Portofino or cinque terre?

[sunnymalta]

Can't decide between two excursions offered by Disney from La Spezia: a full day excursion to Portofino and Santa Margherita or half day excursion Cinque terre scenic boat tour. Has anyone been to any of these excursions? Which one would you recommend. We will be travelling with our 6 year old son. Thanks

 

[jrabbit]

I would consider going to Cinque Terra on your own. Get Rick Steve's Italy book and read up. It will give you a good idea of what you can do, and how to go about doing it.

We (unfortunatly) went to Pisa on our La Spezia day. It's a 15 - 20 minute walk to the train station. You can get the train schedule from this link
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ddd1a035296f310VgnVCM1000005817f90aRCRD

 

[MrSanderz27]

My wife and I did the Cinque Terre Scenic Boat Tour excursion through DCL last year and really enjoyed it... in fact it was one of our favorite days!

That being said... next time I would definitely plan Cinque Terre on our own and spend a full day there. The DCL tour brings you back to the boat early (which was nice because it gave us some much needed time to relax); however, I would have preferred a full day in Cinque Terre.

Also... we basically just used the DCL tour for the transportation as the actual "tour" that they gave at the first stop was very slow paced and we (along with most others in the group) decided to go off on our own and explore anyway. The transportation was great though... we walked off the ship and our tour boat was just a few steps down the dock. So that is really nice... go from being on the ship to being on the boat taking you to Cinque Terre in a matter of minutes. Once there, the tour guides would tell you what time you needed to be back at the boat and you could go off on your own or follow their guided tour.

They did provide some wine and a snack on the boat ride back... that was a nice way to end the wonderful day.

Either way (DCL excursion or on your own)... I would highly recommend Cinque Terre!

 

[gzmtlock]

My mother and I did Cinque Terre. One of the highlights of the cruise! I'd do the same again if I could. . .

 

[Cousin Orville]

I've done Cinque Terre and Portofino on my own (CT on the Magic, Portofino on a separate vacation). They're both great, but I would recommend CT over Portofino and I would do it on your own as others have suggested. For anyone who has been to CT and wants to see something different, Portofino is a great idea. Portofino is a lot further away and it's more expensive. On the other hand it's arguably even more picturesque than Vernazza. The biggest strike against the organized excursion to Portofino (or anywhere for that matter) is lunch. I think you can get an outstanding lunch on your own in Vernazza at any of the seaside restaurants. Group meals on port adventures are very hit or miss, and there's really no excuse for not having a wonderful meal on the Italian coast. That's crucial to the Italian experience.

 

[cris0809]

We didn't do CT on a cruise but it was the best part of our trip to Italy. By miles.

 

[carly138]

Just wanted to throw another vote for Cinque Terre. I've been twice (on non-cruise trips) and it's one of my favourite places in the world! It would be really easy to take the train to one of the 5 towns and do a couple of the shorter hikes between them (1 leg is a boardwalk which is very easy, one leg is an easy hike and 2 legs are more strenuous). And like someone else mentioned, the thought of having lunch in one of the restaurants in Vernazza down by the water (or in any of the other towns) is making me hungry!

Enjoy your trip!

 

[sunnymalta]

Thanks all for your replies seems the consensus is for CT. Will make CT our first preference

 

[jel0511]

PORTOFINO!!!! We did this excursion last summer and it was absolutely spectacular!!!!

 

[NancyIL]

I haven't been to either, but I do recommend Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports to cover most ports in Italy, and elsewhere on your Med cruise: http://www.amazon.com/Rick-Steves-M...ywords=rick+steves+mediterranean+cruise+ports

 

[sunnymalta]

PORTOFINO!!!! We did this excursion last summer and it was absolutely spectacular!!!!

Hi jel0511 did you this excursion with Disney? If so did you go to Santa Margherita as well?

 

[eva]

Another vote for Cinque Terre. It is breath taking. Either buy Rick Steve's book and do a portion of the tour he has in the book or hire a private guide through the park district. We hired the guide and he was awesome. He knew so much about the area and knew so many people that he introduced us to. Even got some free lemoncello from one of his favorite shop keepers. I did read Rick Steve's book ahead of time and am sure we could have done the tour on our own. The only thing is finding the darn train station in La Spezia. It isn't easy. I would recommend a taxi if you don't have a guide. Our guide meet us at the dock. We took the train to Riomaggiore and then walked from there to Manarola. Then we hoped on the train to visit Corniglia. We skipped Vernazza, just not enough time to hit everything. Ended in Monterosso and took the boat back to La Spezia from there. The boat stopped in Portofino on the way back. So we opted to stay and take the next boat. We had a glass of wine at a cafe by the dock and then walked up to the Castello Brown. It was beautiful and the views are spectacular. But we nearly had a heart attack because the next boat was delayed nearly an hour. But we made it back to the Magic just in the nick of time.

 

[jedijill]

Definitely Cinque Terre! Super easy to do on your own. I took the train to the furthest town and then either took the train, boat, or hiked back.

Jill in CO

 

[jel0511]

Hi jel0511 did you this excursion with Disney? If so did you go to Santa Margherita as well?

Yes we did! Santa Margherita was beautiful too!!!!! GREAT DAY!!!!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Can't decide between two excursions offered by Disney from La Spezia: a full day excursion to Portofino and Santa Margherita or half day excursion Cinque terre scenic boat tour. Has anyone been to any of these excursions? Which one would you recommend. We will be travelling with our 6 year old son. Thanks

We didn't do any DCL excursions when we did the Med as they are so overpriced. We did the Cinque Terre on our own and I would just suggest that with a 6 yr old you might consider doing that too. Rick Steves has a small pocket guide book specifically on the Cinque Terre. We did some of the towns by train & some by ferry as I wanted to see the coastline from the water too. I think I would be hesitant to be stuck all day on a DCL excursion with a 6 yr old. If you do it on your own you can stop for some gelato and move at your own pace. If he reaches the point where he is "done" then you can just head back to the ship on the train without being tied to DCLs schedule.

 

[Cousin Orville]

...I think I would be hesitant to be stuck all day on a DCL excursion with a 6 yr old. If you do it on your own you can stop for some gelato and move at your own pace. If he reaches the point where he is "done" then you can just head back to the ship on the train without being tied to DCLs schedule.

Having done CT on my own with a 3 and 8 yo, I complete agree. More flexibility is another good reason to do it on your own.