travelling to italy

I am going to italy in may to meet my daughter. I will be there for one week by myself and would like to go to cinque terre ,but am wondering where else to go maybe by ferrie for a couple of days and what is a cheap accomodation option .I love walking . How long is the train trip from rome to cinque terre.over all I will be in italy for two weeks

May is maybe the best time of the year to see Cinqueterre: non too hot, not so crowded as in summer, but with long and warm days. You can swim into the sea too, and is the best sea in northern Italy.

Consider 2 to 4 days to enjoy Cinqueterre at their best.
Or 1 to 2 days for a very short visit.
Or half a day for a "touch and go" (which I would't suggest you in any case).

From Rome with train you'll need from 4 to 6 hours: you can use fast train (Eurostar Freccia ROssa) until La Spezia, then reach Vernazza or Monterosso with a local train, check www.trenitalia.it for timetables and buy tickets.
The train itinerary on the tirrenic coast gives you the opportunity of a stop of couple of hours (or better an afternoon + night) in Pisa.

An example:
Roma Termini 18:00 --->La Spezia Centrale 21:05
Change train
La Spezia Centrale 21:21 ---->Vernazza 21:41
(price is euro 41 in second class with seat booking mandatory, euro 62 in first class; cheaper price (more or less -30%) if you don't use an eurostar train, but consider a longer trip)

I'll return soon with suggestion about sleeping.

[ Edit: Edited on 23-Mar-2009, at 04:44 by chiado ]

You can consider this one, where a friend of mine have passed a good week:
http://www.ostellotramonti.it

is not exacltly in the cinque terre, but very close, in the same environement.
A little bit far (6 km) from the train station of La Spezia.

At a brief distance from Cinqueterre, don't forget to reserva a day to visit Lerici and Portovenere too!

If you love walking, consider going to the Amalfi coast instead of Cinque Terre. The Amalfi coast is south of Naples.

There are several guidebooks in English covering walks along the Amalfi coast, which shows you how popular this is.

Lonely Planet has a "Walking in Italy" guidebook, you might want to check that out too.

[ Edit: Edited on 25-Mar-2009, at 15:34 by t_maia ]

Interesting informations, thanks!