A Weekend in Cinque Terre, Italy
Welcome to Cinque Terre
How to Get Here
The easiest way to arrive to Cinque Terre is by train from a larger city like Milan, Florence, Rome, Pisa, Genoa or La Spezia. Flights may be available into these cities as well, pending your desired destination.
If you are driving, we recommend booking a hotel accommodation that includes free parking on-site. It is VERY difficult to drive in the Cinque Terre towns and even harder to find any parking. If you stay outside of the main Cinque Terre cities, there is a bus line that is cheap and you can ride in each day.
Once in any of the Cinque Terre towns, you can take the train to city hop. We recommend buying a multi day pass making it easy to explore all of the cities during your stay. You can purchase this pass in any of the train stations. It runs between cities approx. every 15 minutes.
Walking Between Cities
Once you arrive to one of the five cities, there is an option to walk the National Park Trail (Blue Path Sentiero Azzurro) between each of the cities. The daily access fee is around 7.50 euros. You can purchase your pass ahead of time online or at the park information booths near the trailhead in each city. Sections of the trail may be closed due to trail maintence or recent storm damage. For the most up to date info, trail maps, and entrance fees, visit the National Park website.
When to Visit
The Cinque Terre region is a very popular tourist destination and tends to be more packed in the summer months. We recommend visiting in the shoulder season to enjoy it to the max without being overwhelmed with people (May or late Aug- early Oct). We planned our trip for June due to our limited schedules and still had a great time, but it was very crowded. The summer months do provide some of the best weather to make the most of your trip to the region.
Where to Stay
If you decide to drive to Cinque Terre, we highly recommend booking a hotel or home that has private parking included. Agriturismo spots are also great locations to check out to leave a kinder impact on the local area. We stayed just outside of town at il Borgo di Campi that included private parking for our stay. To get to Riomaggiore, there is a cheap bus to take with a stop just across the street in the hotel parking lot.
It is located on the water side of the road. This location has a TON of stairs down the cliffside (between 150-200 steps depending on where your room is located) to walk down to reach the private studios. There is NO elevator available, no staff to carry bags for you and we would not recommend booking if you have tons of luggage or cannot do stairs well. For the view, cost and parking, we felt this was the perfect spot for all of our needs.
There are many different hotel and private apartment home accommodations available between all of the cities at different price points. We recommend finding what works best for your trip based on your desired plans and activities you'd like to do. If interested, schedule a call and we can help find specific locations that meet your budget needs.
On-Site Restaurant
Typically I can be known as a relatively picky eater, but when I tell you the food here is the best I have ever experienced, I mean it. The whole experience with a cliff side view of the water at sunset, with freshly made pasta with veggies. It was *chef's kiss* AMAZING!
The Five Towns
The Cinque Terre region is comprised of five small, cliff side towns that are all connected by a train or walking path. There is also a limited bus system that connects the towns together but this gets PACKED in the summer months. The towns are Riomaggiore, Corniglia, Manarola, Vernazza and Monteroso al Mare.
Riomaggiore
Since we opted for the cheap city shuttle into town from our hotel space, this is where we first arrived. The bus stop is located at the bottom of the hill near the tunnel to walk to the train station.
There was a small art market taking place in the local square. We loved getting a chance to see the local art and even picked up some to bring back home.
Manarola
Corniglia
One main comment, be prepared for stairs. If you're looking to spend your time at the beach, this isn't the spot for that. However, Corniglia is home to gorgeous cliff side views and historical churches.
If you need additional assistance, or you cannot do stairs, I would recommend arriving via city bus to Corniglia. When we visited in the middle of summer, it was hot and the buses were packed. I would recommend a small pocket fan if you get hot easily.
Vernazza
Monterosso al Mare
Well known for their dazzling, white sand beaches, Monterosso al Mare is this place to visit if you love basking in the sun and dipping your toes in sparking clear blue water.
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