Cinque Terre Itinerary
Hello there guys!
I was lucky enough to travel a bit this summer, and decided it might be helpful to you all if I wrotte a little travel guide on Cinque Terre. I'll probably speak about Cinque Terre as a whole on this post, summarising information a bit. And then, later on, I'll write individual posts, one for each of the villages of Cinque Terre.
First of all, Cinque Terre are a collection of 5 little villages on the coast of Italy, up north, close to the city of Pisa.
First I flew to Bologna from Porto, my hometown, because there are no airports in Cinque Terre. In fact, there's barely transportation. But we'll get to that later... Once you get to Bologna, and in case you are planning on driving to Cinque Terre, let me destroy your plan right off the bat… Do NOT rent a car (unless you really want to of course). Why? Well, cars aren’t allowed in Cinque Terre. All of the 5 villages are not drivable. You can drive up to a certain point, but after that, there's no driving in Cinque Terre. Which is why I'm going to advise you to do what I did. TRAAAIN TIME!!!
My first trip on the way to Cinque Terre was by train, from Bologna to La Spezia. La Spezia is the biggest and closest city to Cinque Terre, and it’s where you can catch the Cinque Terre Train.
The train ride there took a while - I stopped in Parma first, and from there, caught the train to La Spezia. This last journey took me 2 hours, and holy moly was it tedious. Wifi is not a working thing - my experience at least - and you'll lose your connection to any kind of mobile data on the journey there, because you'll be passing through the middle of nowhere (and a lot of tunnels).
So yeah, I'd recommend taking a book with you or something. After I got to La Spezia - which I would advise to take some time and explore the city too - you'll find a Cinque Terre Express Train. This train will only do 6 or 7 stops, and 5 of them will be the villages. This train costs 4 euros (one way). But if you'd like, you can also buy a daily pass, 48h pass and so on. These start off at 16 euros. I bought the daily pass. Trust me, more than enough, since the cities are really really small.
Now, how about when you get to the villages? Here's a little summary of how life in the villages is. Like I said, they are veeeery small. You’ll be able to book a room at an hotel or even an apartment, however, there are not many options to choose from. I was able to book a small apartment in Vernazza, with the most amazing views ever.
Something I realised very quickly when I got there: stairs stairs and more stairs. Oh yeah, be ready. You'll need to go up and down stairs in every village (some more than others), either to get to your apartment/hotel, to reach that nice viewpoint to get some photos or even to get a drink at a bar. Take some comfortable shoes. You'll need them.
Now, maybe you don't know, maybe you do, but I'm a vegetarian. This was a bit of a problem. There are no big supermarkets here. Only very small grocery stores run by locals. These are a bit expensive and have just the basics - which never include vegetarian food. Were I to go back again, I'd probably get a few things to eat in La Spezia before going to Cinque Terre.
This brings me to my next point: eating out. There are restaurants everywhere in Cinque Terre. Because we are in Italy, and close to the sea, the pastas and seafood are a must here. But beware. Eating out gets a bit expensive as well.
And what about the beach??? Well, if you're looking for the traditional idea of "beach", this is not the place for you. The only one of the 5 villages that has a "beach" is Monterosso al Mare - but beware! If you see beach umbrellas, you won't be able to go to that beach specifically. Those are private and for rent, usually always fully booked year round. But you'll find very small corners where you can just set your towel and go for a swim. The water here is absolutely beautiful and quite warm. Now, about the other villages... the beaches are not only very small, but the sand is substituted by rock. And I do mean rock... Like, big rocks, cliffs, well, rocks. You get what I mean. It's quite challenging to walk around without wobbling on top of them, so be careful not to fall!!
Also, if you're intro trails and hiking, you can hike from village to village. There are marked paths for hikers to follow from village A to village B. I did not go on any of them, so I can't really give an opinion about it. But if you're feeling brave, why not?
Important Things You'll Need for Cinque Terre:
Cinque Terre Train Card
Food. Get some basics before arriving, because there are almost no markets in Cinque Terre.
Comfortable shoes. Cinque Terre should be called Stairs Terre… (Me and my dad jokes…) You are going to have to go up a crazy amount of stairs to reach not only some of the villages, but the best viewpoints in Cinque Terre.
Bathing suit and water shoes. Most of the beaches are... well... I don't think we can call them beaches. There is no sand. Only a bunch of rocks. Perfect combo to trip and fall. If you can, take some water jellies with you!
Let me know if you've ever been to Cinque Terre. Which village was your favorite? What other tips would you give you think are important?
I'll be posting in detail more information about each village soon! Don't miss out. In the meantime, I hope you liked this post!
