A Local’s Guide to the Cinque Terre
The Ligurian coast is filled with gorgeous places, but one stands out above all the rest: the famed fishing villages of the Cinque Terre. A cluster of gorgeous little seaside towns filled with pastel-hued houses clinging to cliffs, this is one of Italy’s most visited destinations. And that’s with good reason, because it’s a simply gorgeous place!
Now, the beauty of this collection of towns is nothing new, and the area has been populated since the Bronze Age, even playing an important role during the Roman era. Despite this, the Cinque Terre was largely unvisited by the outside world until the end of the 19th century, due to its difficult-to-reach location, squeezed between the sea and mountains. What is now a global tourism hub was “just” a few small and isolated fishing villages until not so long ago.
But everything changed in 1875, when a railway tunnel was built through the mountains, finally connecting the five villages to the rest of Italy. And with that development, this stunning place and UNESCO World Heritage site opened up to the world, with millions of tourists arriving here every year.
Table of Contents
See more of our Italy travel guides:
What is the Cinque Terre
Before we cover anything else, it’s important to first clarify exactly what the Cinque Terre is, and for that, we can start with the name, which translates as the “Five Lands”, referring to the five villages that make up this area of the southern Ligurian coastline. Running from north to south, those are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.
The towns, and the territory between and around them is also a national park, having been designated as such since 1999. The rugged and lush-with-cultivation coast is the area's defining feature, which is filled with stunning beaches, coves, and scenic overlooks. With cliffs rising vertically out of the sea, the each of the five villages is either built on steep slopes or sitting at the base of them.
The towns were typical coastal fishing villages up until relatively recently, when the explosion of tourism turned them into a major tourist destination, and the focus accordingly shifted to tourism-related activities.
Why visit
The town of Riomaggiore
The town of Manarola
With its dramatic coastal scenery and pastel-colored seaside villages, the Cinque Terre is justly renowned for its outstanding beauty and timeless appeal. And while there are other places in Liguria - which is home to the Italian Riviera - that share similar characteristics, this cluster of villages boasts the most impressive mix of beautiful yet rugged landscapes, great access to outdoor activities, and pretty villages one after another. It’s undeniably touristy, but you won’t find anywhere else quite like this in the country.
The Cinque Terre’s unique layout, squeezed between the cliffs and the sea means that it also provides a access to two things that don’t normally come paired together: lounging on the beach and hiking along mountain trails. And while the beaches are nice enough (mostly pebbly and rocky) and the water is a lovely shade of blue, hiking is unquestionably the must-do activity, since gorgeous trails along terraced cliffs provide incredible views and connect the villages to one another.
For centuries, the villages were only accessible by trail or boat, so for anyone without a boat, hiking between the towns was obligatory. Today, we do it for fun, but it also provides a nice perspective on what life was like here prior to the explosion of tourism.
Of course, there are also plenty of “leisure” activities to be had here, like boat trips along the coast, wandering the streets of the little villages, dining on fresh, locally caught seafood, and sampling wines and other local products produced in the surrounding hills.
Winemaking is the oldest agricultural activity in the area, so taking a wine-tasting tour through the terraced vineyards is a nice way to taste some great local wines and gain an appreciation for the area’s agricultural heritage. There are also olive groves and lemon orchards, whose produce is highly prized, and often grown in spectacular surroundings.
How to get here
The Cinque Terre are located in northwestern Italy, on the southern coast of the Liguria region, lying between the city of Genoa and town of La Spezia, which is quite close to the border with Tuscany.
280 miles from Rome, you can get here from the Italian capital in 5 hours by car or 3-hours via the high-speed train. From Milan, which is 140 miles away, the journey takes 3 hours whether by car or (intercity)train. And finally, you can also get here from Florence, via a 2-hour drive or 3-hour train-ride.
If coming from the south, you’ll need to transfer to a local train in the city of La Spezia. If you arrive from the north, you’ll make a transfer in Levanto. During high-season, there are trains heading into the villages multiple times per hour from both cities.
For anyone visiting from Tuscany, check out our guide on how to get here from Florence.
Getting around the Cinque Terre
A train near Manarola. Photo: Giorgio Stagni, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
While there are some roads running through the Cinque Terre, they are steep, narrow, and pretty intimidating, so don’t make for very pleasant driving. Beyond that, the only people allowed to park within the towns are local residents, meaning that if you bring your car you’ll have to sort out parking outside of town and will usually have fairly long and very steep walks in to wherever you’re staying.
A better option if you’ll have a car is to park in La Spezia, on the southern end of the national park, in Levanto, to the north, or in Monterosso’s newer part of town, which is the only village that has parking lots accessible to non-residents.
There are regular trains to the villages from both La Spezia and Levanto, so getting into the park from either is quick and easy, and there really is no reason to have a car while you’re here.
Local trains
Once in the national park, the train is by far the easiest and most efficient way to get around. The train travels a fixed route between Levanto and La Spezia and stops in each of the five villages. With the exception of Corniglia, the stations are all right in the center of town, so you can just hop out and start exploring.
I’d generally recommend purchasing the Cinque Terre Treno MS Card, which gives you unlimited train rides until midnight on the day of purchase as well as access to the paid-for hiking trails. You can buy the card at the train station in Levanto or La Spezia or direct from the National Park’s online ticket office here.
Trains run from early morning until quite late at night, usually with 1 to 2 departures per hour, and even more frequently during the busier times of year.
Public ferry
From April through October you can also travel between the villages by public ferry, as long as the sea is calm on the day you’re visiting (the boats don’t run if the sea is too rough). The ferries run from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM and stop in all of the seaside towns.
Hiking the trails
Of course, one of the most popular and scenic ways to travel between the towns is via the Blue Trail (sentiero azzuroo in Italian), a 7-mile (each way) route that connects all 5 villages. I’ve provided more information on this in the “things to do” section lower down in this article.
Best time to visit
May, early June, and from September through October are the best times to visit the Cinque Terre, as the weather is warm but not unpleasantly hot, and the towns are moderately busy but not overrun with visitors. September is probably the best of the bunch, as the sea will be at its warmest, making for perfect swimming weather, and the late summer/early fall is also the grape harvest season.
The spring, especially the latter half of the season, is also a really nice time to visit, as temperatures warm up, the days are mostly sunny, and the countryside explodes into life, with all the vegetation in bloom. As with late summer/early fall, the towns will be lively, with just about everywhere open, but with a fraction of the crowds compared to the summer. You won’t be able to swim yet, but as long as it’s dry, it’s the perfect time of year for hiking.
The summer is the obvious choice if you’re after warm (hot!) weather, sun, and beach days, but there are some obvious drawbacks: the Cinque Terre is at its busiest during these months and the crowds can be pretty intense, the prices for accommodation rise precipitously, and everything from hotels to boat trips get booked out well in advance.
It can also be really hot here during the summer, which makes lounging on the beach quite nice, but hiking along the trails a whole lot less attractive. If you want to hike, you’d better be ready to get up early and do it before it gets too hot.
As for fall, as I said above, the first part of the season is quite pleasant, but I’d mostly suggest avoiding November and December. November is the wettest month, with regular landslides and thunderstorms, leading to frequent trail closures.
The situation in the winter is even less attractive, with questionable weather, cold temperatures, and limited daylight hours. Almost all tourism establishments shut down by the late fall and don’t reopen until sometime in the spring, so the villages will be mostly ghost towns.
How long to stay
For most people, a day is enough time in the Cinque Terre, as this will let you tour the various villages, hike some of the trails, and do a boat trip, either as an organized tour or just one of the public ferries that travel between the towns.
You could certainly spend longer though, and one of the advantages of doing so is that you’ll get to enjoy the towns in the morning and evening when the day trippers have either not yet arrived or have long-since departed. The villages are very different - much more pleasant - without the crowds, so staying overnight has a definite benefit.
Even so, the villages have few major sights, and most of the appeal for visitors really is just that the towns are lovely and the setting is truly stunning, and you don’t need more than a day to see and appreciate that.
Assuming you visit on a day trip, I’d recommend getting around via a combination of train (which travels between the villages), hiking trails, and public ferries, as by utilizing the various transit methods you’ll be able to quickly move between the towns while seeing them from different vantage points, including from the clifftop hills and the sea.
Where to stay overnight
I know that I just said that I don’t typically think of the Cinque Terre as an overnight destination, but many people do choose to stay over, and that can be especially convenient if you’re using this as a place to break up a long drive, like for anyone driving between Florence and Milan (or other destinations further north).
In that case, there are a couple of options that I think make the most sense:
La Spezia, which is not actually part of the Cinque Terre, is the most obvious option, as trains arrive there from throughout Italy and it’s a real city with lots of accommodation options, restaurants, etc. It also provides quick and easy access to the villages, so you can stay there and still get into the towns before most other visitors have arrived.
Within the national park, I think Monterosso is your best bet, as it has an easy-to-reach train station, is the biggest of the towns and has the most going on, and has a few nice sandy beaches. It also has larger hotels, so is less likely to be totally sold out.
Overview of the 5 Villages
Here’s a quick summary of the 5 villages, in order from north to south:
Monterosso
The largest of the towns, Monterrosso is split into two halves - old and new -. In typical Ligurian style, the old town has tightly packed, narrow little streets, while the new town is much more developed, with a seaside promenade, a sandy beach, and lots of larger hotels. This is the flattest of the villages, which has allowed it to develop more than the others.
The town of Monterosso al Mare
Vernazza
Vernazza is typically said to be the prettiest of the villages, and with its branching alleyways, charming little square, and picturesque harbor, it’s hard to argue with that designation. The town even has a couple of significant sights, including the Renaissane-style Church of Santa Margherita, which sits right on the water, and the ruins of the Doria Castle. Just the tower remains standing, watching out over the sea.
The town of Vernazza. Photo: Svein-Magne Tunli - tunliweb.no, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Corniglia
The only village not directly on the sea, Corniglia is reached by climbing about 400 steps up a steep staircase. The reward for your effort is an incredible vista, of course, but also a slightly less touristy atmosphere, as not everyone is willing to make the climb. The single road that runs through town is lined with bars, cafés, and restaurants, many of which have terraces with amazing views.
Corniglia
Manarola
With only around 300 inhabitants, Manarola is a tiny little town that’s almost impossibly picturesque. Built in tiered levels with its colorful houses climbing up a rocky promontory jutting out into the sea, you will have extraordinary views from almost anywhere in town. It’s also surrounded by vineyards in the hills above, and little hiking trails will take you between them while you enjoy the coastal vistas.
Manarola in the evening
Riomaggiore
The southernmost town of the Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore is built beside a ravine, with the town spilling down along it to its tiny harbor and rocky beach (which often has pretty rough surf). Its main street, Via Colombo, is lined with restaurants and is always busy.
Riomaggiore
Things to do
1. Hike the trails
As I said above, for centuries the only way to get between the villages was by walking on the coastal and hillside paths, and today, hiking these trails is one of the main reasons visitors come to the Cinque Terre.
The Blue Trail (or 'Sentiero Azzurro' in Italian) is the main one, and over its 7 miles it connects all of the 5 villages, stretching between Monterosso and Riomaggiore. The path is relatively easy, but it does have a lot of hilly sections. It takes around 5 hours to complete if you’re charging straight through, but you should expect to add at least a couple more hours if you plan to do some sightseeing in the towns too.
The blue trail is by far the most famous hike, but there are actually lots of other trails in the National Park, most of them running through the hills above the towns.
The 20-mile Red Trail (Sentiero Rosso) is the next most well-known one, which goes from Portovenere to Levanto, two towns near the 5 villages.
The trail runs through the terrain above the villages, and is accordingly known as the “high path” (Alta Via), and offers unbelievable views as you hike.. It would take around 11 hours to finishi in one go, assuming you’re reasonably fit, but it also has side paths that lead down to the Villages, so you don’t need to do the whole hike.
There are many more trails to explore though, which can all be found directly on the trail section of the National Park’s website here.
Local guide Stefano on a hike in the Cinque Terre
A stretch of the Via del’Amore (part of the Sentiero Azzurro). Photo: Twice25 & Rinina25, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
2. Visit the vineyards
The hills behind and between the villages of the Cinque Terre are heavily covered in grapevines, with terraced vineyards that produce excellent wine. There are few places in the world where you can visit vineyards whose “fields'“ sit on rocky cliffs staring straight out to the sea, so this is a pretty unique experience.
There are two main local wines to try: the Cinque Terre DOC, a dry white wine, and the and the Sciacchetrà DOC, a sweet fortified dessert wine.
The trail through the villages will take you past lots of vineyards, especially the stretch between Corniglia and Manarola. Just be aware that the industry has been in decline for the last coupe of decades, so you might want to look some up and call ahead to make sure they’re open and offering tastings.
You can also enjoy tastings in shops and wine bars in many of the towns.
Terraced grape vines in the Cinque Terre. Photo: Josh & Jelena from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
3. Take a boat trip
During the busier (and warmer) parts of year, there are public ferries that travel between the towns. Convenient for transportation reasons, a ride on one of these is also a nice and affordable way to see the villages from the coast, a vantage point which will give you a real appreciation for their spectacular cliffside settings. The ferries won’t run if the sea is rough though, so just be prepared to make alternative arrangements.
If you’re arriving here from Portofino, a popular nearby town, boat trips are always an option as well.
And if you want something a little more luxurious than a public ferry, there are captains who will take you out on private or small group boat tours of varying durations.
There are also a number of outfitters in various of the towns who rent out kayaks and paddleboards, if you’re looking for something a bit more active.
Boats docked in Vernazza
A packed ship near Monterosso
4. Swim and lounge on the “beaches”
While the beaches of the Cinque Terre are not especially impressive, the water is lovely and on a hot day, especially if you’ve been hiking between the towns, a dip in the Ligurian Sea is simply marvelous. Here are a few swimming spots:
Monterosso has the only real sandy beach, parts of which are private, with sunbeds for rent. The public part is free use, of course.
Vernazza’s harbor has a small sandy beach with mostly calm water.
Manarola and Riomaggiore don’t have any beaches, but there are low rocky areas in each from where you can jump into the sea.
Monterosso’s sandy (and packed) beach
- Chat with a local expert
- 1 hour planning session
- Get pro tips & hidden gems
- Personalized to you
Connect with Stefano!
