How to get from Florence to Cinque Terre

You enjoy your time in Italy sipping red wine and eating great Italian pasta? There is so much to see in the southern European country. The good thing – it’s incredibly easy to get around. Trains are fast, cheap and reliable which makes traveling through Italy extremely laid back. In this short article, we want to help you to get from Florence to Cinque Terre.

In our three weeks in Italy, we solely relied on trains. Therefore also from Florence to Cinque Terre but there are a couple of other options. First off, it’s good to know that Cinque Terre is a national park that consists of five villages.

These five colorful villages are what you most likely heard about. From Florence, you first go to La Spezia, which works as a gate to the national park itself.

Florence to Cinque Terre by train

For researching trains we always used Omio. Here you get an easy overview with the cheapest and fastest options. You can pick the time you prefer and book here right away, without leaving the platform. They also have an app allowing you to book tickets on the run. For us, that always was extremely handy.

Screenshot Omio

As you can see the ride is affordable! For the two hour trip, you will pay round about 10 bucks.

Train travelers tip: Be aware! Florence has a number of different train stations from where you can leave for La Spezia. It can be SMN, or a different one. Just have an eye on that.

Arrived in La Spezia, you can either move in your accommodation or continue straight to the coastal villages. Therefore change trains in La Spezia. For this, we wrote an article with all the information on the beautiful Cinque Terre villages. Make sure to read and get all our tips.

Florence to Cinque Terre

Leaving Florence – bus tickets in Florence

Before you can jump on the train, you need to get to the train station. Therefore busses are often the best way to go. However, the bus system in Florence is a bit weird. Better to say the way to get tickets can be confusing.

Here are the options you have: The first option is to get a ticket in a nearby tabaccheria. Tickets here are a bit cheaper than on the bus. The second way is the purchase on the bus. In some buses (also not in every bus possible) you can purchase tickets also. Therefore, you normally just tap your debit or credit card against the vending machine and the ticket(s) to the desired destination is purchased.

Note: Don’t try to purchase the ticket via SMS. We did that several times but it didn’t work without an Italian phone number.

Florence to Cinque Terre by car

When you are on a road trip through Italy you most likely have a car, which you want to use. The trip will take round about 2-3 hours, depending on the route you take. Important to keep in mind that the route has tolls! If you want to save these bucks and invest them later in something yummy to eat, just pick that option in Google Maps. Then, the ride will be an hour longer but at the same time lead through the beautiful Tuscany.

If you have time, that’s definitely the way to go!

If you are in a rush, decide in favor of the faster route via Pistoia.

Last but not least, we would love to share another tip with you. While traveling we often were unsure on where to get a rental car. Companies often seem dodgy as you never fully understand what you get and insurance is often a big question mark.

After being happy Centauro clients for a while, we now started to work together with the rental car company. We always felt taken care of, the communication is extremely easy and clear. So, if you are still looking for a car during your time, Centauro is surely recommended (use the code IWBPRL15 to safe a few bucks in your booking).

That’s a wrap! Hopefully, this article helped you to figure out how to get from Florence to Cinque Terre.