Itinerary cinque Terre to Paris

Old Nov 18th, 2022, 10:00 PM
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Itinerary cinque Terre to Paris

We very much want to go to Cinque Terre after making our way up from Spain. We will have about 6 days. Any help would be great. Have no preconceived ideas best thing to do so it makes it hard to plan. Many thanks in advance
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Old Nov 18th, 2022, 11:12 PM
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hi Susan, where are you departing Spain from, how long do you want to be in the 5 Terre, what time of the year is this and how many of you are there?
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Old Nov 19th, 2022, 01:20 AM
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To be honest, I wouldn't travel all the way from Spain to visit Cinque Terre. Yes, it's nice but not that nice. There are heaps of places I've enjoyed more.

Cinque Terre is primarily about hiking so I assume that would be your focus too but if not I definitely wouldn't travel all that way.

bilboburgler's questions are really relevant because the answers may make a big difference to travel options.
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Old Nov 19th, 2022, 07:27 AM
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Ditto bilboburger. You say C T to Paris. But in your OP you only mentions Spain. We'd need more information before anyone could possibly help. Where in Spain? How are you traveling -- car, trains, flying? etc.

If you are driving - 6 days really isn't enough time. Even just from Barcelona - Barcelona > the CT > Paris would take almost 5 days car time.
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Old Nov 19th, 2022, 08:30 PM
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Hi
my husband and i are travelling in July next year. I am trying to put together an itinerary after a family event finishing in Bordeaux on 22 July., we are departing Paris for home on 10 August.
Cinque Terre is the place I would like most to visit. Porto, SAN Sebastian and if at all possible although it is looking less likely a hop over to Marakesh are on my wish list.
From 7-18 July Family are joining us in Paris and we are thinking about e-bikes in the country side as we are bikers, but not so much my family. I’m on hold waiting’s to see what they want to do in and around and out of Paris. We are fit 60 year olds.
we have just booked and probably made the mistake of going in and out of Paris, but we are absolutely open to anything. We will stay in the equivalent of 3 star accom and although we don’t have unlimited resources we know it is high season. Thought about a rail pass but still looking as see it has constraints on numbers on some trains. Thanks and would certainly appreciate any thoughts, itineraries, anything. Didn’t know how much detail to put into initial post - see know it was tooo brief. Susan

Last edited by SusanLay; Nov 19th, 2022 at 08:36 PM.
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Old Nov 19th, 2022, 08:35 PM
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Hi
thanks. I may have got a bit bogged down on visiting CT. Pretty sure we won’t be driving. Probably train, bus (not so keen) or flying. When you say other places you enjoyed more can i ask what they are please?
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Old Nov 19th, 2022, 09:06 PM
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I'm confused about the order of things. How long do you have in total, including your travel days to and from home? You are flying into and leaving from Paris and you talk about Spain but your main interest is Italy. You need to narrow it down a bit, what about just France and Italy? Having a trip where you are constantly moving on can be exhausting and you remember nothing of where you've been.

In my experience rail passes are generally not good value. For excellent train info, maps, tickets, seating, stations etc etc look at https://www.seat61.com/
Book point to point tickets, if they are long journeys on fast trains it's cheaper to book ahead.
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Old Nov 19th, 2022, 11:46 PM
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Just a thought, you realise how far apart these places are? To a European you seem to have thrown darts randomly at a dart board to get these places in one holiday, Each individually is a nice place to visit but there are so many nice places to visit you just seem to be passing them by. Holidays to me are about enjoying the sights and relaxing, not ticking off random places, but your holiday.

Ok, so you are on holiday in high season. Flying in and out of Paris is crazy (changeable?) you've found seat61.com and the likes of bahn.de and thetrainline.com and sncf etc etc rome2rio are also useful. 5 Terre will be heaving in high season, booking places to stay needs to be done now, queueing on the trails is a feature in August and even trains into the area can get pretty crammed. You can visit the area by boat from local towns and that might be a better way to travel as they look great from the sea.

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Old Nov 20th, 2022, 06:51 AM
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Can you change the departure flight from Paris to another country or city; multi-city, not two one-way?
The reason is you will have to be back in Paris at least the night before departure, thus wasting a day of travel, time checking into and out of another hotel and the cost to return there. The extra cost to make the change might be mitigated by the savings of not having to return to Paris. In general, if you have specific places you wish to visit, it is best to have an itinerary before booking flights. If you don’t care and will be flexible about visiting where ever you land, then it does not matter, but you seem to have specific places in mind.

