Help and advise using public transport around Tuscany, from Florence city centre to the Italian riviera would be appreciated

anastasios21

New member
Holidaying in June for 10 days , First stop Florence city. We would like to travel on to the Italian Riviera stopping over on route . Advise on the
Best use of public transport and where to stay please
 
Ciao! I would suggest you just use the train/rail system to head west from Florence and either pass through Pisa or Lucca and make a stop there, then you can continue north toward La Spezia. Once you get there, you can change trains and go toward Monterosso al Mare and that will take you through ALL of the five Cinque Terre, which everyone loves to visit to walk/hike. Do you like to hike? I would highly recommend it IF the temperatures are not too warm when you are here. Hiking footwear is recommended to go on the trails, do not attempt otherwise.
I would highly recommend you stay in one of the Cinque Terre, we personally really love Manarola for it's charm but also enjoy Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. Then you can keep on heading north along the coast to enjoy other towns, including Genova (Genoa). Had you already decided where you want to end up along the Riviera?
 
Thank you for your reply,
have not decided exactly were on the Rivera. however if time permits i would like to visit Portofino.
I shall be meeting my cousin in Florence who will be travelling from Cyprus, there no direct flights from Cyprus to Italy. We have to also be mindful of our return journeys to our airports, going forward.
Therefore your expert advise would be more then welcome.
I shall take a look at a map for distances. Maybe we should start at the riviera and make our last visit Florence city
Should we purchase rail tickets in advance?. .Once i know my cousins travel arrangement we can then plan a route with your help
With Thanks
 
Most definitely Portofino would be a good stop, it is north of the Cinque Terre. Florence makes a good base to start off, but you can definitely leave visiting it to the end of your 10 days if you wish (June 24th is a big city celebration for St. John the Baptist so there is a parade in historical costume, the Calcio Storico Fiorentino final match and fireworks once it gets dark - if you can be here for that, I think you would love it! So if you still can, try to plan around that date being here).

Yep, I would recommend you look at the map and see distances to plan an itinerary. Places here are close to each other but there is a lot of things to see at each place, so I recommend trying to see less in order to enjoy everything more ;-). Let me know what you come up with, I can offer feedback on your ideas before you make definite plans.

As for rail tickets, I don't recommend getting them in advance since you'll be doing mostly regional trains and those do not offer advantages to booking ahead, including no assigned seating. So all you need to do is arrive ahead of time and get on train early on. Nowadays, the easiest is to download the app for Trenitalia and that allows you to buy tickets on the app without need of doing any lines whatsoever, or needing to "validate" the tickets with a machine, you do it directly in the app.
 
Top