About Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre or (the five lands) is by far one of the prettiest parts of Italy. It is a collection of 5 little coastal towns just south of Genoa in northwest Italy. These town are famous for their scenic locations and beautiful colours. This area used to be frequented by pirates and the locals built there towns into the mountains and cliffs to keep themselves safe. When the pirates stopped frequenting the area the locals built all the way down to the sea and made the towns you can visit today. There is a 11km walking trail you can do that takes you through the 5 towns and it is stunning. The towns are listed below and all have their own unique features. For the rest of this blog when we say Cinque Terre we mean this area of the 5 towns.
- Monterosso – The largest of the villages and a great place to base yourself
- Vernazza – Beautiful harbour village
- Corniglia – Surrounded by vineyards and olives
- Manarola – Picturesque town perfect for swimming and cliff jumping
- Riomaggiore – Amazing dining and or sunset town
How To visit Cinque terre
The town of Cinque Terre are best linked by rail and or boat. This is not a great place to be driving as the roads are very steep, narrow, and most of the time reserved for local traffic only. We stayed in the town of Levanto and did day trips by train from here. Levanto was a cute authentic Italian town and actually had a great beach. This was a perfect way to do it and definitely what we recommend. There is a “Cinque Terre Card” (€ 19-32 depending on season) you can buy at the train station that gives you unlimited train travel between the towns of Levanto – Cinque Terre – La Spezia. This allows you to hike as much or as little as you like and train between the towns. Generally if you are going to use the train more than twice in a day this pass is a deal. It also includes the trekking pass that costs €7.50. You can also stay in the towns themselves which would be beautiful but can be quite pricey. Many people day trip from further abroad in Italy like Genoa or Pisa but we don’t feel this gives you the time to appreciate the area.
Where to park for Cinque Terre
We had the pleasure of driving around Northern Italy and Switzerland for 10 days in our amazing road surfer van. This was a perfect trip and we decided to cap it off by visiting Cinque Terre. Not a destination that usually scream bring a camper but it actually worked out perfectly. We were able to save on housing by staying in the camper and we made ourselves breakfast and dinner in the van.
Levanto
We chose to park in Levanto as it was still part of the Cinque Terre rail line so we could use the card, but had great road access. We parked in the Area Sosta Camper – Levanto. It had a water fill for the van as well as a sewer dump. Not our fanciest stay but it was only a 5 minute walk from the train station and an easy stroll into town at night. The rates were €36 for 24 hours or €24 for 12. We bought our time in 24 hour increments and just added hours as needed using the easy pay app. These rates were for a camper van and there was cheaper parking across the street at Parcheggio Moltedi if you have a car €24 for 24 hours. I know it seems like a lot for parking and it is. Buuuut you are in the Cinque Terre area and you will feel a lot better about it when you look at the hotel prices.
Area Sosta Camper – Levanto
La Spezia
La Spezia is your other great parking option for Cinque Terre. It is a bit of a bigger city but is also a great spot to use a base. We chose Levanto because we wanted smaller town vibes. If you are also planning on visiting the seaside town of Porto Venere this could be a more convenient spot to base yourself. They also have a Area Sosta by their train station but the it seemed much busier so we avoided it.
The hike
We started our hike going North to South from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. This is the traditional way to do the hike as it saves the pretties town Riomaggiore for last. If we could have a do over I think we would have trained to Riomaggiore and walked from south to north. The reason for this is we were walking into the sun for the majority of our morning making our photos a bit tricky. If you are starting later in the day or photography isn’t a priority for you feel free to ignore this.
Images courtesy of https://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/
The trail conditions on the Cinque Terre were great. This was about as bad as the footing got, very well maintained and signed trail.
Monterosso -> 3.6km
Our train from Levanto dropped us off around 8 am in Monterosso and we started our 3.6km hike to Vernazza. The beginning section was pretty but not amazing so we high tailed it to Vernazza. This section is fairly easy with some moderate up and down.
Vernazza -> 3.5km
Beautiful Vernazza
Vernazza was a super scenic little town and one of our favorites. This is a great town to get breakfast in. It was reasonably priced and had lots of tasty options and cute cafes to sit in. The views in and out of Vernazza were some of the best on the whole trail. This section was a little harder with a 100m ascent up the valley before descending down to Corniglia.
