Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre (Five lands) is a national park and one of the most beautiful places in Italy. As you can guess from the name, the park consists of five towns: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.


Tourists visit this place, mostly for hiking, relaxing in beautiful places near the sea and watching the sunsets. There are also few beaches.


It was a hard-to-reach place until 1870. After the unification of Italy, the country began to built infrastructure. New military base appeared in La Spezia and it was connected with Genoa by a new branch of the railway, which was laid straight through the rocks along the coast. This railway passed through all five towns.


Unfortunately, it also destroyed traditional activities, after which the locals began to leave for big cities. They returned only in the 1970s, when tourism came to Cinque Terre. In those years the houses were painted in different colors.


Thanks to the train, all five towns can be visited in one day. Although it will be quite tiring, so it's better to come for two days. If you plan to use trains and hiking trails, then buy at any station the Cinque Terre Card. It can be purchased for 1-2-3 days, check this link for prices.


Blue Trail (Sentiero Azzurro) passes through all the towns, we walked from Monterosso to Vernazza. Since 2011, due to the landslides, the best section of the trail Manarola - Riomaggiore (Love Road) has been closed. Section Corniglia - Manarola was also closed recently. Check the information on the Internet before the visit.


Unfortunately, this wonderful place has the same problem as other popular attractions. The number of tourists here is huge. Therefore think twice before coming here during the high season.

Getting there: By train, which runs between La Spezia and Levanto, through the towns of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. Find the schedule at http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en. You can come by car, but parking is only available in Monterosso. In the rest of the towns parking lots are far away and you need to walk quite a long distance.