Explore Italy: Cinque Terre
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Overlooking Vernazza
One of the most beautiful natural spots in Italy, arguably on Earth, with the crowds to show for it. Cinque Terre is a must-see, made up of 5 little colorful towns perched on the Ligurian Sea with hiking trails connecting each of the villages.
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Cinque Terre in a nutshell:
Location: Liguria, Italy
Best known for: 5 seaside towns with VIEWS of the Mediterranean and hiking trails that connect the towns
Days needed to explore: 1+ - It’s no secret that Cinque Terre is easily seen in a day, the towns are small and there are plenty of trains connecting each of them if you don’t want to hike the trails. You can comfortably see 2-3 of the villages in a day, some might say if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. I disagree, as I think they each hold their charm, and would encourage you to spend at least one night in Cinque Terre. This is the only way you will see Cinque Terre without the throngs of people. Even if you take the first train in and the last train out, that’s the plan of every other day-tripper. Given the tiny size of the towns and their immense popularity, it can be difficult to secure lodging. While I would recommend finding a B&B within any of the five towns if possible, Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, or Riomaggiore, another option would be to find a place in La Spezia, which is very near to Cinque Terre and the main hub from which to get to Cinque Terre.
What to see and do: The five towns and the hikes in between each! Listed below are the five towns, in order from the direction of La Spezia/Porto Venere towards Levanto, and the hiking trails in between. Cinque Terre and surrounding area is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. If you choose to hike, most paths are free, but the two most popular ones require a Cinque Terre Card.
12km / 7.5mile (5hr) hiking trail from Portovenere to the first town, Riomaggiore
Riomaggiore
1.5km / 1mile (30min) hiking trail (Via dell’Amore)
Manarola
3.5km / 2.25mile (2hr) hiking trail
Corniglia
4 km / 2.5mile (1.5-2hr) hiking trail (requires the Cinque Terre Card)
Vernazza
3.5km / 2.25mile (1.5hr) hiking trail (requires the Cinque Terre Card)
Monterosso al Mare
8km / 5mile (3hr) hiking trail from the last town, Monterosso, to Levanto
Established: Cinque Terre is first mentioned in documents from the 11th century. Monterosso and Vernazza were the first settled towns of the five.
Places to eat:
Gelateria Vernazza - Naturally, I don’t have real restaurant recommendations, just gelato. The best gelato between the five villages that I’ve had is in Vernazza. The gelateria is not hard to find as it’s on the main street heading down from the train station.
Typical foods to try:
Seafood is the shining star!
Trofie al pesto - pasta
Focaccia - apparently, a typical breakfast around here is focaccia dipped in cappuccino. I haven’t tried and can’t say I’ve seen anyone do it…but hey, if salty coffee is your thing, go for it!
Schiacchetrà - wine of Cinque Terre
More about Cinque Terre
Trains and stuff
Once you start getting into the logistics of how to get to Cinque Terre and move around once you’re there, it can seem confusing at first. Train? Which one? Buses? Boats? While getting to Cinque Terre isn’t as easy as hopping on one train, it really isn’t difficult, either. Once you have your train to La Spezia Centrale (which you could buy in advance or not) you can easily wait until you arrive at La Spezia to buy the Cinque Terre Card. Or you can buy it online here. You can get a 1, 2, or 3 day pass. From La Spezia you get the train that stops at all five towns. If you’re coming from La Spezia, you’ll get the train towards Levanto. Easy peasy. Just don’t forget to validate your train card before getting on the train the first time.
Cinque Terre Cards and hiking
There are two different cards you can get for Cinque Terre. The train card, and the trekking card.
The train card includes unlimited rides on the regional Cinque Terre trains, shuttle buses, wifi, trekking, and free use of restrooms.
The trekking card includes everything but the trains. If you only plan on taking the train once or twice, this might save you money. Otherwise it’s a better deal to get the train card.
A single train ride without the train card will cost you about 4 euros. Using the restroom without a card will cost 1 euro.
The only scenario I can think of where you probably wouldn’t need either card is if you plan on seeing 3 or less towns and only do the free hikes…and stay at least one night…even then I don’t know that that would work, as the paths are often closed so you’d have to plan carefully.
If you didn’t get a Cinque Terre Card or lost it, don’t fret. There is a little outstation shortly into the two paid hikes; they will ask to see your card or you can buy one from them, same price.
You can check ahead of time on this site to see which paths are open at the time of your trip, I’ve personally never been when all four of the hikes between the villages were open. There are alternative routes, all of which are free, even if the main ones are closed, but I don’t have personal experience with those. The whole area has 48 paths, but the main ones are those which go between the towns.
