We set off to explore the charming hidden villages of the Cinque Terra. Featuring two very sweaty humans exploring colourful villages, eating gelato and trying local anchovies.
In Florence we caught our first Italian train! The train system was relatively straightforward and we enjoyed a lovely 2.5 hour journey through the Italian countryside. One of the highlights was passing through the towns of Massa and Carrara where we caught glimpses of the marble mines high in the mountains!
Our destination was La Spezia, the closest city to the Cinque Terra / Italian Riviera. We stayed here for a couple of reasons - cost and practicality. Staying in the villages of the Cinque Terra was an option but the accommodation cost was high and the nature of the tiny villages meant there were a lot of stairs (not fun with luggage!).
Our accommodation wasn’t too far from the train station in La Spezia which gave us the opportunity to catch the 7am train to start the day early and avoid the crowds and the heat. For the day, we purchased a Cinque Terra train card for €19 which gave us unlimited train travel and the hiking pass for the Blue Path. The cost of travel between each village would otherwise have been €4 each and the hiking pass an additional €7.50 so it saved us a few euros!
From La Spezia we took the train 25 minutes to the furthest village, Monterosso Al Mare. Monterosso is the only one of the villages with a sandy beach. After grabbing a few items for breakfast at the bakery, we made our way down to the beach to view the Statua del Gigante and the beach clubs.
We then popped in to explore the laneways of the village and made our way to the church decorated in human bones. Unfortunately we were too early in the day and the bone church was closed!
After wandering through a market, we then made our way to the start of the Blue Path which is the original trail that runs between all five villages. Due to land slips, only two sections of the path are actually open for hiking. We chose to do only one section from Monterosso to Vernazza, a section of about 6.5km. It was killer! The start of the path was a very steep climb through the terraced vineyards where we had a beautiful outlook back towards Monterosso.
From here we continued around another inlet before we caught our first glimpses of Vernazza in the distance. The views were amazing! The hike was lovely and it was great to get out of the city environment and get some fresh country air. There was even a man with an accordion about half way along the track. We got some awesome snaps with the self timing camera as we came in to Vernazza.
In Vernazza we meandered through the tiny laneways to the harbour before continuing up the Blue path to another viewpoint on the other side of the village. This section of the path, from Vernazza to Corniglia, is also open to hikers but we chose not to do it as the first section was enough of a taste for us. We instead caught the train to Corniglia, a very quick ride of 5 minutes but worth it for my poor legs which have had a thrashing this trip!
Corniglia was one of the villages I had thought about scratching off the itinerary for the day. I unfortunately made the mistake of reading a few blogs which changed my mind. In hindsight, I definitely would have scratched it. Corniglia is the only village without harbour access and is perched high up on the hill. It had some very steep stairs to climb. There were some nice views of the wine terraces and out towards Vernazza. We also got some gelato from Alberto’s (who market their gelato as the best in the Cinque Terra!). I had a lemon and basil flavoured gelato which was surprisingly nice but very sour.
From Corniglia, we skipped a village and went to Riomaggiore, the largest of the villages to grab lunch and go for a swim. For lunch, we had the local delicacy of lightly fried anchovies (didn’t think I’d be a fan but they were really good!) and some chicken and chips on the beach. The beach at Riomaggiore is a stoney beach. Initially we were a bit put off, but there are definitely benefits to stone rather than sand (mainly not getting sand stuck everywhere)! We strategically set up close to the water so we didn’t have to contend with trying to walk over the hot stones! The water was lovely! It was the perfect temperature, crystal clear with no real current. We stayed here for a few hours enjoying the water and the sunshine.
After Riomaggiore we decided to head back to La Spezia to freshen up and have a siesta before dinner. We left the best village till last - Manarola! Manarola is considered to be one of the most picturesque of the villages and a popular place to watch the sunset. We spent some time here watching the colours change as the sun set and enjoying the much cooler temperatures of the evening air before heading back to La Spezia for the rest of the evening.
We loved the Cinque Terra! It was picture perfect and I think we timed our day perfectly! We were one village ahead of all the tour groups in the morning and too late for the tour groups by the time we headed back in the evening. The Cinque Terra pass was so convenient as well! We did get checked a couple of times by transit officers and watched a couple get fined €110 for not having the correct ticket!