We advise you to avoid being heavy packed: in this way you will be able to travel by train and reach Cinque Terre without struggling waiting to hire the car, finding traffic on the highway, driving very winding roads and search for parking possibility.
We have a deal with a small private (pay) parking but you have to ask us ahead of time: we will be happy to assist you !
Another possibility is to park (free) the car before descending to Monterosso (see picture): the place is called “Colle di Gritta” and there is lot of room to park. After having unloaded the luggages in front of the building, drive up again to park and come down with the small shuttle for 2€.
Of course, if it is not possible and you really need to get a car, in La Spezia, there are some trustable Car Rental Company: have a look here below:
If you decide to reach Cinque Terre by train, don’t hesitate to have a look and eventually purchase your tickets through trenitalia.com which is the Italian National Railway. In case of strike, they will refund your tickets if you have booked through their circuit, otherwise, not 🙁
Be aware that Trenitalia works with seasons schedules and sets them online a couple of months before: don’t worry if you are looking for a train too much ahead of time and you wouldn’t be able to see it yet …..it will appear, just take a look from time to time 🙂
In Italy you have different kinds of trains:
– Regional and fast Regional: they will stop at each station and you cannot reserve a seat.
– Intercity Train: fast train for which you must reserve a seat, they are comfortable trains with lots of place for your luggages.
– Frecciabianca, Frecciargento, Frecciarossa: very fast trains (especially the third one) but they won’t stop in Monterosso. You will always be able to catch them in La Spezia (Frecciabianca and Frecciargento) or Pisa and Milano, Roma, Firenze for Frecciarossa. Only with reservation: very comfortable trains !!
Here below one example of the way you will have to insert your travel details:
