Cinque Terre / Italy

Cinque Terre, or the Five Lands, is a string of five tiny villages with pastel painted house that hug the cliff side between Genoa and Pisa. There is a train station at each village and that is definitely the easiest way to visit them all. When the conditions are right, and the trails are open you can hike between them all. Estimates are around 6-7 hours, which should give you an indication how close these villages are together.

We left Florence early in the morning and headed too Levante which is just north of the northern most village, Monterosso. The train station there has a large carpark that is fairly reasonably priced. The train ticket to all the five villages includes the permit to walk the trails.

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Monterosso al Mare

This village is the northernmost and definitely the most populated. There are two beaches, quite a few shops and lot of houses. But many will agree it’s not the most picturesque as it lacks the dense pastel houses. We grabbed some lunch before starting the hike south to Vernazza.

Hike to Vernazza

On our visit two out of the five hiking trails were closed, but we decided to hike between Monterosso and Vernazza. It took the five of us 2 hours, in the noon heat which killed us (gelato and a swim saved us though!) and is meant to be the most difficult leg. But the views were good, as was the view coming into Vernazza.

Vernazza

We were exhausted from the walk, Aidan and I had a swim and we all had gelato to cool down. It was very busy, a lot more so than some of the other villages. It was then on towards the next village via train.

Corniglia

The middle village is a little different compared to the others in that it isn’t at sea level. From the train station are a set of stairs that snake up the hill, and in the 30 degree heat seemed more the stairs to hell. Once you reach the top you realise there’s a bus that makes the trip up easier..

We sought out shade, a place to rest and had a drink at a nice little bar that had a terrace with epic views up and down the coast. Coming to the train station the best view point of the village is from the north, along the hiking trail, which I realised after.

Riomaggiore

Instead of heading to the next village knowing that’s where I wanted to shoot at sunset we got the train to the southernmost village and had a look around and managed to grab some dinner. Assorted deep fried seafood and chips, it was sooo good!

Manarola

Unfortunately, we jumped on the wrong train and ended up back in Vernazza, but we had just enough time to get back to Manarola and see the sun light up the houses. A lot of people think this is the most picturesque, and I couldn’t really argue with them! It would have been nice to stick around until all the houses lit up but we still had a two hour drive back to Florence. But considering Cinque Terre was never planned until the day before, it was a success!