Originally Posted by
Jay71
Just a couple of items to add...
You can also train it to La Spezia and then buy a Cinque Terre Card that includes train travel between the towns (includes La Spezia) and access to hike the trails between the towns.
During our trip in the spring, we also went from Florence to Vernazza. The train made a quick stop in Pisa on the way to La Spezia. We couldn't see the Tower from the Pisa train station while on the trains. The next train was a in a few hours I think so in theory we could have made a stop here. But we didn't think it was worth the stop to see the Tower. YMMV.
One caution with buying a Cinque Terre card: it's good for three days, not 72 hours. So if you validate it at 15:00 on a Tuesday, it's good for that Tuesday plus Wed and Thursday. If you make a stop in Pisa and take a late afternoon train to La Spezia, you might not get around to hiking that day, and you eat one day if you use the pass starting late afternoon. If you think you will still hike the same day you arrive in the CT (I did), then it might be worthwhile. Otherwise, buy a cheap train ticket from La Spezia just for the day.