When and where will you be in Spain? Assume as you plan, you are keeping the heat and huge crowds in mind. Last time I was in Madrid, in July, it reached 105 degrees several days. We still enjoyed it but we were not hiking or biking. It was fine for time in museums though and evenings were nice. We often napped or went to a pool in the afternoon.

I still do not have a sense of what you are trying to do.
Perhaps lay out some kind of preliminary itinerary, with travel as separate days or counting nights only. Lots of ways to do it, by days, dates, nights, etc. It makes it easier to have some sort of plan to work with, even if it changes a lot. Do not start a new thread though. Some people do when they have a new idea. It is easier for people to give advice and suggestions when all the information is on one thread.

Day 1, Arrive Paris, 5 nts (4 days)
Day 6, travel to _______, 4 nts (3 days)
Day 10, travel to _______,
etc., etc.
Day ?, return to Paris.
Day ?, depart Paris

Or
Day 1 Arrive Paris, travel on to Bordeaux
Days 2, 3, 4, 5, Bordeaux
Day 6, travel to ______
Days 7, 8, 9, ________
Day 10, Travel to _______
etc., etc.
etc.,
Day? Travel to Paris
Day? Depart Paris


Assume if you are into biking, you know more about it than a non-biker like me, just a heads up that when I rented a bike, it wasn’t that great, so be sure of what you are getting ahead of time. There is a nice report by palatino82, who biked in Italy, Austria and Slovenia (as I remember). They went into detail about the company, the bikes, etc. You might want to look it up.

I have not been to the CT because every time we planned it, there were storms or something and we quickly made different plans, but the Amalfi Coast is also gorgeous and there are hikes there with great views. It is also hot and crowded in Summer, but we still like it. Croatia and Slovenia also have beautiful landscapes.

You may know everything I mentioned, if so, just disregard it.
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Old Nov 20th, 2022, 10:22 AM
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We went to Cinque Terre years ago when it was all about hiking and we hiked the whole length from Monterosso to Rio Maggiore. It was nice to see it and complete the long hike but it is no way one of my top travel experiences. A nice enough experience. Notice I say nice, not spectacular or must do. I prefer staying in Santa Margherita Ligure or Camogli north of the CT.
Since you will be in France, visit Collioure , so charming and picturesque, not far north of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.
Rick Steve’s popularized the Cinque Terre, sold it, and now it is intensely crowded plus some of its trails are still closed from massive storm damage.
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Old Nov 21st, 2022, 02:50 PM
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I am embarrassed at my lack of know how on booking this trip - the family event in Bordeaux between 18 - 22 July is the reason for us going to Europe and the dates we are travelling were the only time we could go (Melbourne- CDG 3 July - CDG-Melbourne 10 August). We have a commitment between our arrival into Paris on 4 July - 18 July in and around Paris. (Biking with family). So high season it is. Then I started thinking about where we would like to see between 22 July - 10 August and thats when I ran into trouble. I guess it was just about random places I have thought about but I have taken onboard the following
Find out today if we can change our return flight but hold off on changing until itinerary is more settled, if we are able to
Slow down and enjoy the trip - not just the travelling and ticking off places to see
CT seems to be off this itinerary - especially being so crowded
Will definitely double check regarding the ebikes in and around Paris on our arrival (4 July - 18 July)

Even taking into consideration the heat we are still interested in Porto, and if it works SAN Sebastian between 22 July and 10 August - but not necessarily must haves If. anyone could help me with an itinerary I would be extremely grateful. But I am very grateful for
My husband has spent time in Croatia/Slovenia - and I have spent some time in Barcelona (Med Cruise so I didn’t have to organise an itinerary )
love the sound of Collioure.
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Old Nov 21st, 2022, 03:03 PM
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Sassafrass - Thanks for advice not to change thread name - appreciated this info. Susan
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Old Nov 21st, 2022, 06:51 PM
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Back in 2004, as part of a longer trip, I traveled by train from Paris to Bayonne, and then across northern Spain and down to Porto. You can certainly do the same thing today. I did day trips from Bayonne, slept in a parador in Hondarribia and loved Leon 's cathedral, among other things.

In northern Spain you will need https://www.euskotren.eus/en and what was FEVE and is now a part of RENFE - Itinerary cinque Terre to Paris-map_feve_general.png - as well as RENFE proper. This may help: https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-spain.htm
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Old Nov 22nd, 2022, 02:57 AM
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Don't worry Susan, even if your holiday isn't a perfectly logistical plan you'll have an amazing time. Even those who travel frequently (not me, sadly) make mistakes but it rarely matters.

