Now that wedding season is over, I’ll be doing more blog posts from my trips to Italy this past year. Some colour for the winter months! : )
Cinque Terre…. definitely one of my top three favourite places in Italy. This was my third time that I’ve been to Cinque Terre and I’m sure I’ll be back. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small seaside villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. The name “Cinque Terre” fittingly translates to “five lands.” Set on the Ligurian coast, Cinque Terre is so special it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. No cars are allowed inside, giving you a feeling of being slightly separated from the outside world, in your own lovely little Italian reality. : ) You can get from town to town via train, passenger ferry, or walking the amazing trails. A couple of the main trails were closed due to maintenance, for one, and a mudslide for the other but I hiked the trails on previous trips and it’s an awesome experience! The first trail between Riomaggiore and Manarola is the shortest, and easiest, even being wheelchair accessible. It’s called “Via Dell’ Amore,” which I doubt I need to translate. : ) It’s lit up at night and is a really nice amble. It’s fun getting a train day pass as well! I spent one day beach/cove hopping and went swimming first in the Riomaggiore marina area, then the cute cove in Manarola (my personal favourite swim spot in Cinque Terre), and finally the small triangular beach in Vernazza. Corniglia is up higher and doesn’t have an easily accessible beach but is quite charming. Monterosso, the last town, is the only town of the five with a large beach but it has a more resort feel and isn’t as unique so I generally skip that town. I stayed just past Monterosso in the town of Levanto which is not technically part of Cinque Terre but is included in the Cinque Terre day passes, being so close to Monterosso. I did a separate post on Levanto. : )
How to get there: The easiest way to get to Cinque Terre is to take a train to La Spezia and from there, there are trains that leave super frequently to the other towns.
Where to stay: You can either stay in any of the towns within Cinque Terre (Manarola and Vernazza would be my first choices but Manarola is cheaper of the two) or you can do like I did on this trip and stay just outside of Cinque Terre in Levanto. It’s so close to the last town of Cinque Terre (Monterosso) that they include it in the Cinque Terre train passes which is great! Levanto is super awesome in itself ( I loved the abundance of bicycles and the nice big bay) but I do admit I love staying in the Cinque Terre towns best as no cars are allowed inside and it’s fun to get immersed in that bubble. Here is my post on Levanto with details of where I stayed.
I also did a post on the beautiful nearby town of Portofino, which you don’t want to miss!
Below are some photos from my 3 favourite towns in Cinque Terre; Riomaggiore, Manarola and Vernazza.
Riomaggiore:
Manarola:
Vernazza:
Beautiful! One place in the world I would love to see!
Oh my Lord! Pat and I HAVE to go there! Awesome photography as usual Jessica. Really looking forward to working with you a lot next year 🙂
Just wonderfull jess as always!! thank you very much for sharing them! i love looking through all ur photos all the time! they make my heart melt and my face smile!!!
Thank you very much you guys! Yes you all really MUST go there someday! You’ll love love love it. : )
Excited to work with you lot’s next year too Ria! Whoohooo!
Aw, thanks Steph!
Fantastic photos! Do you have more information on your trip to Cinque Terre? How did you get to the this area? Best spots to stick to? It’s wonderful how there are so many little treasures that needs to be explored. I’ve definitely added this one to my list.
Thanks so much! : ) I can’t get enough of Cinque Terre- I hope you can go someday! There are 5 towns and I did this post on my 3 favourite towns. The two towns I didn’t cover in this post are Corniglia and Monterosso. Corniglia is cool too but I like to get there by hiking and the hiking trails were closed when I was last there. Monterosso is the town with the biggest beach but I prefer swimming in the cove of Manarola best. : ) The easiest way to get there is to take a train to La Spezia and from there, there are trains that leave super frequently to the other towns. You can stay in any of the towns within Cinque Terre (Manarola and Vernazza would be my choices but Manarola is cheaper) or you can do like I did on this trip and stay just outside of Cinque Terre in Levanto. It’s so close to the last town of Cinque Terre (Monterosso) that they include it in the Cinque Terre train passes which is great! Here is my post on Levanto with details of where I stayed as well as one on the charming nearby town of Portofino. If you type “Cinque Terre” into my search bar, both posts will come up. : )
Hi Geniene,Thanks for reaching out! Four days in the Cinque Terre sound wnoferdul. From Venice, you’re going to want to take the fast train to Florence, then switch to a train to La Spezia. The route takes 5 hours, and you can see the various options by putting in Venezia to begin and La Spezia to end on . In La Spezia, you’ll then have to switch to the local, Cinque Terre train to get to the exact town you want to go in.From CT to Rome, you’ll go back to La Spezia, then on to Rome. Again, you can see the solutions on the Trenitalia site for your specific date. It’ll take about 4 hours.Let us know if we can help with anything else!