Heading out of town there is an amazing lookout, so make sure you stop and take the time to look back. The whole area is just amazing.
Corniglia ->5.4km
Corniglia is unique in that it is the only town not on the water. Cornigilia is sitting on a cliff and is surrounded by vineyards and olive trees. It is a pretty town but did not have the same scenic wow to me that the others did. My mental image of the Cinque Terre was these little cove towns on the water and this one is nice but its kind of up on the cliff. If I was to skip a section it would be here. If your tight on time Consider training from Vernazza to Manarola. This would also cut out the hardest section of the hike. Corniglia to Manarola was straight up hard. It was a couple hundred meter ascent in the heat of the day and we were not expecting it. Apparently there is a shuttlebus here to help you out by cutting out some of the elevation buy we didn’t find it. The best views of Corniglia were on the way out of town looking back.
Manarola ->1.8km
Manarola is a super romantic town and on of our favorites. Spend some time here it is worth it. As mentioned below check out the viewpoint above town and grab a drink and snack at Nussa Dorma. The Manarola hike to Riomaggiore via Lovers lane is supposed to be super easy. Unfortunately we had issues getting onto the walkway and had to head up and around. Our route added some extra elevation we were not anticipating. I will say more on this below.
Riomaggiore
You have finished the hike! Grab yourself a reward drink and explore on the most scenic towns in the Cinque Terre. There are some great lookout points along the water to hang out and take photos at.
Via Dell’Amore
We were not impresessed with the Lovers lane walkway that connects Manarola to the final town Riomaggiore. This path has been closed due to a landslide for almost 20 years and just reopened. The start of the path is right behind Manarola train station and a different route than the upper harder trail. When we got to the entrance there was a guy saying it is one way traffic only and you could only walk south to north from Riomaggiore. On top of this you had to pay an extra €10 ticket. The only way he could make an exception is if we had a hotel booking in Riomaggiore or a restaurant reservation. Annoyed we took the long trail around. Later in the day we actually tried to walk south to north from Riomaggiore to Manarola and a lady stopped and said it was one way traffic only but this time from the other direction. She said the only way we could get through was to buy a ticket she had run out of but would take cash. We explained the guy on the other end said it was one way but the other direction and she didn’t care. She just asked for cash again. Don’t bribe these people, you can buy the official ticket from the Riomaggiore ticket office and you should be able to walk south to north. This was the only place in Italy we ran into unpleasant people trying to take advantage, everyone else was lovely. Cinque Terre officials if you are reading this, sort it out!
If you still want to do the Lovers Lane walk be smarter than us and make a lunch or dinner reservation online.
This is what we saw instead of The Via Dell’Amore 🙁 , Not bad for a train station tho.
Our Favorite town IN cinque Terre
Our favorite town in Cinque Terre was Manarola. The sunset view over the town was iconic Italy and not to be missed. It also had this epic swimspot with some great cliff jumping spots right in the central lagoon of town! I mean just look at it.
If you dont have time for the Trail Do this
If you are not a big hiker or don’t have the time to do the whole trail these our the three towns we recommend seeing. If you visit Vernazaa, Manarola, and Riomaggiore you will see the best of the Cinque Terre and not feel like you missed out. You definitely do not have to hike. In fact the majority of people didn’t. Start your day by training straight to Vernazza. Have a breakfast or quick bite here in one of the many beautiful coffee shops.
After your bite and wander train to Riomaggiore the prettiest town in the Cinque Terre. Get lunch here at one of the many famous fried fish shops. The calamari and gelato here was amazing. This is a great town to spend some time and wander in. If you walk around the point there is a beach and some great spots on the rocks to hang out in the sun.
After lunch train to Manarola for the most scenic lookout in the Cinque Terre. This is by far the best sunset spot in the whole area. If you have time make a reservation at the Manarola overlook restauraunt Nessun Dorma. We didn’t make a reservation and the lines were crazy. The views here are exactly what you are looking for. Despite the resto being full we grabbed some drinks and sat at the lookout and watched the sun go down over the town. A perfect end to a long day exploring
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