Cinque Terre: How to Organize Your Holiday

Cinque Terre is actually five villages: Monterosso (the flattest of all, and the only one with a generous beach), Vernazza, Corniglia (the only one that does not open to the sea, being up on the rock, it is only accessible if you climb over 300 steps), Manarola (the one that appears most often in Google searches), and Riomaggiore.

Check out: Top Rated Things To Do In Cinque Terre

How to get to Cinque Terre

The closest cities are Genoa and Pisa.

Pisa variant:

You can fly directly to Pisa. From Pisa it is 80 km to La Spezia (a town 10 minutes from Cinque Terre), you can take a Flixbus bus for 5-7 euros, it takes an hour and a quarter on the way. But beware there are only two runs per day from what I saw.

Flixbus is a low-cost coach company that travels all over Europe, they have new coaches, and excellent travel conditions: toilet, wifi, sockets. You can of course also go by train.

It's the fastest way to get to Cinque Terre, but depending on the cost of the plane, it might be the most expensive.

Milan variant:

You fly to Milan. Then you take a Flixbus to La Spezia. It's direct, takes 3-4 hours, and you can find tickets for 9-15 euros.

Bologna variant:

Let me tell you how we did it, maybe you want to go through Bologna, to visit this city too. Fly to Bologna. From there you can go by train to La Spezia, only you have to change it in Parma, and it costs about 18 euros. Naturally, it wasn't right for me to pay 18×4=72 euros for the round-trip train, since I had paid 50 for the plane... So I looked for a cheaper option. And I found, 'cause that's what I do 😃.

I took the train from Bologna to Parma for 7.3 euros, and then the Flixbus from Parma to La Spezia for 5 euros. A total of 12.3 euros per person. But it's not very convenient because you have to change the means of transport, and Parma is not great, at least in the station area I didn't feel very safe.

Where to stay

It is best to stay in La Spezia. The hotels are cheaper than in one of the cinque terre, the food is cheaper, and in addition you have somewhere to walk in the evening, in the villages there is not much life in the evenings.

We had found the recommendation for accommodation in La Spezia everywhere, we followed it and it was very good. It's a nice town, it has a pedestrian zone with many shops and restaurants and a really nice seafront in the port.

Instead, I was impressed by the traffic, Italians drive like... crazy, what else?! Although I'm used to the traffic, it confused me there, we had to be very careful when crossing the street.

When to go to Cinque Terre

Summer is very crowded, so many tourists come and you don't have room for them. It's best to go in spring or autumn, it's cooler, the prices are friendlier and there aren't as many tourists, but you risk catching some rain. We were at the end of September and we had one day with sun and one with clouds and rain (it only rained for about 2 hours), but it was very good in the end.

In my opinion two days are enough to see the cinque terre. In fact, even one is enough. It really depends on what you want to do. If you go by train or steamboat from one village to another and you want to visit only the villages, one day is enough. The villages are small, you go through them quickly and you don't have many things to do in them.

But if you want to go on the trails, which I sincerely recommend, set aside two days. We had about a day and a half at our disposal, and we did two routes, which impressed us enormously! I saw some beastly landscapes, without which this trip would not have been as tasty!

How do you move

I try to be very cost-effective on vacations. In fact, in general, because this way we can afford more vacations. In Cinque Terre we really couldn't, the planets aligned so that all transport was expensive. I think I spent a whole day searching websites, blogs, information about a cheaper method of transportation.

When I finally found the ideal option, a weekly railway pass for 17 euros per person, I read on a blog that it is no longer valid from spring 2016 except for locals. They introduced a fast and modern train, something like that, they increased the ticket prices and forbade tourists to use the pass. Finally, I will show you all the transport options below.

• Guided tours - For as little hassle as possible, I recommend taking a guided tour from La Spezia by sea or land (by train). You meet the guide in La Spezia and walk with him all day. It's a less economical option, but, I say, very relaxing, and in addition you walk with a local who can tell you about the daily life in these places.
• Train - The train has a metro schedule, it comes every 10-30 minutes, and a trip costs 4 euros.

From La Spezia to the first village, Riomaggiore, it takes about 8 minutes, then from village to village 3-4 minutes. It is very efficient to go by train, it runs often and is very fast, but it seems very expensive to me. I can't help but compare it to the 5 euros I paid for the Parma - La Spezia bus (125 km)..

You can buy the tickets at the station and you must validate them at the station, at the green machines! There they print the date and time, practically like on the subway. I'm telling you again, don't do like me, to get on the train without a validated ticket, you'll get a fine! 😅

• Cinque Terre Card - There is the simple version of the Cinque Terre Card, which includes access to trekking routes, the use of buses inside the villages and wifi connection (in certain places), which costs 7.5 euros per day or 15 euros for two days.

And there is the Cinque Terre Card Train, which includes the above plus unlimited train travel between all five villages, but also La Spezia, and costs:

This card is the most convenient way to visit Cinque Terre. But it seems quite expensive to me. For two days, while we were there, it would have cost us both 60 euros. I mentioned that I paid 50 euros for the plane, right? 😬

Pro tip: most of the trekking and hiking trails included in the Cinque Terre Card are free. Only two sections are for a fee, on the Sentiero Azzurro between Monterosso - Vernazza and Vernazza - Corniglia. Keep this in mind when organizing.