If going to Collioure, check out Cadaques as well. I have yet to visit either but they've been on my wishlist for quite a while. Northern Spain looks absolutely amazing (I've only visited the middle and the south, except for Barcelona). Portugal is great too. Check out Peneda Geres National Park if it's near where you end up going. Many years since we visited but we liked it. Northern Spain and southern France would be a wonderful combination - you'd have to be selective because there is so much to see and do but you could pick some places that really appeal. Just check out how long the journey is between places - rome2rio website is a good starting point for this. You don't want to spend too long just getting from A to B.

Have fun!

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Old Nov 22nd, 2022, 09:45 AM
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While Collioure is indeed a gorgeous beach village with great Catalan architecture, it is not a place to create an itinerary around. More like a day trip or one night. From Perpiganan, you could also visit spectacular sites like Chateau de Peyrepertuse the Gorge de Galamus, Villefranche le Conflent, So many interesting and dramatic villages in the Pyrenees Orientales.

However, I always tell people to go with their instincts, so either CT or Porto and/or San Sebastien. It is easy enough to fly form Paris to Porto or San Sebastien. Or fly from Paris to Genoa. And then on to CT. Too easy.

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Old Nov 22nd, 2022, 10:41 AM
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It's possible to enjoy Cinque Terre, but it is a major, major challenge to enjoy Cinque Terre in July. Think hundreds of people entering exiting the trains every few minutes, to try to walk narrow passageways like in Riomaggiore - - this is an exercise in STANDING IN LINE just to get from the train station up the nearest prospect with a sea view. Vernazza had the center wiped out by a flood recently denuding ground floor level structures of character and leaving very expensive snack food outlets in its wake, while you plod amid the hordes to the harbor to watch the queues waiting for the boat. Better going to Disney. Though if you do go, you can play a game among yourselves. You get 1 point for spotting someone with a Rick Steves guidebook, and 3 points when you hear someone saying, "Rick says . . .".

Last edited by dfourh; Nov 22nd, 2022 at 10:51 AM.
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Old Nov 22nd, 2022, 03:50 PM
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How many points for spotting a Rick Steves rucksack?

Big wast of time going all the way to 5 Terre in July.

We travel to Europe twice a year for one month each trip (mostly France). And we started in 1999. First lesson is - "less is more", and don't spend any more time than 1 1/2 to 2 hrs to get to the "next" destination. Also, don't fly inter-Europe. If you think you "need" to - re-do your itinerary.

We travel by car, and often start and end our trip in Paris. We often take a train to our first destination, and train back to Paris from our last destination. This past Sept, we took a train from Paris to Strasbourg, and back to Paris from Dijon. Next June, train to Marseille, and back from Avignon. Next Sept, train to Valence, and back from Montpellier.

Stu Dudley
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Old Nov 23rd, 2022, 12:02 AM
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Susan, we all learn as we go along, think how much knowledge you'll have after this trip and then you can start planning the next

You might have done this already but get a piece of paper, or use a spreadsheet, and write down the dates from departure to arrival back home on the left and then where you'll spend each night on the right. The middle column is what you'll do each day. At this point, you'll have some gaps but still write the dates down, fill in the city later. Check the map and distances involved and if you see somewhere on the map that looks possible, check it on Google Images, that will give you some idea of what it looks like. From there you can check what the attractions are in that place, either online or with a good guidebook (libraries are a good source for guidebooks).

I like to have about 3 nights minimum in each place but that depends on how much there is to see. A week or more is good in larger places and you can do day trips if you have the time. Two nights will give you one full day in a place. Each time you move on, you lose most of one day, even if the train trip is only two hours, you have the check out, get to the station, travel time, travel to hotel, check in etc.

We enjoyed La Rochelle which is a few hours by train north of Bordeaux. Also if you decide to travel down towards Collioure, check out Carcassonne, we loved our few day there. The problem is you'll find there are too many great places.
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Old Nov 23rd, 2022, 12:23 AM
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great advice above

less is more
we mainly travel on the continent by cycle or train and find that good planning finds gem after gem

Just looking around Carcassonne (which is worth a visit) you'll find the Canal du Midi (an ancient canal system) of great beauty.

The massive wine region of Languedoc (the locals say oc for oui (yes))

Minerve, the Roman capital of southern France ( a ridge town)

Various Bastides (fortified towns from the middle ages still intact)

Narbonne (oh my dears Narbonne is a hidden gem)

And the Cathar castles (google it)

so why you dash by to 5 villages, just see what you may have missed
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Old Nov 24th, 2022, 03:27 PM
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I am starting an excel spreadsheet today. Thanks 🙏
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