The best advice to visit the Cinque Terre area is to pick one of the five villages to get off the train or boat and travel to one or more others, according to the time that you have available.
In high season, the visit can be spoiled by the presence of too many visitors, while the most important thing in the Cinque Terre is in fact to get the opportunity to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere, hike the nice paths in the silence of nature, discover the enchanting sea view, rather than run from one village to the other.
At La Spezia railway station and in all villages you can pick one or two of the stations and buy a single ticket to get there (about 7,50€ return ticket to reach the furthest village). If you prefer to visit the whole area you can get a Cinque Terre Park ticket. Make sure to buy the “Cinque terre Train Card” and not just the basic Cinque Terre Card, which only allows you to walk on the paths of the Cinque Terre Park and not to hop on and off the train.