Let’s start by saying that the Cinque Terre Trekking Card offers some advantages and it is surely the best way to explore the villages.
One of the benefits is that from March until October you can find a train every 15 minutes, included in the card. It’s called 5 Terre Express and it stops in: La Spezia Centrale, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso, and Levanto. This service counts about 100 trains per day just to visit the villages and it runs 7 days a week.
Different Choices of Cards
The second thing you have to know is that there are two types of cards that allow you to buy a package of services in addition to train tickets OR bus ones. You can buy it at Info Points in the villages or any railway station.
Cinque Terre Card Treno MS (Multiservice)
It is the first typology and it allows you to:
• Take regional trains from La Spezia to Levanto (and viceversa)
• Access to the Cinque Terre National Park activities and hiking trails. Guided visits and naturalistic tours as listed on cinqueterre.it
Take buses in the villages
• Free bathroom services in Riomaggiore, Vernazza and Monterosso
• Participate to laboratories at the Environmental Education Center
+ Wi-Fi and Hot Spot provided by the National Park
+ Discounts for the Municipal Museums in La Spezia
Costs from 16 March to 3 November:
-1 Day Adults: 16€ (12-16 y/o) valid for 24h from validation
Kids 10€ (4-11y/o)
Over70 13€
Family (2 adults + 2 kids 4-12 y/o) 42€
-2 Days: 29€/ Kids 13€
– 3 Days: 41€
Costs from November to March:
– 1 Day Adults 13€ Kids 7.30€ / Family 31.50€
– 2 Days Adults 23€ / Kids: 15€
Although I wouldn’t recommend it, the other typology of the card it’s called Cinque Terre Trekking Card. It offers the same services except for train transportation. It has a daily cost of 7.50€ (1day)/14.50€ (2days) for adults and 4.50€ /7.20€ for kids from March to November.
A one-way ticket for any of the villages costs 4€ for tourists, plus most trekking trails have a cost of about 7€. Plus the time schedule of bus rides is insanely poor.
Tips by a Local:
– Remember to validate the card or the ticket at the station when you start using it, there are a lot of controls!
– Remember that it will be valid from the time of the validation, NOT the day you buy it.
– Pay attention to pickpockets at the station AND on the train.
– The lines to buy the card are frequently really long, but you can buy it online.
– If you do not want to spend too much energy and avoid the 380 steps you have to climb to get to Corniglia from the station, you can always use ATC buses. Check the time schedule first, buses are not frequent as trains.
I hope this article has been useful!