Best Way To See Cinque Terre

In September 2012 we did a two week tour in Europe including Italy and the UK.  This was not our first time to either place, but it was our first time to Cinque.  We had heard so much about it on our first time to Italy we had to experience it for ourselves.  I spent hours pouring over where to stay, I wanted the perfect place.  Centrally located, beautiful view, good food, the perfect Cinque experience.  Our first choice was some hotel that I dont even remember at this time, but that was full.  I kept looking and researching and came across this AMAZING little place.  La Marina Rooms in Vernazza.  It was perfect.  It was just a little room with little (to no) frills, it had a little bathroom.  It was clean.  (We had just stayed the night before in the Four Seasons in Florence, so it was a little different then that..but in a class all its own!)  The best part was that it had this amazing balcony that looked right out to the ocean and the setting sun.  We could open all the windows and hear the waves crashing all night long.  It was EXACTLY what we were looking for.

We drove from Florence to La Spezia.  We parked the car at the La Spezia train station and got on the train bound for Vernazza.

The caretaker for La Marina rooms (Cristian) met us at the train station, grabbed our bags and led us to our room.  Can not emphasize enough how important it is to have someone meet you at the train station.  These are little towns, but there are no street signs or main roads or any real way to find your rooms.  We saw numerous people with HUGE suitcases going up and down stair cases looking for their little rooms.  These are the steps to the room.

Tip #2 DONT bring big suitcases.  We both had a small carry on bag (for 2 weeks!) and this was heavy enough to lug around.  (well Rob had to lug his, Cristian carried mind :D )   We got settled into our room, Cristian showed us around and had some food recommendations.  Once we were settled we set out to explore Vernazza.  We learned there was not much to explore so we sat down and had a glass of wine, and just people watched!

As we sat at the outside dining area we realized the ebb and flow of the little town.  The tourists come in flows with tour groups and trains.  Then they leave the little town.  I highly recommend staying a few nights, it is much better then just rushing through the towns on a tour group.

We walked around a little more and then went back to our balcony and enjoyed the view. 

The next day we got up early and started the trek between the 5 towns.  Our goal was to see every town, to have gelato in every town, foccia in every town, and to get a snow globe in every town!

Our plan was as follows-
1. Hike from Vernazza to Monterosso
2. Boat from Monterosso to Riomaggiore
3. Hike from Riomaggiore to Manarola
4. Train from Manarola to Corniglia
5. Train from Corniglia to Vernazza

This was the perfect plan!  I highly recommend picking up the Rick Steves guide to the area.  Our room had a copy in it which we used.  It gave insights into each town and little walking tours.  We saw churches and vineyards that we would never have ventured to without Rick's book!

We bought our tickets and started...

The hike from Vernazza to Monterosso is supposedly the hardest part of the hike.  I think going from Monterosso to Vernazza might be hard but going from Vernazza to Monterosso was not bad at all.  This is because the "uphill" from Vernazza is gradual and switch-backs.  The "uphill" from Monterosso is steps.... LOTS of steps.  For us it is easier to gradually go up and then come down steps then the other way around.

The trail (this guardrail was on most of the trail)

hillside vineyards

view of Vernazza from the trail

View of Vernazza and the other towns if you look hard!

Coming into Monterosso

Monterosso

Once we got to Monterosso we explored the town by following Rick's book.  We had lunch at Milky's and started off with 5 different types of Anchovies!

And had Gelato in Monterosso

Then we continued on our trek by boat

We arrived at Riomaggiore, and walked the Via Dell'Amore.  This walk is very easy and paved.  Not as pretty as our first hike of the morning.  The walk takes you to Manarola.

We had gelato in both Riomaggiore and Manarola

 We then took the train from Manarola to Corniglia

The hardest trek of the day might have been the steps from the Corniglia train station to the town.  There was not much to do in this little town.  It was for sure the quietest and least touristy of the towns.  (not in a good way) kind of felt like the suburbs!

but we found some gelato!

We headed back down the steps and caught the train back to our little town.

We celebrated our trek with a bottle of DP surrounded by the 5 snow globes that we collected over the day! After visiting all the towns we confirmed that Vernazza was the BEST and we made the right decision to stay there.