It’s hard not to browse through Pinterest and see unbelievable photos of Cinque Terre. The region of the West coast of Italy is even more beautiful in person than it is in photos if you can believe it.
The Cinque Terre region is actually made up of 5 small towns: Monterosso, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Riomaggiore. Each town offers something different and unique from the last so you absolutely must visit each one to find out which is your favourite.
I personally loved Manarola for its unbelievable views. As you walk through the city down to the waterfront you are greeted with sparkling blue water and gorgeous restaurants lining either side of the harbour. There’s a bit of a hill that you can walk up to get those picture-perfect moments of Manarola.
Another one of my favourite towns was Riomaggiore. It’s smaller in scale compared to the others (not that any of them are very large) but the harbour is absolutely stunning, especially at night. We actually visited Riomaggiore 3 times during our 2 days in Cinque Terre because it was really close to La Spezia where we were staying.
The one thing I will say about Cinque Terre is that it was much easier to get around than I was expecting. The train runs really frequently (of course when there aren’t any delays), roughly about every 15-20 minutes so you aren’t really ever waiting too long.
If you plan on seeing the entire region in a short amount of time I would recommend getting the Cinque Terre Trekking pass. This includes unlimited access to the trains and also access to the hiking trails if you are looking to get a bit active as well. You can also get some really great photos of Cinque Terre along the hikes so its definitely worth it if you’re a photography buff.
Due to the weather, the only hike we did was from Vernazza to Corniglia. The hike was about 90 minutes in total and was a pretty good workout as well. While I wish we had have done more of the hikes during our time there, not everyone felt the same way as me so getting them out for a 90-minute hike was enough work I was willing to put into it!
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