Cinque Terre is a string of 5 villages perched along the Ligurian coast in North West Italy. In 1997, Cinque Terre became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is a National Park within Italy. It’s known for it’s quaint coloured houses, beautiful harbours, lush vineyards and amazing views of the Mediterranean Sea. The 5 villages are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. Each village is unique in its own way and each one is just as beautiful!
How to get to Cinque Terre?
The easiest way to get to any of the Cinque Terre villages is to fly into Pisa, the closest airport. From Pisa, take a regional train to La Spezia (approx 1 hour) and then take the Cinque Terre Express to whichever town you’re staying in (7-20minutes depending on which town you’re going to). You can easily buy your tickets from one of the machines in station and trains to La Spezia are roughly every hour. The train to Cinque Terre are every half an hour.
You can also get to Cinque Terre from Florence, Genoa, Rome or Nice airports and then take trains.
How to get around the villages?
When visiting the different villages there are two main ways to get around: hiking or by train.
Hiking
You can hike between the different villages, the trails vary in length and some are steeper than others. Before you go you should take a look to see which trails are open as when I went some of the trails were closed due to restoration. We hiked from Manarola to Corniglia, then Corniglia to Vernazza and Vernazza to Monterosso. For some of the trails a Cinque Terre Hiking card will be required. This costs 7.5 euros for 1 day and 14.5 euros for 2 consecutive days. I’ve written a more detailed post about what the hikes were like which you can find here.
Train
The trains are quite frequent and it’s only about 5 minutes on the train between the different villages. A single journey on the Cinque Terre Express Train costs 4 euros. If you’re going to be taking the train a lot you should consider buying the Cinque Terre Train card. This gives you unlimited train travel between La Spezia and Levanto (the Cinque Terre Express line) for 1,2 or 3 days. It also gives you access to the different hiking routes, buses within the villages and access to the toilets at each of the train stations. The Cinque Terre Train Card costs 16 euros for 1 day, 29 for 2 days and 41 for 3 days at the time of writing (click on the link to check current prices) and you can buy any of these cards at any of the Cinque Terre stations.
There is also a boat which goes from La Spezia to Levanto this also stops at Portovenere but doesn’t stop at Corniglia as there is no harbour. The boat runs several times throughout the day but be sure to check the timetable here beforehand. You can buy a day ticket or a half day ticket which allows you to hop on and off at the different villages. The boat is more expensive than train but you could also do one boat trip and take trains the rest of the time. This would allow you to get a view of the villages from the sea.
How long to spend in Cinque Terre
You can visit Cinque Terre in one day but it will mean an early start and you may not get to experience everything. There are also many day trippers who visit during 10-4pm who have docked in La Spezia on a cruise so the villages will be much busier. I would suggest spending at least 2 days minimum in Cinque Terre especially if you are going to be hiking between the villages. Spending 3-4 days would be ideal as it will be more relaxing and you will have time to visit Portovenere as well.
When to go
The peak time to visit is from May – August. With July & August being the busiest months however they are also the hottest so hiking between the villages will be quite tiring due to the intense heat. The shoulder months of April and September are a great time to visit as there will be fewer tourists and the weather is still good.
Where to stay
You can stay in any of the 5 villages, Monterosso is the biggest so has more hotels and the best beach. Riomaggiore at the other end has great nightlife and restaurants. Vernazza, Manarola & Corniglia are smaller and so much of the accommodation is self-catered apartments rather than hotels. We stayed in Riomaggiore and were really glad we did as there were lots of restaurant options compared to the smaller villages. We stayed in Casa Alice which was only a 2 minute walk from station! It’s best to book your accommodation as soon as possible as places tend to get booked up quite quickly and can get quite expensive.
You could also stay in Levanto or La Spezia, which are much cheaper and less touristy. In fact Levanto felt like my local town rather than somewhere tourists would go. You can easily visit the villages using the train but it just means that you’re not staying in the villages themselves. It’s really up to you and dependent on your budget.
What to do in Cinque Terre
Riomaggiore
- You can go swimming in Riomaggiore there is small beach here
- Visit the viewpoint that is just above the marina, here you get a beautiful view of the coloured houses that make up the village
- Watch sunset from the harbour and see the orange glow fall over the coloured houses
Manarola
- Make pesto at Nessun Dorma! This was an amazing experience and you get to eat it all after with lunch and wine
- If you don’t want to make pesto, you should still visit Nessun Dorma for lunch. From the restaurant you get a beautiful view of Manarola whilst you eat lots of delicious fresh food.
- Hike to Corniglia via Volstra. This hike is quite steep and takes around 3 hours, if you want to find out more read my separate post on hiking the Cinque Terre
- Watch the sunset! The best view point is on the upper level by Nessun Dorma, here you can watch the village be submersed in an orange glow and have a clear view of the sunset at the same time.
Corniglia
- Climb up the steps to the village from the station. Be warned you will be climbing up 382 steps! Don’t worry, ithere is a shuttle bus if steps aren’t for you although you may have to wait as there’s limited space.
- Hike to Vernazza. This hike is not as steep as the one to Manarola. However, there are of course ups and downs and it takes around 2 hours.
Vernazza
- Climb up to Castle Doria and see Vernazza from a different viewpoint, it costs 1.5 euros to visit
- Have lunch at lunchbox, you can choose from a range of delicious sandwiches on focaccia or create your own
- Have ice cream at Gelateria Vernazza one of the best ice cream places in Cinque Terre
- Hike to Monterosso. This hike similar to the others winds its way to Monterosso and takes about 2 hours.
- Overlook Vernazza from the most beautiful viewpoint. The viewpoint is located a short 10 minutes into the hike to Monterosso. This was my favourite view of the village! If you’re not planning on hiking you’ll need to pay 7.5 euros to be able to walk on the trail.
Monterosso
- Buy your souvenirs, I found that souvenirs were cheaper here and there are more shops here
- The beach in Monterosso is the biggest one out of the villages and it has sand! Spend some time relaxing and swimming in the sea as well as eating all the ice cream
With more time…
If you have more time in the area I would recommend visiting Portovenere. It’s a smaller, lesser known town so won’t be as packed with tourists but it’s still very charming. There’s a beautiful seafront with lots of restaurants to choose from and shops to wander in. There are also 3 islands which sit just across from Portovenere. Here you have the option of taking a boat tour around all three islands or choose to spend time on one. We hiked from Riomaggiore to Portovenere, it was beautiful but long! So, I would only recommend this if you’re really into hiking!
I hope you enjoy your visit to Cinque Terre as much as I did!
