The Cinque Terre Express train connects all five Cinque Terre towns, as well as Levanto and La Spezia, two bases for exploring the towns. Trains are fast, comfortable, clean, and frequent.
Travel tip: Even if you arrive in Cinque Terre by car, as we did, we still recommend using trains to explore and leave your car safely parked. Read our Cinque Terre by car guide for all tips.
Getting to Cinque Terre by train
In addition to exploring Cinque Terre by train, you can also get there from many popular Italian destinations.
From Genoa, Pisa, and Florence, you can ride the train there and back on a day trip, and from other further-away spots, you’d need to stay overnight.
Keep in mind: InterCity trains only stop in Monterosso, and you need to take the Cinque Terre Express to get to other towns.
Getting to Cinque Terre by train:
- From Genoa in 1 hour (direct regional)
- From Pisa in 1 hour and 15 minutes (direct InterCity)
- From Florence in 2.5 hours (change in Pisa)
- From Milan in 4 hours (direct InterCity)
- From Rome in 3.5 to 4.5 hours (change in Pisa or La Spezia)
- From Venice in 5.5 hours with 2 changes (Florence and Pisa)
Regional trains, like the one from Genoa/Levanto and from La Spezia, do not require a change of trains.
That’s why, if the timing of the Intercity train to Monterosso doesn’t work for you, we recommend taking a train to Levanto or La Spezia, then taking the Cinque Terre Express the rest of the way. That gives you a lot more flexibility.
Cinque Terre Express train travel time
Starting from the northernmost town, the train takes:
- 5 min from Levanto to Monterosso
- 4 min from Monterosso to Vernazza
- 4 min from Vernazza to Corniglia
- 5 min from Corniglia to Manarola
- 6 min from Manarola to Riomaggiore
- 9 min from Riomaggiore to La Spezia
Train schedule
Trains in Cinque Terre are clean, new, and run frequently and on time, about every 15 to 20 minutes. Except in the early morning or evening, when they go a bit less frequently.
For optimizing your train travel in Cinque Terre, check the current schedule on the official website. It’s a bit more complicated to read, though, so take your time to understand it fully – also watch out for weekends and holidays.
Where to buy your train ticket
You can buy tickets at every train station and online on the Trenitalia website or their app.
We recommend buying the train tickets at the train station. Buying your ticket at the train station means you can pick and choose which train you want to take and not be bound to a specific date or time. Keep in mind that you need to validate your train tickets if you buy them on the spot.
The best way to optimize time and money while exploring Cinque Terre by train is to get the Cinque Terre train card. More on that in the next section.
Tip: If you choose to buy individual train tickets for Cinque Terre at the train station, we recommend buying them in the morning or late afternoon to avoid potential lines and wasting precious time. In the high season and peak times of the day, the lines for buying train tickets can get super long.
Prices
A single adult train ticket for the Cinque Terre Express costs 5, 8, or 10 EUR, depending on the season (low, shoulder, high).
Children (4-12 years) get a 50% discount, and those under 4 years get to ride for free (if they’re not taking a seat).
High season ticket prices:
- Weekends in summer, as well as public holidays, fall into the most expensive category (10 EUR).
- Most of June and September, as well as weekdays in July and August, fall into the middle category (8 EUR).
- Most of March, April, May, and October are in the cheapest category (5 EUR).
- Between November and mid-March, the train card is considerably cheaper (2.40 EUR).
- In the evening hours, the ticket is a bit cheaper, no matter the season (5 EUR).
How to validate your train ticket
Paper ticket bought at the train station
If you buy a ticket at the train station (paper ticket), you always need to validate it. You can find the green validation machines before entering the platforms. Allow yourself some extra time to find one if it’s your first time. Otherwise, you risk a fine for not validating your ticket.
Online or in the app
You do not need to validate tickets bought online or in the app, since they’re bound to a time of departure and validated automatically.
Keep in mind that if you buy a ticket online, and your plans change, you’re less flexible. You can change the date of your online ticket by the end of the day before the travel day or change the departure time before the departure time you bought. Be careful with this, and prepare accordingly. If you know that you won’t catch the train at the time listed on your online ticket, change it for a later departure on time.
Cinque Terre Card
Having the Cinque Terre Card means you don’t need to validate any tickets for train travel in Cinque Terre. This allows you to save money, time, and makes it a lot more stress-free experience.
We’re happy we chose to buy the Cinque Terre Card, as it made our time exploring the towns so much easier. Plus, we did actually save a bunch of money.
Read our full guide to the Cinque Terre Card to learn all about it and see all its benefits.
Oh, and one of the cool benefits of the Cinque Terre Card is that it includes the shuttle bus from Corniglia’s train station to the center of the town. That way, you avoid climbing a lot of stairs.
We visited Corniglia multiple times, walked the stairs, and also used the shuttle when we needed to get to the town faster.
Practical tips from our trip
You must have a valid ticket! Don’t risk fines for not having one, as ticket control checks happen often. There was a ticket control right on our first train.
Don’t forget to validate your ticket if you buy it at the train station (paper ticket)!
In the high season, trains can be packed full. It’s still the best way to travel, but the journey can be a bit less comfortable.
The Cinque Terre Express ticket is not valid for high-speed Intercity trains to Pisa/Florence, which also pass here. So make sure to follow the signs about arriving trains.
If you board the intercity train, it also won’t stop in every town, and you might end up somewhere you don’t want to.
While waiting for one of our trains, we saw one couple accidentally separated like that. They both boarded the wrong train. One managed to get off, and one didn’t. Not a fun situation to be in!
Trains in Cinque Terre are not scenic! It might seem so when you see them at certain picturesque parts (like from Vernazza beach – photo we used at the start of the article), but they’re fast and mostly pass through tunnels. So, for the best views, you need to go hiking (check the best trails here or check some of the best viewpoints).
There are toilets at each train station. The cost of toilets at train stations is 1 EUR and free with the Cinque Terre card. But during peak times, queues for toilets can be long. We had multiple situations where we had to skip the toilets at one station and wait until we got off at the next one.
Final thoughts about our experience with trains in Cinque Terre
Since we based ourselves in Levanto on our first visit, we used the trains in Cinque Terre a lot.
We only had positive experiences and can highly recommend using trains to get around. They were on time and followed the schedule, so it was easy to plan our itinerary around them.
There was just one time when, during peak time, the train seemed too crowded, so we decided to wait for another one. Oh, and there was a ticket control right away on our first ride. 😅 So, make sure to have a ticket and validate it if needed!
Happy train travel!
