque Terre on this cruise. But I was trying to determine which options would be better: going on our own or trying to find a private tour.

Any further suggestions or comments is greatly appreciated!

Again Thanks for the reply.

A very intersting excursion for a first-time visitor. We actually tried to hike the entire way (all 5 towns) but came-up short because it was so darn hot that day and my DW was still recovering from some minor surgery. Its a very ambitious trip from Livorno since your are talking about at least 1 1/2 hours to train to the Southern point and another half hour to the Northern city. You also need to get from the ship to the Livorno train station which is not always easy since most of the taxis will refuse the short trip (its not walkable). Of course getting between the 5 towns is the fun, and you can use train, boats, or hike (you would have time limitations for hiking). I would be a little ruluctant to recommend doing this on your own since its your first trip to Europe and hiring a private driver is a lot of money to have somebody just waiting around since you cannot drive to all 5 towns. When we went we had a rental car (we were spending a few weeks driving around Italy) and parked at one end, planned to hike to the other end and than take the train back to our car. Princess does normally offer a tour ($109) which used to take you to 3 of the 5 villages (Riomaggiore, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare). Getting to all 5 is impossible on a bus.

Hank

Hank,
Glad to see you chime in on this one. As usual, you bring a wealth of personal knowledge and experience to the table.

Ninacruising,
I still think that you still have two options at this point. In either case, I'd have to call it a modified plan. I think seeing all 5 villages is pretty much out of the question (unless you count passing by as seeing one of them.) Given your time frame, three can be done if you watch your time carefully and build in a couple of small buffers and plan 'B' at the back end. A long, leisurely lunch in Monterosso before returning to the ship is just not going to happen this trip. Contact me off line and we can discuss further - ftcruisin@bellsouth.net

Hi Nina,
We are also on the Grand Princess May 2, 2008. We have have booked a tour for Cinque Terre through Papillion services. The cost is $440 euros for up to six people and we have four already. www.papillionservice.com. Please let me know.
Thanks, Jill

Hi Nina,
I was able to copy and paste the information regarding this tour. Please let me know if you are interested.

Thanks,
Jill


CHAUFFEUR DRIVE SERVICE FOR SIGHTSEEING OF ITALY'S CITIES - WE ARE THE NUMBER ONE IN SHORE EXCURSIONS FROM LIVORNO PORT!





PORTOVENERE - CINQUE TERRE



The "Cinque Terre" are five small ancient fortified villages inaccessible until some decades ago when a road was built. "Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre" is a Nature Sanctuary, Unesco World Envoronmental and Cultural Heritage!

To visit the Cinque Terre means to visit five villages suspended between sea and earth, clinging on the cliffs and surrounded by green hills, means to understand the history of whom, for centuries, has fought against difficult land but it also means to taste the result of this millenarian struggle and in particular wine and produce. Here the sea, the hills, the vineyards, the old ancient villages and the Genovese style churches add together to result in breathtaking scenery. There are no cars and no noise but only nature!

The tour start from Portovenere, here you can take the boat (*)and reach the first village, Riomaggiore. Here, after visiting the village you can reach the next one, Manarola, not by boat by through the famous path Via dell'Amore - translated in English it means The Path of Love – that starts from Riomaggiore and arrives to Manarola, curving around the coast and seems to be hung up to the mountains that dominate the sea.
It is just one of the path surrounding the Cinque Terre, but definitely the most spectacular, because of the breath-taking view that allows you to enjoy the beautiful panorama of the coast, a perfect marriage between the sea and mountains. This trail is suitable for everyone, about 1 km long in a 20 minutes time and it is unforgettable!



Once in Manarola you can take the boat again to reach Vernazza, passing in front at Corniglia, where the boat cannot stop,take your time to enjoy Vernazza and then take another boat to Monterosso, the last one of the five villages where you will find our driver waiting for you! From there a scenic drive up to the mountains over the Cinque Terre lands to go back to La Spezia where you will take the highway to Livorno.

Remeber that, during the boat transfers, everywhere you can stop as long as you like and everywhere you can eat the best fish of the world drinking the wine produced on the hill that surround the villages...








And a wonderful gift for your group leader...

Cantuccini and Vin Santo, typical biscuits of Tuscany region to taste with our sweet wine, for you!



Duration: 9 hours

costs:

Luxury sedan - One to Three passengers - Euro 380.00 per vehicle

Luxury van - Four to Six passengers - Euro 440.00 per vehicle

luxury van - Seven to Eight passengers - Euro 500.00 per vehicle

Coach up to 20/33/50 passengers on demand



Please note:

Price include english speaking driver guide for all tour long.

Tours by coach include english speaking escort.

Price do not include lunch or entrance fees.

Boat tour (one way): Euro 15.00 per person, on request.

(*) Please Note: the ticket of the boat allow you to visit all the Cinque Terre, one way.

You can leave the boat at any village and stay as long as you like taking, with the same ticket, another boat later to continue the trip.



Timetable of the boats:

Portovenere 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 14:15 15:00 16:00
Riomaggiore 09:20 10:30 11:30 12:00 12:30 14:45 15:25 16:25
Manarola 10:40 11:40 12:10 12:40 14:55 15:30 16:30
Corniglia
Vernazza 10:55 11:55 12:30 12:55 15:15 15:50 16:50
Monterosso 09:50 11:10 12:10 12:40 13:10 15:25 16:05 17:10







FOR BOOKING OR INFORMATION REQUEST PLEASE CONTACT US NOW!







All Rights Reserved ©2003/2007 Papillonservice.com - Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Thank you!

This thread must have been in the back of my memory, because after a lot of discussion my wife and I are thinking about heading back to Cinque Terre. Our reasoning is that we will be in Livorno on May 1, which most of you know is a very major national holiday (Labor Day) in Italy. We have previously been in Italy on May 1 and this is a day when most stores and many museums are closed. We decided to rent a car (we are used to driving in Italy) and probably drive up to Cinque Terre. The total cost of a car rental will be about $100 and there really is no need for a guide to do the 5 villages (you can use your feet, ferry, and/or trains). We might consider taking another couple with us (this cuts the transportation cost to about $25 per person) but keep in mind that we would be renting a very small car and its a windy road from La Spezia to Riomaggiore. If we have enough time we might even stop at Viareggio which is a nice Italian beach resort city.

Hank

Hi Jill,

Thanks for the information on your tour to Cinque Terre. Sorry I didn't respond back sooner. I haven't been back to the site to review the posts in a while.

I will have to check with the other couple we are travelling with. I know that we still are interested in going to Cinque Terre. I saw that Princess has an excursion that takes you to Cinque Terre that you can reserve.

Do you have more information on this tour that you will be taking. Will they pick you up from the pier. Do they take you right to the Cinque Terre area or do we have to get our own train passes to get to the actual towns.

If you want, please email me at ninactreid@yahoo.ca since I would like to chat more with you. Maybe we can set it up for a vehicle for 8 people instead if the four of us decide to go on it.

Thanks again
Nina

Hi Hank: We are arriving in Livorno at 8:30 and must be back on board by 7PM. I saw your post about renting a car and going to Cinque Terre. Have you done your trip? If so, how easy was it to get a rental car at the Livorno port? We are used to driving in Italy, but my concern is getting back to the ship in time!!
Thanks for any advice.
ccjean

Hi Jean,
Yes, we got home last week after 2 months of travel fun. We did the Cinque Terre trip on May 1, which was a major 4 day holiday weekend in Italy. Keep in mind that we have driven thousands of miles in Italy (and other countries of Western Europe) so the drive was nothing new. But, renting a car in Livorno has become somewhat of a hassle because of the increased security surrounding cruise ships. Our rental company was unable to deliver the car to the pier (because of new security precautions) which meant we had to get to the other side of the port (about 1 mile)to the main port terminal building (Maxirent has their offices in that building). The cruise line (Princess) prohibited the shuttle bus from dropping us at the port entrance. The security folks on the pier prohibited us from walking (about a 20 min stroll). In the end our only option was to take a taxi which was about a 5 min ride within the port. The taxis insisted on 20 Euros for the short ride and we finally caved-in and 4 of us spilt the cost. We probably should call this unarmed robbery. When we returned the car that same evening we walked back to the ship (the security folks just smiled and waved). As to getting back to the ship on time, that is under your control. In our case, we did 3 of the villages, drove back to Pisa in mid-afternoon (our passengers had never seen the Leaning Tower), stopped at the Leaning Tower, and got back to the port about 5:15 (our ship was leaving at 7). I have recently heard some rumors (I cannot confirm the rumors) that Hertz has been sucessful in getting to the piers.

The problem with all this is that things never stay the same in Italy (its one of the things we love about the country) so its unpredictable as to what challenges you will face (more fun). We did notice that one major change in Italy is they have added numerous "speed cameras" along some of the "A" roads. Our big question is whether we will get any speeding fines. We did keep our speed under 150 Kph and the bigger cars were still passing us at these speeds. Its hard to imagine Italy enforcing speed limits, but I guess times do change.

Hank

Hank: Thanks very much for your info. We also have driven extensively throughout Europe so the driving is no problem. But will be our first cruise so I'm just not sure of times and how things work at the ports, so you were very helpful.

I will contact Hertz and Maxirent and see if we can reserve a car.

Thanks again.

I want to go to Cinqueterre next september, for my wife and i it'is expensive to go Cinqueterre with this company, nobody knows how to take a taxi in Livorno port; i think that there will be the taxis next to the ship, but i don't know exactly.

We just returned from our cruise. In Livorno we arrived at 8AM and had to be back at the ship by 7PM. I had reserved a car through Hertz and they were waiting for us right at the ship. It cost about Euro 89. The drive to Cinque Terre was quite easy-- Autostrade 12 to La Spezia and then follow the directions to Cinque Terre. We parked the car at Riomaggiore (indoor car park) about Euro 2 an hour. We walked the trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola, took the train to Monterrosa, swam and ate lunch and took the boat back to Riomaggiore. Well worth the trip, absolutely beautiful views. Got back to our dock just at 7PM.

Look out Cinque Terre - m/m Ftroute will be there - on our own self-tour on 10/7/2008! You best believe I'm going to take lots of pics and document the entire self-excursion for the benefit of those that may choose to follow!

I send an E-mail to the taxi company in Livorno:
www.taxiforcruisers.com
I'm waiting the answer, nobody knows this company?

You ask if there were taxis at the port and the answer is yes. There will be quite a few taxis right next to your ship, and they will be looking for more expensive full-day or half-day hires. Keep in mind that most of these taxis will want several hundred Euros for a full day. Cinque Terre is about 1 1/2 hour each way (to Riomaggiore) and these taxis would be happy to drive you, wait, and bring you back. For those of us comfortable driving in Italy, it usually costs about $100 - $120 to rent a car for the entire day, plus about another $15 to park at Riomaggiore. I only mention this since its exactly what we did on May 1, and since we split the cost with another couple our out-of-pocket expense was about $60 per person (we paid a premium to rent a car on May 1 because it was a holiday.

Hank

Yes, it will be easy to rent a car, but i hate drive, i'm in holyday. For me, the taxi to Cinqueterre full day it is the best idea. I found other two friends, so we can divide 380 Euros. Less than 100 Euros each.
I think that we reserve with this company.
By
Jimenex

We are two couples traveling on the Celebrity Century October 20th who definitely want to spend our day in Livorno at Cinque Terra. We do not want to rent a car. We dock at 7am and depart at 7pm. It seems like its very expensive to hire a driver if all he's going to do is drop us at the first town and pick us up at the last. We will still be responsible for getting to each town on our own, whether walking, training or boating? Has anyone done this independently, is there a train from Livorno to the first town? We are fairly active individuals, would love to do some hiking, maybe combining it with trains or boats? Would love some help with this one.Please feel free to contact me directly if you prefer.
Cherikm@aol.com
cherikm@aol.com

Yes, we have done this independently, as recently as this past May 1 (we rented a car and drove to Riomaggiore). I will not tell you what you want to hear, but will try to give you facts. There are only four possible ways to get to Cinque Terre from Livorno on a port day. 1) Take the tour offered by your cruise line. 2) Rent a car and drive yourself. 3) Hire a private car/driver and 4..take trains. You can pretty much rule out 4 unless they drastically overhaul the train schedules. You have already ruled out number 2. So, you either go on the cruise line's tour or hire a private car/driver (quite expensive). I know a company that will provide car/driver for 65 Euros per person (this was the price as of late April) but you would need 5 people. I am not aware of any other options.

Hank