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Hotel Class: 
3.5 Stars - 18 Opinions
Salita Al Piano 18/19, Loc. Il Piano, La Spezia, Italian Riviera, 19131, Italy
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of people enjoy staying here
18 Opinions
The bay of la Spezia
Some interesting streets
Port
A map of Liguria
I read in a guide book that one can take a boat from La Spezia to Cinque Terra or from one of villages of Cinque Terra to La Spezia. We are arriving on cruise boat in La Spezia at 0800 hours and cruise leaves La Spezia at 2000hours. What would be the best? take a train from La Spezia in the morning? -need local train time table as very difficult to get time table in trainItalia site. and return by ferry-boat (local to La Spezia in the evening if time permit) Need the local ferry service name, where availble- how far from cruise port etc. Would greatly appriciate having some information
so you actually have 12 hours on the total and the ship is mostly an excursion-ship that starts maybe at 11.00am, passes by Manarola etc. and gives you first 30 min. from Vernazza (thats not enough) then the ship goes on to Monterosso and from there it leaves again at lets say 05.00pm and you have to stick to this schedule of the ship and see 2 places out of 5.
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the better option would be the train: There are daytickets and they include also the entrancefee to the national park (=scenic hiking-path). Trains arev running in short intervalls all day long
La Spezia has a huge marina and port. There you may observe fancy yachts and sailing boats as well as some other more modest, but nonetheless less enjoyable. Also, there are some fishing boats on one side of the port.
In La Spezia there are regular boats that take visitors to Portovenere and Cinque Terre, as well as Lerici. Visiting Corsica (for a few days) is another option, as there are boats departing from La Spezia to the French island.
Manarola. The walking path between Riomaggiore and the second town, Manarola is called 'Via dell'Amore'( 'The Road of Love').It is the most famous section of path on the Cinque Terre trail.It overlooks the sea and you can see and hear the waves on the rocks.It is very romantic and I think the name suits it well!:-)
The Gulf is stunning and must have been even better when the town was a simple fishing village.
Visitors not wanting to stay in La Spezia could try anyone of Porto Venere, Lerici-Fiascherino, Le Grazie, Tellaro or Villa Marigola. All have kept their original aspect and if you are looking for 'quaint', these are for you.
I was in La Spezia twice: in 1994 (visiting Pontovenere and Riomaggiore by a car) and in 1999 visiting Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare by a car and a train.
La Spezia itself seems not to be very interesting place but the coastal region north of La Spezia called Le Cinque Terre (Five lands) is the MOST BEAUTIFUL coastal area of Italy, in my opinion even more beautiful then amazing Costa de Amalfi south of Naples.
CINQUE TERRE
Eighteen kilometers (11 mi) of sheer rocky coastline, terraced hills and vineyards sloping steeply down to the sea.
Five little villages are built into the rocks between the beach and the hills. You can hike, swim, drink red wine, and watch blazing Mediterranean sunsets away from the tourist throngs in the Italian cities and the French Riviera. Centuries old footpaths and mule tracks wind about 500 to 1,000 feet above the sea, leading through olive groves and vineyards, orchards and chestnut woods.
Each village has its own character, they are a few minutes apart by train.
There are almost no cars as the villages are not easily accessible by road, but the main railway between Rome and Paris runs along the coast, mainly in tunnels.
Much more about Portovenere and 5 villages of Cinque Terre on their own pages:
- Portovenere - click here
- Riomaggiore - click here
- Manarola - soon,
- Corniglia - soon,
- Vernazza - soon,
- Monterosso al Mare - soon.
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La Spezia is located on Mediterranean Coast (Ligurian Sea, Gulf of La Spezia) of Liguria 99 km (62 mi) southeast of Genova.
La Spezia is a pleasant city at the centre of the Gulf, with a beautiful panorama and an extremely mild climate.
It's mainly known as industrial and port city. There are passenger and car ferries departuring from la Spezia to Bastia in the French island of Corsica.
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La Spezia is well known NATO naval base, so you can see there many naval ships (I preferred not to take them pics hehe). There is the Naval Museum founded in 1870 in La Spezia - quite interesting if you like model ships from Egyptian and Roman times to the more recent ships of the Italian Navy and the Navies of various European states.
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Q: Train Travel - Cinque Terre to Florence via Pisa "Is it possible to stopover in Pisa on the way to Florence? i.e. stay there and get on a later train? How much time should you..."
A: "This might help you, check this out... http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187817-i997-k794509-Trains_from_Florence_to_Cinque_Terre-Cinque_Terre_Italian_Riviera.html"
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