Car Rental Across Countries

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

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Will definitely look into that option, thanks man!

Regarding Cinque Terre, is there a lottery system now? Someone told my GF that and was the first I'd heard of it.

I don’t think so, we went on a organized tour that included a boat ride between the towns. Didn’t seem hard to organize or get in to. Earlier this year or the year before my parents also drove there and didn’t have any issues other than the crazy lack of parking and crazy small parking stalls.

[lasimmon]

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Will definitely look into that option, thanks man!

Regarding Cinque Terre, is there a lottery system now? Someone told my GF that and was the first I'd heard of it.

I was there 3 weeks ago. Didn't hear anything about a lottery system. Was told by all the locals not to rent a car and drive though. We stayed in Corniglia.

Personally I would train from Nice - Cinque Terre - Milan, rent a car and drive to Lake Como then on to Swiss. We met some Americans who rented cars in Milan and ripped around Swiss/the alps and then took the train to Cinque Terre from Milan. Said they were really happy they did.

[Xtrema]

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Will definitely look into that option, thanks man!

Regarding Cinque Terre, is there a lottery system now? Someone told my GF that and was the first I'd heard of it.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/tri...urist-overflow

Sounds like a voluntary cap. I assume if you can get a room, you are probably good to go.

Have no idea it's that busy now. It was already quite busy a decade ago.

[lasimmon]

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https://www.travelandleisure.com/tri...urist-overflow

Sounds like a voluntary cap. I assume if you can get a room, you are probably good to go.

Have no idea it's that busy now. It was already quite busy a decade ago.

It was stupid busy like 3 weeks ago. I couldn't imagine going in the summer time.

[msommers]

We've heard it's nice to stay in 5T because at night a lot of tourists are gone and it's quaint nature returns. My thought with having a car would be that we could go to the country side as well.

Maybe 3 nights in 5T is too much, 2 and then go to Bologne for a night or something.

[Xtrema]

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We've heard it's nice to stay in 5T because at night a lot of tourists are gone and it's quaint nature returns. My thought with having a car would be that we could go to the country side as well.

Maybe 3 nights in 5T is too much, 2 and then go to Bologne for a night or something.

The nice towns (or the ones in promo pics) are the ones cars can't get to. Monterosso is just a typical beach resort town.

I stayed in Riomaggiore and did a day train to Vernazza then hike back along the coast.

5T was a decompression stop in the middle of 2 weeks in Italy after so many days of pounding pavements on museums and galleries.

[msommers]

Chill is the name of the game on this trip. Many of our group members have been fortunate to do the big city touring already. I can certainly sympathize as trying to squeeze in too much shit ends up being exhausting, a travel-mistake I learned early on that's best to avoid.

[lasimmon]

3 nights was great for us. Allowed us to see it all at a more relaxed pace. Anything less and we wouldn't have enjoyed it as much I don't think.

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The nice towns (or the ones in promo pics) are the ones cars can't get to. Monterosso is just a typical beach resort town.

I stayed in Riomaggiore and did a day train to Vernazza then hike back along the coast.

5T was a decompression stop in the middle of 2 weeks in Italy after so many days of pounding pavements on museums and galleries.

Just for the record you can only hike from Corniglia to Monterosso and back. Corniglia to Riomaggiore is closed till next year some time, maybe even 2020. Due to a land slide.

[taemo]

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Chill is the name of the game on this trip. Many of our group members have been fortunate to do the big city touring already. I can certainly sympathize as trying to squeeze in too much shit ends up being exhausting, a travel-mistake I learned early on that's best to avoid.

if chill is your plan, then skip Bologna for sure as it is quite a detour and just spend 3 nights in Cinque Terre

We stayed in Manarola as to me it was the most picturesque along with Vernazza.
Manarola


Vernazza

My least favorites are probably Monterosso (beach town) and Corniglia (too secluded and long walk to the train station)

We hiked Monterosso to Vernazza, it was initially a steep 30min walk (guy sells lemonade on his booth), nice views of the Ligurian coast and gradual descent to Vernazza, the picture I took is at the end of the trail hike to Vernazza.

Looking at our past itinerary, to get to 5T from Nice we did
Train Nice to Ventimiglia (40min)
Regional Train Ventimiglia to Monterosso (5 hour but nice view of the coast)
Local Train Monterosso to Manarola

We had 30min layover in Ventimiglia so we quickly rushed to the local market (2 blocks from the station) and grabbed some focaccia bread (really popular and associated with the Ligurian cuisine)

[msommers]

Those pictures are stunning, Earl!