Cinque Terre Europe Italy Pisa

Solo Backpacking in Europe: A DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre

I planned a day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre from Florence.
So, I woke up early (as usual ?). The train schedule to Pisa is 7:50 am from Firenze S.M.N.

I bought sandwich the night before, I mean, big sandwich, ?…As expected the train arrived in Pisa Centrale at 9:00 am. Now what?

day trip to pisa and cinque terre from florence

DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre

Hmm, I can ride a bus or walk, but I can’t find where the bus is, LOL.. so I just walked..for 30mins ? it was a nice walk but too tiring, ?(again with the help of my GPS?)

And the weather is not so good, it was cloudy all day (at least it’s not raining)

DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre

DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre

Since I just planned to take a picture of Pisa and do the mandatory signature pose, I didn’t stay long, maybe just 40 minutes …then I went back to Pisa Centrale, again, for 30 minutes…whoa, that was 1 hour walk (morning exercise it is)

Leaning tower of Pisa

Leaning tower of Pisa

Leaning tower of Pisa

Leaning tower of Pisa

From Pisa Centrale, I bought ticket to La Spezia Centrale.
Don’t forget to validated your ticket. ? This green thing is all over the station, that you won’t miss it.

DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre

There’s schedule for each train. It is advisable to look for it ahead of time, well for me I guess, ’cause time is gold,?.

From Pisa Centrale, it will take 1 hour to get to La Spezia Centrale.
From La Spezia Centrale, you can buy Cinque Terre card (unlimited to all villages) or you can opt to buy individual ticket.

I just bought ticket per village, and I was surprise that it was just €2.10. When I was searching online, it cost €4 ?

DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre

Travel time from each village is just 5 minutes, but the interval time is 1 hour.

First stop Manarola.
Arriving at Manarola, the first thing that comes to my mind is, how will I go to the attraction where the houses are? because my GPS just said that I’m already in Manarola, wahaha…

So what I did, is I followed the group tour that were at the same train as mine,?

There will be a tunnel going to the village (well a small tunnel but 5 minutes walk). From there you will already see the houses, but not the view that I was looking for.

Manarola

Again, I just followed the group tour ?
There will be a lot of food vendors, restaurant along the way…and oh! oh!, I see the ocean!, Am I here? And here it is..wow!!!! breathtaking view ?

Manarola

Manarola

Manarola

I think I capture it more than enough, cause really, it is so beautiful..the rocks, the ocean, the houses…and the structure itself…just wow.

Again you can always stay or eat and enjoy the view, but of course, after 40 minutes stay in Manarola, I went back to station to go to another village

Again I just bought my ticket at the information center, you can also buy your ticket in self-service machine, some of them just only accept credit cards though.

Sometimes trains are delayed, like 10-15 minutes, so if you’re travelling in autumn season, make sure to have the appropriate outfit ?

Day Trip in Pisa and Cinque Terre

Next village is Vernazza.

Vernazza

Vernazza

I’m not really a fan of Vernazza, or maybe I just didn’t climb the hill where you can see the top view and the beautiful scenery. Well because, it’s too cold to go up there,?, the weather is not that cooperative, LOL..and my feet are screaming already.

So I went back to the station.
I was looking at the screen, if this is my train, and the one that is blinking is not the station I need to go, but all the people are hopping in, should I? hmm.. maybe I just wait for the train.
When the train’s already gone, I ask the counter, what time will be the next train to Riomaggiore, and he told me that “you just missed it”, WHAT?!!!! oh shoot, now this is what I’m saying, so I need to wait for an hour for the train.
Maybe the Vernazza is calling me to go up there, but, oh my, I can’t really walk and it’s getting chilly. Aside from that, I don’t know where to start, cause there’s no tourist going up there, so I wait…and wait..oh this gonna take long ?

And 5 minutes more, I asked again the counter, if the train will be on the left side, and he told me, “yes..If you miss it again, you’ll wait another hour!”, oh I will make sure I will not miss this, because I’m running out of time, it’s already 4:00 pm, and the sunset will be at 5:00 pm, or looks like 4:30 pm.

