Walking in Cinque Terre

One of the places we’ve been wanting to visit for quite some time is Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a collection of five villages (Cinque Terre literarily means “five lands”) spectacularly located on the Italian Riviera. This weekend seemed to be a good time to visit, as the weather forecast was promising, and by going this early in the year we thought we’d be able to avoid the hordes of visitors that overwhelm Cinque Terre during the summer months...


So having sorted out a room for two nights with a friendly lady, off we set Friday afternoon, punching in the directions for Cinque Terre into my brand new TomTom (which I got from my parents as an early birthday present). Everything went smoothly, and we arrived as planned at Levanto, from where we took a local train to Vernazza, where we were staying the night. The friendly lady’s friendly daughter met us at the train station, and took us to our room, which was just actually just next door’s to the train station. Which was nice in a way, but also meant that we got to hear the night trains passing by relatively frequently… We went to bed quite early, after a nice enough dinner at the harbour.





We set off early in the morning, having had a quick Italian-style breakfast (an Espresso and a Cornetto – which is like a French Croissant except with Jam), to explore the village. I have to say Vernazza must be one of the prettiest villages I’ve ever seen, with its pastel-coloured houses and its dramatic location, in a sheltered cove…

The way to explore Cinque Terre is definitely by foot (all the villages are basically pedestrian only, although they are linked by a railway line). The 5 villages are linked by a dramatic coastal footpath, from Monterosso al Mare to Riomaggiore. Vernazza is actually the village after Monterossso, so we saved the first leg of the walk for last. The first part of the walk was pretty heavy going actually, as we walked up from Vernazza towards the next village, Corniglia, which is also dramatically located on a cliff top. After a quick tour of the village, we carried on towards the next village, called Manarola. This part of the walk was somewhat different in character, as we were joined by hordes of day-trippers from Milan (most of whom were dressed more appropriately for a shopping spree than a walk). Rarely have I felt like being stuck in a traffic jam while hiking – this was one of those times. We eventually managed to elbow our way to the village, again stunningly located in a protected bay, with multi-coloured houses built on the slopes. Having had a quick wander around, we pressed on, along the famous Via dell’Amore towards the end of the trail, Riomaggiore. The Via dell’Amore was an anticlimax, to say in the least, certainly not worthy of its name. For some incomprehensible reason the local authorities have decided to build a long concrete gallery along the path, which the local kids have decided to cover in graffiti (covering the original artwork on display).

Having had a quick lunch in Riomaggiore, we took the train back to the start of the coastal path, Monterosso al Mare. Monterosso was pleasant enough, and seemed less touristy than some of the other villages, a bit more real if you will. Time was of essence though, as we only had a couple of hours to reach Vernazza before night fall, so on we pushed. The last part of the walk was definitely the hardest, but also rewarded us with some pretty amazing views over Cinque Terre. The view as we arrived at “our” village confirmed that we had chosen the right place to spend the night! Having had a shower, and a filling dinner, we collapsed on our beds, exhausted but satisfied. This time we didn’t have any problems at all sleeping ;-)

On the next day, we were greeted by sunlight, much to our delight (in spite of the promising weather forecast we hadn’t seen much of the sun on Satuday). Wanting to make the most of the clear, blue skies, we set off again, this time choosing another path heading inlands. Or rather upwards, as we negotiated the steep slopes of Cinque Terre. Hard work it may have been, but the stunning views more than made up for it. Unfortunately we had to double back along the path we came (rather than complete the circular walk, as originally planned), as we kind of took a wrong turn at some point (note for the next visit: bring a map!) – as misty clouds started sweeping over us.

Since we returned a bit earlier than planned, we spent a leisurely hour lazing in Vernazza harbour – I think we had more than deserved it… Then it was time to head back to France, unfortunately. But I think this is one place we will definitely visit again. But not during the summer – I can hardly even imagine how crowded the place must be then, if this is the low season!

More photos here.