I’ve got a long list of lifetime travel goals. Cinque Terre, a bright mountain-and-seaside picture-perfect spot has been on my list since a co-worker came back from her trip there twenty years ago. I finally got to visit these five beautiful villages and hike the Via dell’Amore between them. This was the second stop in the Italian itinerary of our month abroad.
Getting to Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre is actually five, separate villages nestled along the coast of Italy just north of a town called La Spezia. All five villages are part of a National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, protecting the history and uniqueness of the region. Before the railway and highway were built between the cities, the only way to get to and between them was by boat. Then, in the 1920’s a path was built between the cities to help haul materials to the new rail line construction sites. That trail is known as the Via Dell’Amore (Lover’s Lane) because it enabled young people from these cities to meet up between them. Now, the trails are an incredibly popular hiking path that become so busy during the summer that you have to buy a Cinque Terre Card to hike them.
Today, you can get to the cities by train or by car via a windy highway. The train stops at every villages and comes every 20 minutes or so. Getting from La Spezia to Monterosso takes around 30 minutes. The cities are still so remote that there’s a helicopter team that delivers construction material to the villages and surrounding vineyards almost every day of the week. It’s that much easier to get large deliveries into these villages by helicopter than by large truck!
Vernazza
We stayed in Vernazza, which is the second-most Northern village and arguably the most picturesque. There is one main road through town and a few narrow paths up the hillside to most of the residences. At the seashore, there is a harbor with colorful boats, perfect for a quick swim in the beautiful green waters. We loved being situated in Vernazza for our trip. It is full of beautiful views, shops, and restaurants, plus the train stops right in town.
Monterosso to Vernazza
I was there to hike the trail, so on the first day, we took the train to the most Northern city within Cinque Terre, Monterosso al Mare. Monterosso has the only large beach of the five towns, so it also has the most seaside resorts, restaurants, and shops. It’s beautiful in its own right, but very crowded on nice days. It also has the start of the Via Dell’Amore. The most scenic stretch of the path is the one from Monterosso to Vernazza, which is the stretch we did first. It takes around an hour and a half to hike and it’s not an easy path, either. You’re hiking up and down stairs and hills right along the beautiful coastline, through vineyards, forests, and open areas. It was amazing!! Judge for yourselves.
Vernazza to Corniglia
One of the reasons I was glad to be staying in Vernazza was that we had a place to rest in between our hikes. The next section was Vernazza to Corniglia, Corniglia being the most remote and least-visited village in Cinque Terre. It is the only village that’s mostly on a hillside, with no quick access to the sea.
The views on this trail were also quite good and there were a couple of makeshift farm juice stands along the way that you could stop at with beautiful views. This part of the trail was also around one and a half hours. In total between the two trails we hiked around six miles.
We also passed a group of 20-somethings on a tour. And, by group, I mean there were 300 of them walking down the trail one-by-one in a line. They were going the opposite direction, but they were awfully annoying. I’d hate to have been stuck behind them, which I feel is maybe par for the course if you’re traveling during peak season like we were.
Corniglia itself was a cute town and I enjoyed having fewer people around. We ate lunch in a nice courtyard with a stray cat, then found some yummy gelato. That was enough hiking for us for the day, so we went took the train back to Vernazza. Part of the reason Corniglia isn’t as crowded is that there are 382 steps from the train station up to town. We had to go down those steps, but if you take the train to Corniglia, you’re going up them. Good luck!
Riomaggiore and Manarola
The next day, we decided that we’d seen enough of the trail. There was only one more section open as the other one has been closed for months due to landslides that you can still see from the various villages. We took the train to see the last two, Riomaggiore and Manarola. Both of these villages are a little bit bigger than the other three and definitely more crowded. You can get lost in the windy streets, but you can also find some old churches, hidden waterfalls, and fun restaurants along the way. By the end of our exploration day, we were pretty good on the whole Cinque Terre thing. The villages are gorgeous, but the crowds will wear on you. My favorite spots were on the trails, where there are a lot less people and much better views!
Cinque Terre by Sea
On our final night, we thought it would be a fitting end to the trip to take a sunset cruise between the villages. We found a great boat tour operated by Aquamarina that included drinks, dinner, and gorgeous views of all five villages, plus a nice swim. It really was the perfect end to a great couple of days.
Be aware that the later you travel at night in Cinque Terre, the number of trains decreases and there are fewer stops. We accidentally got on an express train that only stopped in Riomaggiore, which added about an hour and a half to our trip home. Despite being only one village away from Vernazza, we ended up touring all five of them in the dark that night and getting home especially tired.
All-in-all, the Cinque Terre hike lived up to my expectations. I may not need to go again, but I highly recommend the trek. It’s worthy of all the hype!
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