Five villages, one train line, three days: the plan writes itself. What does not write itself is the budget — because in 2026 the park card changed, and its price now depends on the date you pick. The same 3-day adult card costs €49 or €81. Here is how to choose it, and why the car has no business here.
💶 Transparency: this article contains a single partner link, and it appears only in the paragraph where it answers a real need. If you book through it we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Everywhere else we send you to the park’s own ticketing and to the stations, where we earn nothing.
The decision that shapes all three days: do not come by car
The five villages are built into ravines running down to the sea. Their streets are narrow, often closed to traffic, and the car parks sit above the houses. You park far away, you pay for it, you walk down — and back up in the evening.
Meanwhile the train links the five villages in minutes and drops you in the middle of each one. The line hugs the coast and spends most of the ride in tunnel: it is not a panorama, it is a horizontal lift, and that is exactly what you want.
🟢 If you arrive by car, the call is simple: leave it in La Spezia or Levanto for the three days and do not touch it again. Those two towns bracket the line, have real parking capacity, and are markedly cheaper to sleep in than the five villages.
The park card changed in 2026 — and its price depends on your date
This is the point almost no guide has updated. Two changes, both of them consequential.
First: the “Plus” category is gone. Two options remain — the Treno card, which includes the regional trains, and the Trekking card, which does not. If an article still tells you about the Plus, it is out of date, and its prices probably are too.
Second, and this is the expensive one: the fare follows demand. The park splits the year into three fasce — A, B and C — and the price tracks the expected crowd on your date.
| Profile | 1 day | 2 days | 3 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult (12-69) | €22.00 – €35.00 | €36.50 – €61.00 | €49.00 – €81.00 |
| Child (4-12) | €15.00 – €23.50 | €24.50 – €40.50 | €33.00 – €53.50 |
| Senior (70+) | €18.50 – €29.50 | €30.50 – €51.00 | €41.00 – €67.50 |
| Family (2 adults + children) | €56.50 – €91.50 | €94.00 – €159.00 | €125.50 – €210.50 |
⚠️ Read the “adult, 3 days” line: €49 or €81. Same product, +65% depending on the date. For a family of four, the gap between one week and the next runs into tens of euros. Check the park’s band calendar before you fix your dates, not after.
📌 What the card includes, and it is not only the train: unlimited second-class regional trains between La Spezia, the five villages and Levanto, access to the Verde Azzurro trail and the Via dell’Amore, park buses, two museums, wi-fi and toilets.
Card or single tickets? The sum, and its real test
The single ticket is a flat fare: €5 to €10 depending on the period, whatever the stations you travel between on the Levanto ↔ Cinque Terre ↔ La Spezia line. Children aged 4 to 11 pay half. One stop therefore costs the same as end to end.
🟢 But the real test is not the number of rides. It is this question: are you going to walk the paid sections?
- Yes, you are walking. The card is the simple way into the paid trails. The train arithmetic is secondary: take it.
- No, you are not walking and you take two rides a day. Compare properly: two or three daily tickets can come out below the day card, especially in a high band.
One practical point: single tickets are bought from the station machines, and there are queues at peak times. If you go the ticket route, buy the day’s tickets in the morning, all at once.
Getting there, and where to sleep
The Cinque Terre are reached via La Spezia to the south or Levanto to the north, both on the line. From Pisa or Genoa the regional train is frequent, cheap and drops you straight at either: it is the normal solution, and the one we recommend.
It has one honest limit: a late arrival at Pisa or Genoa airport, after the last regional, with luggage and children. In that case only, booking a private transfer in advance saves you an extra hotel night near the airport. Check the last train first: nine times out of ten it is still running.
🟢 Where to sleep: La Spezia and Levanto are markedly cheaper than the five villages, and you are minutes away by train regardless. Sleeping in a village costs more — in exchange you have it to yourself at dawn and after dark, once the trains have taken everyone home. That is a genuine trade-off, not an obvious choice.
Day 1 — Riomaggiore, Manarola, and a slot to book
Start in the south. Riomaggiore is the first village out of La Spezia: a single street dropping to the harbour between stacked houses, and a small mole to sit on at the end of the day.
⚠️ This is where the Via dell’Amore begins, and it must be booked. In 2026 access is by time slot, in fifteen-minute bands, and for visitors the path runs one way, from Riomaggiore towards Manarola. Take the slot before building your day: it dictates what time you must be in Riomaggiore, not the other way round.
The path is short and easy, cut into the cliff above the water. It comes out at Manarola, probably the most photogenic of the five: the viewpoint not to miss is the small headland to the right of the harbour, late in the afternoon, when the light hits the façades head-on.
Day 2 — the Sentiero Azzurro, and the footwear rule
The second day is the walking day, between Monterosso, Vernazza and Corniglia. This is the stretch of the Sentiero Verde Azzurro covered by the card, and the only place from which you see the villages as they look in photographs: from above, off the cliff.
⛔ A rule to know before you set off: flip-flops, sandals and open shoes have been banned on the trails since 2019. The ordinance provides for penalties of up to €2,500; in practice the amounts reported are more like €50 to €100. We give you both figures because they say different things: the first is the ceiling in the text, the second is what happens.
And the rule is justified: some sections exceed 400 metres of ascent, with natural steps, exposed roots and clay ground that turns slippery after rain. Trainers with a gripping sole are enough — nobody is asking for mountain boots.
📌 Corniglia deserves a warning of its own. It is the only one of the five with no direct access to the sea, and the only one whose station lies below it: about 380 steps up, or the park shuttle. Not insurmountable, but better known before you arrive there late in the day on tired legs.
Day 3 — Monterosso, the beach, and the boat
Finish in the north, and not by accident. Monterosso al Mare is the largest of the five, the flattest, and the only one with a real sandy beach. After two days of steps, it is the right way to end.
🟢 And if the weather allows, take the boat. The passenger ferries link the villages and give the one view neither the train nor the trails provide: all five villages from the sea, whole. ⚠️ Note that the boat is not included in the Cinque Terre Card — it is paid separately at the quay — and sailings are cancelled as soon as the sea gets up. It is a good surprise to seize when it appears, not a plan to build a day on.
If you still have time, push on to Portovenere, south of La Spezia: outside the five villages, outside the crowd, and often lovelier at sunset than anything you will have seen in three days.