Cinque Terre – Italy
Cinque Terre, Italy
The Cinque Terre was our last stop in Italy durung our epic Summer Road Trip.
Just south of Genoa and north of Pisa, there is a string of five towns known as the Cinque Terre. They sit on the rugged coastline of the Italian Riviera on the Ligurian Sea. These gorgeous villages date back to medieval times. We spent three days and three nights there. The fisrts time I saw these villages was on our First Trip Out of Paris vacation and knew I had to come back. We were travelling from Paris to Rome with a stop in Pisa. Just by chance, the way our GPS was taking us overlooked the Italian coastline and occasionally we got a glimpse of these vibrant cliffside villages. I had no idea what they were, but I knew then, they’d be on my travel bucket list. After doing a little research, I discovered they were part of an Italian national park, Parco Nationale delle Cinque Terre and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The more I read about them, the more fascinated I became. Without a doubt, I had to make them part of our 2024 Summer Road Trip.
Five Seaside Villages
The five villages are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. Colorful buildings sit on the rugged landscape of steep cliffs that are also covered with vineyards and groves. The villages connect by hiking trails, trains or boats. It is also possible to get there by car on very narrow winding roads and only on some sections. For the most part, the villages are traffic free. Only local, and very small delivery vehicles are allowed into the centers. This makes it quite charming and it easy for visitors to roam and explore the narrow allies and walkways without worrying about traffic. A few of the villages still have forts with towers that were lookouts against attacking invaders in medieval times. Sadly, the area also faced attacks during World War II and portions of it were demolished. One of our pictures shows one of the two bunkers that still exist on the cliffs. It has since recovered and is now prospering with tourism.
We visited three of the Cinque Terre villages.
We stayed in the town of Monterosso al Mare three nights and visited three villages total. Can you do all five villages in three days? Yes! You absolutely can. Some bloggers have done it in less! But we prefer leisure travel. So we take things at a steady pace and make time to just sit, observe and soak in our surroundings. It is a vacation after all! No need to rush.
The regional trains go to each of the five villages, plus two others on either end of the Cinque Terre: La Spezia on one end and Levanto on the other. Both significantly bigger towns and both really good places to stay with plenty of things to do there as well. From these towns you can catch connecting trains that go to bigger cities in Italy. And since they have trains running into the Cinque Terre just minutes apart, Levanto and La Spezia are good options to have a base where you can branch out from. They are also great options if you are driving or coming in via train from other areas in Italy. You can get more information on trains and purchase passes on the Cinque Terre National Park web site.
We stayed in, Monterosso al Mare, hiked to Vernazza one day and took a boat to Manarola another day. I wish I could pick my favorite village. But the experience was different for each and I loved them all.