If you plan on hiking, make sure you have proper foot wear. Flip-flops aren’t allowed. I definitely wore sandals before I knew of these rules without any problems. I did the Vernazza-Corniglia hike shortly after it had rained once. Having been a professional ballerina I could say I have decent balance, but I was surprised at how slippery the trail was in certain areas. Steps and rocky areas were a bit scary. I had sneakers on and was still walking very slowly and hanging on to anything I could.
Swimming
If you plan on swimming, Monterosso has the largest sandy beach and sea access, with many umbrellas and chairs you can rent. That’s how beaches usually work in Italy; you rent a spot with an umbrella which usually comes with 2-3 reclinable beach chairs which is yours for the day. If you want more chairs or shade or have more than 3-4 people, you’ll probably need to rent more than one spot. Free beaches where you can just spread a beach towel are not the norm and hard to find in Italy.
Vernazza has a small harbor with water access, you can go swimming and it’s free.
Corniglia has no immediate beach or water access, but there are beaches not too far. One is known to be a nudist beach.
Manarola has some deep water swimming, accessible by ladder for the more adventurous.
Riomaggiore has a rocky beach close by.
For more details and directions, see here.
Why I like Cinque Terre
I’ve been to Cinque Terre a few times, a couple times by train, once by car; a couple times in the summer, once in the fall; a couple times as a day trip, once overnight. It never gets old. My favorite town is probably Vernazza, but I’ve also spent more time there than some of the others.
The first time I went was in 2014 with my family. We went for a day, the whole trip immaculately planned out, as my mom and I were the ones behind the trip planning. We had chosen to go to Cinque Terre because, well, all you need to see is one photo and you’re sold, plus my dad loves the outdoors so we figured this would be “his” part of the trip. We planned to take an early train in, start by exploring Vernazza, hike from Vernazza to Corniglia, eat dinner in Corniglia, then take the last train from Corniglia back to La Spezia and finally Florence, our home base. Everything went great, until the end. We made it to Corniglia, but had a bit less time than originally planned, so decided to get a quick aperitivo instead of dinner. We figured we had about an hour to order and enjoy some beverages, before making our way to the train station. We looked on Google Maps, the train station was just around the corner from where we were, all we need is 20 minutes to get there and get the train, with plenty of time to spare, right? Next thing we know, we have 15 minutes before the train leaves. Well golly, we better get up, tear our eyeballs away from the magnificent Mediterranean, and trot our little tushies to the train station. What we didn’t realize, was that the train station was wayyyyyyyyyyy downnnnnnnnnn a hill, many, many, many, stories of zig-zagging stairs, then a long sidewalk to the actual train platform. Google Maps, without landscape mode, did not portray the descent. I believe it’s now more appropriately called the “cliff staircase”. We zigged and zagged as fast as we could; we saw our train pull up. Did I mention this was the last train of the night, so if we missed it, we’d be forced to try and find lodging in the popular and tiny Corniglia, in August? As comfy as Italian sidewalks are, we didn’t want to sleep outside so we went faster. My dad and brother got ahead of my mom and I; they got to the train. There was a crowd of people coming from the train, including some goats. I managed to leap onto the train as I heard the door start to beep, about to close; I was holding the train doors open with the weight of my body, while we were all shouting for my mom to hurry up, give it all she’s worth, “just jump over the goats already!!!” as she was politely letting them go by, and the train is seconds from departing. She made it, the doors closed a second later, and all was well. Except for the stress that probably took a few years off our lives. We still laugh about the Corniglia train station and steps to this day. Heed this anecdote.
The next trip I took to Cinque Terre was with friends, in a car. I got to enjoy the ride, but I can tell you finding parking can be an ordeal. This time we started at Monterosso al Mare and hiked to Vernazza. There was an elderly woman trying to do the hike, I remember passing them and my party being quite worried about her. But you know what? She made it! We were all very proud. Halfway between Monterosso and Vernazza there was a man making and selling fresh orange juice. If ever there was a genius business move, this was it. It was hot and there is nothing else to eat or drink except for what you carry on the 2-3 hour hike.
Most recently I went to Cinque Terre in October 2019. My family came over to visit, and we all had such fond memories that we had to go to Cinque Terre again. While autumn can be more unpredictable with weather and the trails are more likely to be closed, I think this was my favorite trip. The moody sea and slightly lesser crowds, not to mention this was my first time staying the night. It’s so wonderful once the day-trippers go home! And sleeping with the sound of the sea, mmmm. Having more time, we explored more up and around the towns beside just seeing the main areas and hiking. Lots of stairs, hardly any people, and lots of cool houses and areas with views of the sea, showing just how high you’ve climbed up among the dwellings!
Corniglia
