A visit to Cinque Terre deserves more than one day. It is breathtaking! We made the mistake of attempting to explore three of the five villages in a single day trip from Florence. We went to the Florence train station the day before, and purchased our train tickets. Purchase a train ticket to La Spezia as there is no direct train to Cinque Terre. Once in La Spezia you can switch to the Terre Express train. It runs every fifteen minutes with stops at the five villages of Cinque Terre.

Fortunately the Florence ticket agent suggested that we make reservations for the penultimate return trip rather than taking a chance on the last train out of La Spezia. She was right! They ended up cancelling the last train due to an extensive delay. Thankfully we were not stuck sleeping in the train station.

Although we got to experience the beauty of Cinque Terre, we did not have time to hike from one village to the next. In retrospection we should have booked a room for the night at one of the villages. I think it is best to also keep a room in Florence for the night away. It’s no fun checking in and out, and hauling luggage from one destination to the next. Ciao, ciao!

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