Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre from Florence

Some two and a half hours from Florence, five villages share 15 km of coast and a regional train that stops at every one.

The Cinque Terre make a day trip from Florence: about two and a half hours each way by regional train to La Spezia, direct or changing at Pisa, then a few minutes on to the villages. A Frecciarossa or InterCity from Pisa saves a little. The alternative is one of our six coach day trips, 12 to 13 hours in all, from transport only to a guided day with Pisa, a boat ride or lunch.

Pisa and Cinque Terre — Photos courtesy of Tiqets

Cinque Terre day trips from Florence: what the six tours include

Our tours from Florence go by coach or minivan, about two hours each way, and fill a day of 12 to 13 hours. What changes from one to the next is what you get once you’re on the coast, and which of the five villages you see.

The day tour at €49 is transport only: a coach with a multilingual escort, Wi-Fi on board and free time by the sea, in English or Spanish. Its Classic option, €89, adds the boat tickets for the ride back along the coast; on both, the trains between the villages are yours to pay.

The Pisa day trip, at €79, includes the Park admission and the train tickets, a visit with the guide to Manarola and Monterosso, and free time in Pisa on the way for the Leaning Tower. You can cancel either of these up to 24 hours before.

The day trip with an optional hike, at €135, has an English-speaking guide all day, a full-day train ticket and the Park entry, and its route climbs the 380 or so steps to Corniglia. The boat runs only from the end of March to the end of October, so a winter date has none, and the listing doesn’t say what the hike covers while the path from Manarola to Corniglia is closed. Its age bands differ from the other tours: children are 8 to 17, adults 18 and over.

The one with lunch, at €169, includes the trains, a boat ride when the weather allows, and lunch with drinks. The food tour, at €168, gives you free time in Riomaggiore, Manarola, Monterosso and Vernazza, with street-food tastings and boat and train tickets (not on its semi-independent option), and you can cancel up to 72 hours before.

The semi-private tour, at €164.88, travels by minivan with a live guide and adds the Park entry, the trains, a boat if the sea allows and a light walk through the vineyards; you can cancel up to 48 hours before.

Four weekends in the coming months have no trains between Corniglia and La Spezia: 14–15 November, 19–20 December, 9–10 January and 6–7 February. None of the six listings says how its day changes then, so if you can, pick another weekend.

Florence to the Cinque Terre by train, on your own

The train journey starts at Santa Maria Novella and runs to La Spezia Centrale, at the southern end of the Cinque Terre, where a regional takes you on to the villages. No high-speed line reaches the coast, but changing at Pisa onto a Frecciarossa, Frecciabianca or InterCity saves up to 24 minutes, at a higher fare.

Florence to the Cinque Terre by train (Trenitalia fares for 4 November 2026)

Regional to La Spezia Centrale: 2 h 20 to 2 h 32, direct or changing at Pisa; €15.90
Changing at Pisa onto a faster train: 2 h 08 to 2 h 13 to La Spezia; €18.70 to €24.70
La Spezia Centrale to Riomaggiore: 7 to 8 minutes; €2.70 out of season
Florence through to Riomaggiore: Two changes, at Pisa and La Spezia; 2 h 52 to 3 h 27; €16.95

Between the villages, the Cinque Terre Card with trains covers every regional from La Spezia to Levanto, plus the paid paths and the Via dell’Amore, for €17.30 a day from 2 November to 31 December. It’s sold at the ticket offices in Pisa Centrale and La Spezia Centrale, in the station machines and online, and it doesn’t cover InterCity or Frecciabianca trains, so the ride from Florence is a ticket of its own. Our page on the Cinque Terre Card explains the two versions.

At those prices, a day on your own from Florence comes to €49.10 for an adult in November and December: two regionals at €15.90 and the one-day train card. In the 2026 season the same day cost €53.80 to €66.80.

Riomaggiore seen from the south-east, its tall red, yellow and white houses stacked on the rock above a small harbour — Riomaggiore, the first village on the train from La Spezia Photo: Timothy A. Gonsalves, CC BY-SA 4.0

A November day in the Cinque Terre, starting from Florence

With the path from Manarola to Corniglia closed, a day on your own goes something like this, south to north:

Florence to the Cinque Terre and back, November 2026

1Florence to La Spezia on an early regional, about two and a half hours.
2La Spezia to Riomaggiore, seven or eight minutes on the regional train.
3The Via dell'Amore to Manarola, about 25 minutes on foot at the time you booked; it's open from 9:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:30.
4Manarola to Corniglia by train, round the closed path, then about 380 steps up to the village or the Park's bus.
5Corniglia to Vernazza on foot, an hour and a half, and the train back to La Spezia and on to Florence.

Look up the first train out of Florence and the last one back for your date before you book a time on the Via dell’Amore. Boats don’t call at Corniglia, which has no pier, and the public ones stop running on 8 December. If an orange or red weather warning is out, the paths are shut and the card goes off sale, so check the forecast before you set off.

Vernazza's harbour at golden hour, with moored boats, a church bell tower on the left and ochre and pink houses along the water — Vernazza, the end of the walk from Corniglia Photo: Robin Kendon, CC BY-SA 2.0

Frequently asked questions

Is Cinque Terre worth a day trip from Florence?

It's a long day. The train takes about two and a half hours each way to La Spezia, plus seven or eight minutes to Riomaggiore. Our coach tours take 12 to 13 hours in all, about two hours on the road each way, which leaves eight or nine hours for everything else, and the four that list their stops visit between two and four of the five villages. At the moment the path from Manarola to Corniglia is closed.

How do you get from Florence to Cinque Terre?

By regional train from Santa Maria Novella to La Spezia Centrale, direct or with a change at Pisa, in 2 h 20 to 2 h 32 for €15.90, and then a regional on to the villages, seven or eight minutes to Riomaggiore. Or on one of our coach day trips from Florence, about two hours each way.

How long is the high speed train from Florence to Cinque Terre?

There's no high-speed train to the Cinque Terre. The quickest way is to change at Pisa onto a Frecciarossa, Frecciabianca or InterCity, which gets you from Florence to La Spezia in 2 h 08 to 2 h 13, for €18.70 to €24.70; from there it's about eight minutes on the regional train to Riomaggiore.

What is nicer, Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre?

That's down to taste and to the rest of your trip. The Cinque Terre are two and a half hours from Florence by train, a long day but a possible one, while the Amalfi Coast sits near Naples and Pompeii.

Do the Cinque Terre tours from Florence include the trains between the villages?

Yes on the Pisa trip, the hike and boat trip, the lunch tour and the semi-private tour, and on the food tour except its semi-independent option. No on the transport-only tour, in either of its options: there you pay for the trains or a Cinque Terre Card yourself.