A Weekend in Cinque Terre, Italy

Caitlinepstein415/ February 10, 2019/ Europe/ 1 comments

A Weekend in Cinque Terre, Italy

This weekend, my roommate Kendall and I ventured out to the western coast of Italy to explore the stunning villages of Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre, or “five lands,” is comprised of five picturesque villages built on cliffs along the Italian Riviera. The five villages, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare, along with the coastal area, are a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site, and are blissfully free of corporate development.

This was a must-visit for me while studying abroad in Italy, and you’ll soon see why. The villages are only a two and a half hour train journey from Florence, so Kendall and I booked train tickets and an AirBnB for the soonest free weekend we had. Right before going, the weather forecast looked awful, and we were told by our school’s director to reschedule our trip. I was too eager, however, and we got on the train Saturday morning anyways.

And I’m so glad we did.

Here’s a breakdown of our amazing weekend in Cinque Terre village by village.

Riomaggiore

After getting off of the train around 9:30 in the morning in La Spezia, a large town near the villages, we hopped on the regional train to Riomaggiore, the closest village to La Spezia. The regional train stops at each village and costs 1.90 to around 4.40 euros each trip in the low tourist season depending on which village or town you are headed to.

After hopping off in Riomaggiore, we walked through the long, tunneled walking path toward the town. We had time to kill before checking into our AirBnB, so we headed down to the marina, where our jaws dropped from the incredible view.

We enjoyed the views and basked in the bright sun and blue sky that proved all of the weather reports dead wrong. Then, we headed up the main road (and only road, really) of the town to our AirBnB. Our host, Paolo, was so nice and the apartment was perfect for our one night stay. It was spacious with two large bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a clean bathroom. The location was also superb, and allowed us to be right in the middle of one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen.

We explored the other villages throughout the day on Saturday, but came back to Riomaggiore to enjoy a really delicious pasta dinner at a cozy restaurant right across from our apartment. I had meat ravioli with meat sauce and Kendall had trofi pasta with a pesto sauce, which the region is known for.

The next morning, we slept in until around 9:30, and then had to part with the village we called home for the night.

Monterosso al Mare

The second village we visited on our trip was Monterosso al Mare, the farthest of the villages from Riomaggiore and also the biggest town of the five. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time here – we took the train there and used it as a starting point for a hike to the next town over, Vernazza.

While there, we simply walked through the old town and by the marina. I didn’t find it as breathtaking as some of the others, but it is probably a good place to find restaurants and accommodations as it is a good deal bigger than the other towns.

After getting to the eastern edge of the town, we started on the trail from Monterosso to Vernazza. Cinque Terre is known for its beautiful hikes from one village to another through the Cinque Terre national park, and while I am by no means a hiker, I knew I wanted to hike while visiting. I did a lot of research beforehand, and decided on the Monterosso to Vernazza trail because it is not too challenging, it covers only about 3.5 kilometers, and the views going into Vernazza were said to be worth the trek.

So, I convinced Kendall that two non-hikers should do a hike through the mountainous seaside of Cinque Terre, and we set off on our journey. The trails are usually 7.50 euros for a day pass, but we were able to do the hike for free in the low season! The beginning of the trail involved a lot of stairs, and was a bit of a challenge for an asthmatic, but eventually leveled off a bit.

Along the way, we admired orchards and farms, views of the ocean and Monterosso, the beautiful greenery, and even a little cat sanctuary. We also, interestingly enough, had a woman just in front of us the entire hike doing the walk wine drunk. She constantly talked to herself, walked with only one arm in her coat, and tried to communicate with me in a mix of Italian, Spanish, and English. It was very odd, and she didn’t really seem to know where she was, but she was certainly moving faster than me.

Vernazza

And then the village of Vernazza came into view, and I was in awe. Kendall and I walked for about an hour and a half before we got a clear view of the village, and the entire hike became that much better. It’s difficult to say which of the villages is the most beautiful, but there’s nothing quite like the view of Vernazza that we had from up on that trail.

Then, after two total hours of walking, climbing, helping each other up and down rocks and water, and sticking close to the cliff face where there were no barriers protecting us from a fall into the ocean, we made it to Vernazza.

In Vernazza, we sat by the sea and then set off to find gelato as a reward for finishing the hike. I also try to have gelato (at least) once a day, so it was a must.

Then, we headed to the train station to go to yet another village!

Manarola

We only allotted ourselves an hour in Manarola so we could catch the next train back to Riomaggiore, but that gave us just enough time to explore the small but stunning village. We walked out to the edges of the marina to get a magnificent view of the village. Manarola is definitely a contender for the most beautiful of the five towns.

Corniglia

We saved Corniglia, the last of the five towns, for our last morning in Cinque Terre. After grabbing a morning snack in Riomaggiore, we took the train to this town, which is right in the middle of the five villages, and took to the stairs to the town center.

Corniglia is the only one of the five that is not directly on the water, but is completely up on the cliff. This means that from the train station, there are hundreds of stairs up to the village itself. We saved this one for our second day because I figured the stairs would be a bit much after the hike.

The stairs were worth it though, as we were able to wander the quaint streets of Corniglia, which is the smallest village in terms of population with only about 150 people.

After walking around a bit, we sat in a warm cafe and had tea and coffee, fruit juice, a ham and cheese plate, and croissants. Once we were full, we slowly made our way back down the many stairs to begin our journey back home to Florence.

I am so glad we didn’t pay any attention to the weather forecast, because we had great weather the entire weekend, and Cinque Terre is now high up on my list of favorite places in Europe that I have visited, along with Lisbon, Portugal and Paris, France. The villages on the Mediterranean are like a fairytale. They are a welcome break from many beautiful oceanfronts around the world that have been crammed with chain hotels and restaurants. Cinque Terre is still wonderfully local, and I hope to show my mom around this marvelous part of Italy next month!