Our next stop on our self-guided tour of Italy was Cinque Terre (Five Lands). The name refers to five villages located within Cinque Terre National Park, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For this year’s trip, this to me was what I expected to be what I refer to as a “Rick Steves’ Europe” moment; the part of the trip where I felt like I was on an episode of the show. To some extent it ended up being true, but we travel a bit differently than Rick. I will say that so far this stop was the most memorable.
We decided to stay in the village of Manarola. It is known to be the quietest of the five villages, with less nightlife and noise, which for us is a good thing. There are a few restaurants that are open until around 9, and one bar open until midnight, and then it is extremely quiet despite being a very busy tourist destination.
We did end up visiting during a very busy tourist week due to Liberation Day in Italy, the day that Italian’s celebrate the liberation of Italy from German occupation and the end of the Italian Civil War during World War II. The last few days we were there, after people went home and back to work after their long weekend, it was extremely quiet, particularly in the morning before daytrip tourists started arriving at around 10 am.
Each of the villages is fairly isolated. While it is possible to drive to them, most of the roads in the village are pedestrian only. We arrived by train, which is the most common method.
To get from village to village, the options are to hike, take the train, or take a ferry (to all but the one that is not located directly on the sea).
We spent our first two days exploring trails in the village of Manarola. We found the many stairs back down to the village to be somewhat difficult for our aging knees. I was glad I brought my hiking poles.
On our third full day we hiked along a coastal trail to the village of Riomaggiore. The coastal trail had just reopened in 2024 after being closed for many years due to landslides. The trail was spectacular, and we enjoyed exploring the village. We had a wonderful lunch at the Dau Cila restaurant, recommended by our Airbnb host.
The coastal trail to the village of Corniglia from Manarola remains closed. It is still possible to hike to Corniglia but the trail is extremely long and steep and beyond our level of interest (and probably ability). While we could have taken the train there or to other villages (or a ferry to those), instead we did a portion of the trail to Corniglia on our fourth full day and would not have wanted to do more. The section we hiked was the “easy” way to a smaller village, Volastra.
Volastra is not officially one of the “five lands,” but it is one of many smaller villages in addition to five on the coast that are within the national park. The hike was extremely steep and I honestly wondered if it would ever end. I wasn’t quite ready to turn back, but the thought did cross my mind! The trail was also quite busy and felt like the march of the lemmings during the sections closer to the village. We had a nice casual lunch and then hiked back down for some well-earned rest.
On our final full day, after the beating our legs took the day before, we choose to do an easier hike within Manarola at a leisurely pace.
On our last morning, we had some time to kill before boarding the train to Genoa, so we had a 2nd breakfast/early lunch at the casual portion of Da Aristide (they also have a bar and an upscale restaurant). I had by far the best sun-dried tomatoes of my life on my avocado toast! And we learned that a latte in Italy is much different than the ones in the US.
