Getting to Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre. The beautiful string of 5 colorful Italian villages perched on the coastline that you’ve probably seen pictures of EVERYWHERE. This is one of those destinations you have to see in person to believe. It’s every bit as dreamy as you would imagine. Built on hillside terraces, small houses adorned in shades of warm yellows, red, and oranges overlook the rich turquoise waters below. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Cinque Terre National Park (yes you read that right – national park!) is definitely worth a visit! What better place to live out your Italian Riviera dreams? If you’re visiting Cinque Terre and want to find out the best way to get there and around the different villages, read on!

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is a really popular tourist destination, especially in the summer months between June & August. Most of the time, the pictures you see online of Cinque Terre are actually of Manarola. But don’t be fooled as Cinque Terre is not limited to this one town. Located in the Liguria region of Italy, they’re actually 5 separate seaside villages, from north to south:

• Monterosso Al Mare
• Vernazza
• Corniglia
• Manarola
• Riomaggiore

Getting to Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre lies between the larger towns of Levanto and La Spezia. While you can, technically, drive a car to Cinque Terre, it’s really not a great option. Roads are narrow, there’s limited parking, and even if you do find parking, you still have to walk to the towns themselves. The best way to get there is by train even if you fly into airports like Genoa & Pisa. Take the train to the La Spezia station which is a larger station in the town right outside Cinque Terre. There are more frequent trains from the big cities to this station and this is also where you’ll take the local train to the different villages. We were heading to Cinque Terre from Rome which is a little longer & took about 4 hours by train. However, some common departure cities that are closer include:

• Milan to La Spezia – about 3 hours
  • Intercity Trains
  • Alta Velocità (AV) trains – high-speed
  • Indirect trains – typically one transfer in Genoa
  • 32 trains per day
• Florence to La Spezia – 2 to 2.5 hours
  • Direct train – the direct train is a slower regional train & will take ~ 2.5 hours
  • Indirect train – can be faster to transfer in Pisa & will take ~ 2 hrs
  • at least 44 trains per day
• Rome to La Spezia – about 4 hours
  • high speed trains
  • indirect trains – stop in Florence
• Pisa Airport to La Spezia
  • take the PisaMover train from the airport to the central train station – runs every 10 minutes & only takes 5 min to reach the train station
  • high speed train – 40 min to La Spezia
  • regional train – 1 hr 15 min to La Spezia
• Genoa Airport to Levanto
  • take taxi or bus (30-40 min) to Principe train station
  • high speed train ~ 45 – 50 min
  • regional train – 1.5 hr

Getting around Cinque Terre

To visit the different towns within Cinque Terre, the 2 best options are either by train or by foot.

Train

Depending on the time of year that you visit, it’s recommended that you buy the Cinque Terre Train card. This card provides unlimited train rides and access to the hiking trails connecting the towns. Adult prices start at 18.20 euros for 1 day. You can buy these train tickets and cards at all train stations in Cinque Terre, Levanto, & La Spezia! Here’s a quick guide to help you decide if it’s worth getting the train card during each season & some other info:

Peak Season:

• plan on visiting at least 2 villages in one day
• want to hike the trails
• if you don’t get the train card, a single ticket between 2 villages costs 5 euros
• train runs every 15 minutes

Off season (November – March):

• Trails are free
• single ticket between 2 villages – 2.50 euros
• only 1 or 2 trains run per hour between the villages

The best thing about the Cinque Terre Train is how convenient it is! It takes you from town to town in about 4-6 minutes! For more up to date info on train timetables, check out this website. Please don’t try sneak by without a ticket! There are attendants at the stations who will check your ticket when you get off, and you can be fined!!

Hiking

Hiking is also another popular way to get around Cinque Terre. While we decided not to hike the trails this time around (the popular ones were either closed because of landslides or muddy due to rain), it’s definitely on my bucket list!

Of the 48 trails in the park, the most popular and easy trail is the Blue Trail from Riomaggiore to Monterosso. However, the route from Riomaggiore to Corniglia is closed until 2023-2024 as a result of a landslide years ago. Below, I’ve listed some potential routes for you to hike along with their trail number, distance, average time it takes to hike, & difficulty!

Riomaggiore – Manarola

• Via dell’Amore (Lover’s Lane) – part of the Blue trail and is the shortest route in the park (592-1)
  • 900 m / .5 miles
  • ~ 30 minutes hiking
  • easy
  • currently closed
• Beccara trail – 531
  • 1.4 km / .9 miles
  • ~ 1 hr hiking
  • medium

Manarola – Corniglia

• Blue Trail: 592-2
  • 2.5 km / 1.6 miles
  • ~ 45 minutes hiking
  • easy
  • currently closed
• Manarola – Volastra – Corniglia: 506, 586, 587
  • 5 km / 3 miles
  • ~ 2.5 hr hiking
  • easy – but a lot of stairs
    • recommended to start from Corniglia or take the bus from Manarola to Volastra (otherwise it’s about 1200 stairsteps up)

Corniglia – Vernazza

• Blue Trail: 592-3
  • 3.2 km / 2 miles
  • ~ 1.5 hr hiking
  • easy
• Corniglia – San Bernardino – Vernazza: 587, 598, 507
  • 6.5 km / 4 miles
  • ~ 3.5 hrs hiking
  • medium/high
  • recommend starting in Corniglia – it gets really steep going down from San Bernardino to Vernazza so it’s easier to go down

Vernazza – Monterosso

• Blue Trail: 592-4
  • 3.3 km / 2.1 miles
  • ~ 1 hr 20 min
  • medium

• Vernazza – 2 shrines – Monterosso: 508, 582, 591, 509
  • 7.3 km / 4.5 miles
  • ~ 3.5 hr
  • medium

You can read more about the trails here! Even if you decide to hike only one trail, you’ll get amazing panoramic views of the Ligurian sea and villages! Hope you stay safe and enjoy your time in Cinque Terre!