So Riomaggiore…
Again there’s a tunnel going to the village..
ok which way? cause I don’t see any tourist walking by, hmm
Well, I just waste 15 minutes of walking uphill. Because I’m went in the wrong direction. Oh c’mon, am I also gonna miss this one .
I asked someone, but hmm, they don’t speak english. So, I just thank them and resume in walking. Some of the tourist also asked me for the direction. But I told them I also don’t know, LOL…
I went back..and then, I saw someone. But I’m not sure if she’s a local, because, she’s just standing there. But I asked anyway. Well, actually I point the picture in the wall, on how can I get there, and she told me to just go down the tunnel..hmm, go down? really? OK..

So I went down. There’s no other people except me, but I just follow the path.. and then there they are, I mean the tourists,?

So I know I’m on the right place, Hehe
Tada!!!, well it’s hard to capture the view since it’s already dark, haha

Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore

OK, time to go back to La Spezia..
I’m too HANGRY, so I bought a meal in McDonalds in La Spezia, while waiting for my train to Florence.
After 2 hours of travel time, and 15 minutes of walk, I’m back to my hostel. Oh boy, I really want to sleep now ?

Solo Backpacking in Europe: A DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre
 
 
Solo Backpacking in Europe: A DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre

32 thoughts on “Solo Backpacking in Europe: A DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre

  1. Wow, sounds like you had a busy day! All of these towns look so beautiful . . . I’m not sure if I’d like the seaside views or the yummy food more!

  2. I have never been to Pisa but I always wanted to visit. Such a wonderful place.This is truly a bucket lists material.

  3. How awesome it is that you can just get on the train and go to these kind of places! I am sure it was tiring, but so worth it. The places look beautiful in the pictures, thank you for sharing!

  4. It seems like you had an amazing trip! I’ve been to Italy a few times but never to Pisa or Cinque Terre, I definitely want to make my way back to Italy and visit these two beautiful places!

  5. I absolutely loved my time in Cinque Terra (Pisa, too). There are just no towns on earth like there are in that region! I’m happy you appreciated exploring as well!

  6. Wow Look amazing, I’ve never been too Pisa before, but the buildings are very pretty in your photos! Very insta worth and I love it

  7. Wow! Looks amazing! I love Italy and Pisa is one of my favorites! I would love to go back with my daughter sometime!!

  8. Goodness, sounds like you had a bustling day..It appears like you had an astonishing trip!this brought such a large number of recollections

  9. These pictures are amazing! Super jealous! Would love to spend a day just walking around and visiting different places! Don’t think I could do it solo though!

  10. What a wonderful journey! Im usually not fond of group tour but for cinque terre, I probably won’t even care. I’ll just be the one who’s always behind take a million shots (just to keep 1 or 2 in the end). Love those photos!

  11. Wow! You did both those places in one day? Pisa is a half-day trip in my opinion, but Cinque Terre is amazing and deserves multiple days if possible, although I have heard that the tourist population has increased a lot in the last few years. I normally take the boat from La Spezia to Portovenere and use that as my home base. It has less tourists, but easy access to Cinque Terre via boat. I bet it was an exhausting day, but I hope you enjoyed it!

    1. Yeah it was… and you are right about the increase in number of tourist. Wow, didn’t experience the boat though

  12. Hi, what a beautiful picture and description of your journey to Pisa and Cinque Terre. I have just booked my ticket and hotel and i ll be staying in PIsa for 3 days and intend to visit Cinque Terre for a half day tour. I was wondering if its possible to do it in a half day and if its worth to visit Florence right after Cinque Terre. I also thought of going to Pisa Tower in the evening or can I do them all three in one day.

    Thanks would be glad to know your thoughts about my question

    1. IMO, Pisa and Cinque Terre can be done in 1 day, Florence will be another day. I included Florence since it’s so close to Pisa and Cinque Terre, so why not. You can visit all 5 spots in Cinque Terre, if you can hop on the train in time, or else you will lose 1 hour. Some are 1 hr gap to each, like if you want to go to Marinola to Vernazza, the interval for each train is 1hr. And another thing, uou might want to go early like 6:00 am to be able to do this. I was just able to visit 3 places in Cinque Terre, since that’s only I planned just because of the view 🙂 Have a great time there.

  13. Hi Laurence,
    Thanks for the information its really helpful. Another favor, could you give me n advise which 3 town among the five should i visit given a limited time. Thanks again.

    1. I love Manarola, Riomaggiore and Vernazza. Though I wasn’t able to go to the top of Vernazza, I think you need to walk/hike to have the best pic 🙂

  14. Pingback: Klefer

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *