What is the Cinque Terre?
The Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 villages located on the Italian Riviera coastline, in Liguria region. The Cinque Terre consists of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore which are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
What is the closest airport?
We flew into Pisa and its super easy to get to the Cinque Terre from here. Flights into Pisa are relatively cheap and there are many routes.
On arriving in Pisa you have to pay €2.70 to take the PisaMover to Pisa Centrale. Follow signs for PisaMover and you’ll get there! When you arrive at Pisa Centrale buy your ticket to where you are staying (you will also go via La Spezia). Do not buy your ticket in the aiport as they add lots of commission – cheeky!
How long do you recommend I spend there?
We were there from Monday – Thursday which was plenty of time, however spending a week here you wouldn’t be bored!
Where should I stay?
If you stay in one of the five villages then you are obviously going to pay a premium for this! We found an AirBnB in Riomaggiore which was absolutely gorgeous and it felt nice to be right in the heart of such a beautiful village. It was lovely to be able to walk to the harbour and have dinner on our doorstep. However we sure did pay a price for this, and opted to spend the rest of the time in La Spezia. La Spezia is much much cheaper to stay and is only a 7 minute train ride to Riomaggiore which is the first of the five villages!
Therefore depending on budget if you want to spend more then 100% stay in one of the villages, however saving money making your base in La Spezia is just as good!
How long does it take to walk the entire Cinque Terre?
We were super crazy and decided we wanted the challenge of hiking the Cinque Terre in one day. The walk is supposed to be 11km long all along the coast. However due to land slides 2 part of the coastal walk are shut so you have to take massive detours. Therefore the new length of the walk is about 18 miles (29km). It took us 9 hours to walk from Monterosso al Mare to Riomaggiore. We explored all the villages in this time too, stopping for foccacia, wine and gelato!
Which way should I do the walk?
We did a bit of reading before hiking and it seemed the best option was to walk from Monterosso al Mare to Riomaggiore. The reason for this is because you get the best view of the villages as you walk towards them. Therefore this is what we did and the views were stunning. Also as we were staying in Riomaggiore it meant we got to end where we were staying and didn’t need to get on a train again!
Tell me more about these diversions?
So these diversions sure did add some extra miles onto the walk. The parts that are shut are between Corniglia & Manarola and Manarola & Riomaggiore.
To get to the diversion going from Corniglia to Manarola the path is behind the church of San Pietro. As you are facing the church’s green door you need to head to the left of it walk a couple of metres and the path to take you to Manarola is on your left. This walk is long, and never ever ending. It took us about 2 hours, you walk through forests, vineyards and even through someones garden! It is a tough walk going up and down and feels like you’re never going to make it to Manarola! Part of the walk you start walkin in the opposite direction of Manarola but fear not the path sweeps back down and soon you catch your first glimpse of the familiar site of those colourful buildings
The two paths taking you from Manarola to Riomaggiore are both shut. There is a coastal path (also called Lovers Lane) and then a forest path – both are shut at present (as of June 2019). We got very lost finding our way and had to ask for help. But at present the only way to complete the entire route is to walk along the road unfortunately. When in Manarola head to the only car park at the top of the village and follow the path to the road and walk on the footpath back to Riomaggiore. Once you find the carpark its well signposted with arrows telling you where to go and also the red & white lines painted on walls.
Do I have to pay to hike here?
Yes!! You need to buy a pass in order to hike the Cinque Terre. Your tickets are checked in little huts by officials to ensure people have paid and have the correct ticket. You can now buy online or from any station when you arrive.
What are the trains like?
We highly recommend you buy the ticket which provides access to the park and also unlimited train travel, its excellent value. The train ticket also allows you to travel to La Spezia and also Levanto which is perfect!
1 day Cinque Terre Train Card € 16
2 days Cinque Terre Train Card € 29
3 days Cinque Terre Train Card € 41
The trains do not necessarily go on time, but they are only a couple of minutes late and run frequently. When you buy your tickets you get a timetable and this is super useful so hold onto it!
On the day we did the long hike we took the train all the way from where we were staying in Riomaggiore to Monterosso al Mare and its the prettiest train ride ever as you are basically following the coastal line. We then used our unlimited ticket the day after the hike to go back to our favourite of the villages for more exploring and of course lots of food and wine.
What shoes should I wear?
Wearing hiking boots was the best decision I made as they provided so much support for my feet. You can purchase hiking boots and socks here.
As we wanted to walk the entire day then definitely suggest you also wear hiking boots, however if only planning on doing parts of the trek each day then trainers will be fine for this! However you have to wear trainers (open toe is forbidden by law lol!) or similar as you will not be allowed on the trail (they do inspect your shoes!)
When should I visit?
Do not, I repeat do NOT visit in high season (basically the summer holidays!). We were there in May and some parts of the walk we got very frustrated being stuck behind slow walkers. This wasn’t in high season so we dread to think how busy it will get. Suggest April and May if you want to get sunny weather still.
The parts of the walk that are most popular are the paths that are not on diversion so between Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza & Corniglia.
If you have any other questions let us know in the comments box, we love sharing our tips with you guys!
