Cinque Terre sits on a rugged coastline along the Italian Riviera and is made up of five villages Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. The towns, coastline, and surrounding hillsides are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and can be hiked from one end to another in about 5 hours. Unfortunately, many of the foot paths were closed due to repair and with our limited time, we decided to just do one trail from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza which took about 2.5 hours.
We skipped Corniglia altogether and instead, prioritized the remaining four villages based on lots of reviews and one day itineraries we read online (validated by the feedback of our hotel owner who crossed it out on a map when she gave us a quick overview of the main sites). After going through the experience myself, I listed the pictures below in order of my personal preference and hope that this might be helpful to others who are also short on time.
Manorola - this view was taken from the walking trail along the shoreline and the beauty is hard to capture in a photo. The town is super small with a few restaurants, souvenir shops and lots & lots of tourists. We perused the area for less than an hour - mostly to enjoy the view and take photos. When I say the villages are small, I mean they are tiny. The one main road is literally equal to a New York City street (not avenue) with each village providing similar offerings. The trail wraps around and you can continue on to see beautiful coastal views.
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| Manarola |
Vernazza is supposedly the 'prettiest' of all the villages though in my opinion, perhaps not as photogenic as her sisters Manarola or Riomaggiore (in my humble opinion). However, it is easily twice the size of both towns (maybe two city blocks) and has a popular gelateria appropriately named Gelateria Vernazza which was indeed quite tasty. 2 scoops for 2.5 Euro - yum. We also had a fresh seafood lunch and shared a pesto slice from a Foccaceria (which was awesome for 4 Euro).
The town itself is pretty and this photo was taken near the end of the hike from Monterosso al Mare. After 2+ hours of hiking, the end is quite a pretty sight!  |
| Vernazza |
Riomaggiore also has a beautiful coastal walk around and this photo is what you will see in all the tour books. I particularly love the red house on the corner.
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| Riomaggiore |
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| Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre |
TIPS:
If you are planning to do the trail and take the trains between towns, it is probably worth purchasing the one day city pass for 16 Euro pp. That includes unlimited travel between La Spezia (stop before the five villages through Levanto (stop after), access to all the trails, and wifi access for the day. Otherwise, trains between villages cost 4 Euro each way and 7.50 Euro to enter a trail. If you buy individual tickets, you have to validate each ticket before you get on the train (unlike the day pass which you just need to validate once). If you do individual tickets, it may be worthwhile to buy them in advance to save you time from waiting on long lines during peak hours. You can pre-purchase tickets based on date/time you intend to travel.