One area that we’d missed in previous visits to Italy and wanted to see on this spring break trip was the Cinque Terre. This area consists of five small seaside towns in the Northern Italy mountains, which are connected by train and hiking trails.
People come here not for night life or museums or plentiful urban activities, but rather to spend some slow time in beautiful Italian seaside towns. And they do it quite well there.
Map/Itinerary
Below is a map of the 5 towns. Based on guidebook recommendations, we spent 3 nights (an evening and 2 full days) based in Vernazza, which is the second furthest north town.
We thought that the Vernazza location was a good location for us – good seaside ambiance, big enough to have several restaurants, but not too huge. I think we would had been fine basing in any of them, though Corniglia probably would have been too small for us.
We ended up setting our activities based on the weather, as the first day was sunny and the second day somewhat rainy:
- The afternoon we arrived, we mostly settled ourselves, explored Vernazza, and watched the sun set as we had dinner.
- On day 1, we spent the first day hiking from Vernazza to Monterosso in the morning. We had lunch in Monterosso. In the afternoon, we took the train to Corniglia, and hiked from Corniglia to Vernazza.
- On day 2, it was raining on and off. We took the train to Riomaggiore and Manarola. In the late afternoon we found ourselves resting somewhat at our place, enjoying our seaside view.
One thing that we learned quickly was that the Italian train stereotypes are very true in this region. The timetables are mostly fiction. It’s something you mostly roll with, though if you are leaving the area, or have someplace to be on time, take a sufficiently early train.
Late Afternoon Arrival
We arrived in Vernazza in the late afternoon after seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The local trains to get there are a little slow and crowded, but had plenty of time to look around after we check into our AirBnB. The town itself is fairly small, historically a town of fishing and vineyards.
We ended up scouting out the shore, and walking up various footpaths around the town. To eat, we found a place near the seaside, though made sure to bring a coat to dinner for the sea breeze. Jennifer enjoyed her plate full of the local sea catch (little octopuses pictured).
Day 1 morning: Hike from Vernazza to Monterosso
The next morning, we found a cafe down the street to get some breakfast, and then planned to hike to the next town north, Monterosso. The weather predicated a sunny day, so we wanted to make the most of it.
The actual hike was about 1.5-2 hours, and somewhat narrow and hilly. It reminded us somehow in spirit of a pedestrian version of California’s coastal Highway 1. It was a really nice morning hike. We definitely weren’t alone – it wasn’t terribly crowded, but we could see it definitely see it getting crowded during peak periods. (We later learned that during some peak periods, this trail’s traffic is restricted to one direction to ease congestion).
Here are a few pictures from the morning:
When we got to Monterosso at the end, we found a nice seaside town. It was bigger than Vernazza, but maybe not quite as quaint. There would probably be more to do there at night, if you were looking for that. We ended up having lunch at a restaurant there, and have a break from walking. We also spent a bit of time exploring that town.
Day 1 afternoon: Hike from Corniglia to Vernazza
At that point, we hopped on a southbound train to Corniglia, so that we could hike from Corniglia to Vernazza. This was when we better realized that the train schedules were slightly fictitious, though it worked.
Corniglia was smaller than Vernazza, and up the hill from the coast. From the train station, we walked up the path to get the town. We spent a few minutes there, but it felt like there was less to see. The trail to Vernazza was a little easier than the morning trail (less uphill), but still very scenic:
The trail ambled through the various vineyards along the coast, and took about an hour and a half. Make sure you have water. We ended up making it back to Vernazza around 4:30pm, with a beautiful walk into town from above. It was a day of super views.
Once we got back to the apartment and showered, the hiking exercise caught up to us a bit. We ended up having a simpler take-away dinner from a fried seafood place that caught Jennifer’s eye, and enjoying it from our apartment.
Day 2: Riomaggiore and Manarola
On our second day, there was some late morning rain predicted, and we were tired from a lot of activity over the past several days, so it was a slower day. We got breakfast in Vernazza and took the train down to Riomaggiore, with hopes of hiking to Manarola.
Riomaggiore was quite a bit bigger than Vernazza, and fairly nice. We wandered the roads to the church at the top of the hill. After we did that, the late morning rain started rolling through, so we ended up stopping at a cafe for a little while.
We realized at that point that the trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola was closed (it had been due to reopen, and apparently finally did so in August 2024). Even if it had been open, the rain may have been a signal to take caution on the hike.
We then took the train to Manarola, where we started off getting lunch. The rain lightened up a bit after lunch, so we spent a while exploring the town. There were some cute vineyards just above the city.
By mid-afternoon, we took the train back to Vernazza, and use the rain as an opportunity to catch up on our rest from the past several days. We really enjoyed this little seaside region!
More From Our Blog
Keep reading our travel blog for more adventures in Italy:
Adventures of the 4 JLs 
Wow, so many beautiful photos! Cinque Terre is such a stunning coastal region in Italy. I would love to visit its five picturesque villages, breathtaking hiking trails, and experience vibrant Italian culture. Thanks for sharing, and have a wonderful day 🙂 Aiva xx
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Beautiful and informative write up!
The place looks like a fantasy world…
Thank you so much for your efforts in coming up with this great post and I am sure it will be helpful for all those who are planning to explore this stunning place.
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