I have been to Cinque Terre, Italy 3 times and it is absolutely beautiful. If you are going you absolutely must do one or two of the hiking trails. I have done the 4 trails that are closest along the coast and I have some great recommendations if you are going as well. Not so great at hiking ? Well then I definitely recommend a private boat tour to see all of the towns.
About Cinque Terre?
Cinque Terre is on the Italian Rivera coastline. It is made 5 different colorful villages and vineyards most that are on very steep and rugged terrains. If you end up going here there are two musts! You must try the local wine, for some specific wines they only product around 1,000. bottles a year. and you must try the pesto. Every time we go we sneak both pesto and wine in our luggage home for us and for gifts. Besides that Cinque Terre is also know for its seafood as well as their Foaccia bread [which is super yummy].
How to get there?
If you are traveling here from the Airport, Genoa airport would be the easiest way to get there. It is an hour train ride from Genoa to Cinque Terre. If you are coming from the U.S. though it is most likely easier to fly into Milan. It is about a 3 hour train ride from here.
The Towns
As stated before there are 5 different towns in Cinque Terre.
- Monterosso
- This is the first town you will most likely arrive in. I think this is the best town to go to the beach in. There are two different sections in this town[The old town and the new town]. You can get there by walking toward the castle and walk along the coastline or just walk through the tunnel. There is a beach on both sides that you can go to. Wee ate at Nuovo Eden Bar & Gelateria here. We got a very yummy salad [we were craving something healthy ha!] and even better gelato and fruit cups.
- Vernazza
- This town is one of my favorites along with Manarola. Vernazza is considered the “fishing village” and is the only natural port of the 5 towns. This town also has no car traffic at all. We ate at Pizzería Baia Saracena and it was the best pesto pizza we have ever had. Highly recommend.
- Corniglia
- This is actually my least favorite town in Cinque Terre but only because you have to climb 382 steps to get there. Don’t get me wrong you should definitely still go up and see it if you have never been though. Corniglia is the only town not directly on the sea and is instead more on a mountain. I think there is a shuttle that will take you up but you have to climb the stairs for the experience. We had a fixed meal at Ristorante La Posada when I went with a tour group one year and highly recommend.
- Manarola
- This is my other favorite town! The views are absolutely amazing and this is where you most likely see a lot of the post cards from. All of the houses here are bright and colorful. While I haven’t actually eaten in this town yet, I have shopped. There are a few great shopping places here and Vernazza where we got cute gifts from.
- Riomaggiore
- The last town in Cinque Terre is Riomaggiore. This town is also a beautiful sight to see. We grabbed a slice of pizza here and sat down by the water to enjoy. Here you will find two different sections. One town you can see more of the vineyards while the other side is where you will find the harbor and fishing boats.
The Hikes
So a few years ago their used to be walking paths along each coast line that you would walk from town to town. They were flat walk ways so it was pretty easy to walk. Due to erosion and land slides, unfortunately most of these foot paths have been closed and the only way to get from town to town is either by train [the easy way] or by hiking [the adventurous way!]. I found this great map from ToursMaps.com that shows each hike. I will explain them all below!
Please note I am explaining the trails from Left to right but you can hike any of these from right to left
Monterosso Al Mare to –> Vernazza
Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate
This is the most traveled hiker in Cinque Terre and the most kept trail. Hence why it costs $5 Euros to do this trail. Not to worry though if you have the Cinque Terre card that you take from village to village and have to get if you are visiting all the towns then it doesn’t cost anything. You just show them that card. This trail is beautiful there are a few very steep steps that you have to take that feel like they never end and there are also a few spots on the trail that are difficult to pass people or let people pass. Their are absolutely nothing to stop you from tumbling down the ledges at some spots so you do have to be careful and definitely wear sneakers. This was definitely a favorite trail for me
Start of the trail
Mid trail
End of the trail
Vernazza to –> Corniglia
Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
So this one I actually hiked the opposite why from Corniglia [climbed the 380 stairs] to Vernazza but you can do it either way. The order of the photos is from starting at Vernazza. I was sick this time I went and I was still fine to hiker it even though I was fighting a cold. This hike was super cute as there was a town in the middle of it that sells fresh squeezed lemonade and it was delicious. None of the trails have places you can stop for water/drinks except this one so be sure to pack lots of it for yourself.
Start of the trail
Mid trail. Lemonade stop
End of trail
Corniglia to –> Manarola
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
This is my absolute least favorite trail. In fact I only have the one picture below from it. For this hike you are hiking through a lot of different vineyards. From what I remember for the most part you are hiking through more woods lands with no views. If you are there for a few days and you have the time to do all the hikes then I say go for it. If you have limited time in Cinque Terre I would actually skip this one.
Manarola to –> Riomaggiore
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Hard
This one I think was the hardest hike. If you look at the map you can tell it is basically a straight up and straight down hike. If you get a good day the views are absolutely stunning here. This hike is mostly stairs straight up and then stairs straight down. I like to think I am in good shape and this one tired me out. I also don’t have the best knees so all of the stairs down hurt a little. As you can tell I also wasn’t dressed for a hike this day ha but I did it for the gram/cute picture duh!
Mid Hike
End of hike
**Please note that the times above are estimated and based off of my pace and difficulty is based off how I felt
If you have any questions or need more info feel free to reach out or leave a comment!