• Bus - There are buses between the villages of Cinque Terre, from what I read. We didn't use them, but if you're interested, it's best to ask about them at the info points, to find out exactly where the stations are and at what interval they come. There is also a bus from La Spezia to the villages, which only goes to Manarola, but we were advised not to take it, because it takes about an hour, compared to the train which takes 10 minutes.
• Car - I kept reading that it is not recommended to rent a car and walk around the area, because anyway you have to leave it at the entrance to the villages, you can hardly find parking even there, it costs a lot and you have a long walk to the center. While the train station is right in the center of every town. I haven't checked, I'm just passing the information on. 😜

How to get organized - for real!

If there's something I learned during this vacation, it's to stop making so many plans at home. It's good to go on vacation informed, but I realized that sometimes it's more practical to organize on the spot!

I'll start by telling you that before leaving, among the dozens of articles I read about Cinque Terre, I went through "The Italian S word every traveler should know". Scioperro. I mean strike. It refers to the train strike, which happens frequently. I didn't take into account the principle "we're only going there for two days, what can happen?!". They forget that I went on strike. 😆

We arrived in La Spezia on Friday around 13:00 and we were going to leave on Sunday morning back, so we had a day and a half at our disposal. Rain was forecast for Saturday, so we were relying heavily on Friday to do something interesting. I arrived at the station and found out that there is a strike and the trains are not running. Shock and horror, two days of internet research and meticulous plans carried out on Saturday!

In the end, it wasn't so bad in the end. Two of the trains were guaranteed and I took the first one, which left around 3:30. It's just that I wasted some time.

Information point

What I want to emphasize is that there is an Info point in the train station in La Spezia. You tell the lady how many days you are staying there, what you want to do, if you want to do trails, beach, or just walk around the villages, and she recommends an itinerary. She speaks English, but she's not that confident in it, if you speak to her in Italian she'll be more fluent and give you more advice. At least the one we caught.

Also, here you will find out from a reliable source which routes in Cinque Terre are closed. There is also a lot of information on the Internet, but it is difficult to keep it up to date, because the routes can be closed overnight for maintenance or if it rains.

Two sections that are permanently closed are on the Sentiero Azzurro, the route that connects all the cinque terre, between Riomaggiore-Manarola (closed until May 2023) and Manarola-Corniglia (closed until 2021).

They were the easiest parts of the route, basically just a walk on a boardwalk built into the rock along the sea. The first of the sections, between Riomaggiore and Manarola, is the famous Via dell'Amore. Due to some landslides in 2012, which also injured some tourists, the trails were damaged and they still don't have the funds to repair them.

Check the up-to-date information about the closed sections of the Sentiero Azzurro.

There is an info point in each village, you can find the most concrete information here, whether you want a bus, the train schedule, or you want to find out how to get to the next town on a mountain route and how difficult it is.

Our itinerary

We made a combination of trains and routes. On the first (half) day we took the train to Monterosso, the farthest village. And I set off on foot on the Sentiero Azzurro to Vernazza. I bought the Cinque Terre Card, the one for 7.5 euros per person (without train), on the route, you can't go through it without paying.

If you have already bought it elsewhere (info point in La Spezia) here they just check that it is valid for that day. The route was not very easy, but not difficult either. We were fully rewarded with sensational scenes! It lasted 2 hours, with many breaks for photos.

We really wanted to do the next part of the route, to Corniglia, but that took an hour and a half and we didn't have time, we arrived in Vernazza half an hour before sunset. The good thing is that I caught Vernazza at golden hour, when the sun gives off a very warm, golden light. 😍

From Vernazza we returned to La Spezia by train. The next day we went by train to Riomaggiore, the first of the villages. We were expecting rain and the trails to be closed, but to our delight it was only cloudy, so we were able to follow the trail to the next village, Manarola, which I liked the most!

Narrow streets, a super promenade by the sea, from where we could see the colorful houses in all their splendor. This route was much more difficult, but it was totally worth it! At one point I reached a point so high that I could see the whole coast and all the cinque terre!

We arrived in Manarola extremely tired! At least me. I didn't manage to revive myself by any means, so we walked around the village for a bit, decided to say goodbye to Corniglia with its steps, and took the train back to La Spezia, even though it was only 3 o'clock.. Until it was a good decision, because I didn't even get to the hotel and it started raining for about two hours.

What we eat

Pizzaaaaa! Because we are in Italy! As for the province of Liguria, where the Cinque Terre is located, the most specific food is pesto, the basil sauce. You must try some pasta with homemade pesto, as you will find in most restaurants.

Farinata is also specific, it is a kind of chickpea flour pancake. We didn't manage to try it because we got stuffed with... focaccia!! I have never eaten such good focaccia anywhere as in Liguria, it is also a dish specific to the region! What we have here are some distant cousins, who only have in common... flour.. For a nom-nom breakfast, get your focaccia with your favorite herbs and a cappuccino!

Food in restaurants is quite cheap, pizza is around 6-7 euros, a plate of pasta the same, appetizers and seafood around 10 euros. I admit that we got soaked! With pizza, calzone, ice cream... Ahhh I said I would move to Italy for the food, didn't I?

Costs

For the entire vacation in Cinque Terre we spent a total of 870 euros for two people. Planes, 3 nights accommodation, trains, coaches, great food. The established budget was 620 euros, but in the end we didn't come out too bad. The biggest part of the budget went on accommodation and food.

After that there was the transport, which killed us. I can't stop calculating how much it would have cost us to rent a car, so I don't start crying here. The plane was only 50 euros, the attractions of 15 euros represent the Sentiero Azzurro route, and the taxes are the city taxes that we paid at the hotel. All expenses are for two people.

The conclusion, as the app says: Who needs money? We have memories! Cinque Terre is the best! 😉