MacsTravel Blog

We had a lovely few days in The Cinque Terre with friends Lisa, Pete, Scot and Anne. The weather cooperated and staying in one of the villages (Monterosso) gave us a sense of the place in the early mornings and evenings that you miss if you are day-tripping in on trains.

We saw the five villages from the sea via a charter boat, from the train, and from hiking village to village at times. On every occasion the scenery was spectacular.

The trip was not without mishap as someone (no need to name names) mistakenly booked four tickets rather than six on the charter boat. To be fair, there has been a lot of ticket booking! Scot and Anne were in Vernazza and had texted to see if the boat, which was leaving from Monterosso within the hour, could pick them up. That’s when someone (Rich) realized their innocent (stupid) mistake. Anne and Scot were great sports about it and went off to hike between Corniglia and Vernazza while the rest of us set off on a 2.5 hour tour.

The seas were quite choppy and Pete and I had taken a max dose of graval just to be safe. The trip was uneventful for us but not for the unfortunate Gen Z Instagramer who had to take a break from posing in the bow of the boat to deposit her lunch into the Ligurian sea.

But the views! It’s a great way to see the coastline and Captain Ester and hostess Georgina were generous with information, drinks and snacks. It was not a guilt free trip however as we spotted our marooned friends on the shore of Vernazza as we cruised by, drinks in hand.

We met back in Monterosso for drinks on our terrace with views down the coast to each of the five villages, followed by a great meal steps from the apartment at La Cantina de Miky. A seaside table and great company was a perfect way to end the day.

We had made plans for the next day to explore the other four villages by train and by foot. The trains are absolutely jammed with visitors during the day, but at 8:30 am we boarded an empty car for our ride to the southernmost village, Riomaggiore.

Scot had thoughtfully booked rail tickets, park passes and secured a timed entry to the one part of the trail you need to book, the recently reopened Via dell’Amore. Even more graciously, he booked a ticket for me despite my failings the previous day.

We poked around Riomaggiore for an hour or so, fitting in a mandatory coffee and breakfast stop at a patio by the tiny harbour.

We ambled along the coastal trail and through the town our way to the trailhead for Via dell’Amore, which is the old trail connecting the towns of Riomaggiore and Manerola. The legend is that lovers from the two towns would meet at the midpoint of the trail under cover of darkness, a very risky thing at the time (because of the precarious nature of the trail).

Robin and I had hiked through here in 2010 but a landslide took out a huge section of the trail in 2012. It only reopened in 2024, with impressive safety improvements (25000 square meters of mesh bolted to the cliffs being one such measure).

It’s a still a beautiful and now also a very accessible path and while its beauty is matched by other sections of the trail system in The Cinque Terre, it is by far the easiest stretch to explore.

Other than our through hike between Riomaggiore and Manerola we used the trains to explore each town and the surrounding hillsides in a couple of cases. Even then, we put in 16000 steps and climbed a ridiculous amount of stairs. Fortunately we found some terrific spots to take a break and enjoy the incredible scenery.

Monterosso

Vernazza

Corniglia

Manarola

One of the highlights of our visit to Manarola was the enormous platter of burrata cheese, prosciutto, bread and melon that we shared for lunch at a picnic table alongside our new favourite Australians, Mark and Karen. Credit to Pete for finding an inauspicious takeout counter that served up an incredible feast in a great spot.

Riomaggiore

We finished the day with another fabulous meal on the promenade overlooking the beach in Monterosso, with the four other villages sparkling in the distance. It was a magical way to get our reunion started!

We look forward to reuniting with the whole gang next week. But first, we are off to explore Pisa and Lucca with Lisa and Pete while Anne and Scot wrap up their stay in The Cinque Terre before heading to Florence.