48 Hours in Cinque Terre: Exploring the Italian Riviera

Welcome to my favorite stop on the grand Italian adventure! Cinque Terre pronounced “Chink-kweh Tehr-re” is a national park located on the beautiful Italian Riviera. While today it is very touristy, it is still not on everyone’s radar. If you haven’t heard of it, the best way to describe it is if you have seen the Disney movie Luca. That is the Italian Riviera! It is mostly made up of small, colorful fishing villages making it one of the most picturesque places in Italy. This is a place in Italy I definitely felt most drawn to. When finalizing my Italy itinerary, I had to take out some places, but this was one I was not going to budge on, even if it did make sense to take out. That really is saying a lot too because I ended up keeping it over Florence.

I planned two nights in Vernazza, one of the more popular villages that still has its original charm and has not been turned into a resort. My original plan for Cinque Terre was only one night, but I sacrificed some other places so that I could have another night, since it didn’t seem like nearly enough time to see all the village and do everything I wanted like going on the boat, hiking, and spending time on the beach. Cinque Terre also struggles with day trippers and I did not want to be a part of that problem. I wanted to really experience the culture and beauty of these villages, so I booked 2 nights at an Airbnb. Airbnb’s are becoming a bit controversial in the touristy places in Europe, because they are taking away housing from locals and not really contributing to the economy, but my stay doesn’t really apply to the former. It was just a room with a bathroom. Beyond a fridge and a small table with a kettle there was not kitchen. Therefore it wouldn’t really function as a home, so it isn’t taking it away from anyone. On the topic of the economy, yes the money I paid for the room was going to the host, but I’d like to think I was still positively impacting the economy. I was spending money at restaurants since I couldn’t cook in the Airbnb and spending time in the village. I felt confident that I wasn’t contributing to the problem that is day trippers. Now lets get into the fun part!

Day 1

We left pretty early from Milan that day, like 8 am from the train station early and if you read my previous posts from Milan, you know that it was a bit of a ways to get to the train station. It was a decent ride to Levanto nearing about 3 hours. From there we would have to get on a different train. The cool thing about Cinque Terre is that is has a train running between all the villages very consistently throughout the day, because you can’t access the villages by car.

It was only a couple stops on this train until we got to Vernazza. We were in a little bit of a pickle though. We had signed up for a pesto making class at 12:30 pm and we were arriving at 11:30 am. We weren’t quite sure what to do with our stuff during that time because check in for the Airbnb wasn’t until 2 pm. We didn’t really want to be carrying around our stuff for an hour and then bring it to the class so we walked to the Airbnb since it was only a couple minutes. Everything in Vernazza is so close. It would probably only take you 5 minutes to walk from one end of the town to the other. I had sent our host a message about dropping our stuff off earlier, but had not received a response, so we tried the door and of course the cleaner was still there. I felt bad, but she was really nice. She didn’t speak English so it was difficult to explain to her that we just wanted to leave our stuff here. We thanked her and headed back out towards the water. I wanted to walk up to the castle, but was worried it wouldn’t actually be enough time to enjoy it before the class, so we mostly just sat around and enjoyed the scenery and the feeling.

The cooking class was amazing! I booked the 12:30 pm slot that included a gnocchi course for 65 euros on Airbnb. It was located right next to the train station at Cinque Sensi. There were a few other groups, mostly pairs from the United States as well. We happened to be at a table with some fellow Minnesotans, some Canadians, and some girls who went to college together in Iowa, so the Northern/Midwestern vibes were huge. Our class also consisted of a wine tasting so for our first glass of sparking white wine we also had a plate of different cheeses and focaccia. While we ate this we had to pick the basil from the plant. We each had a plant to pick from.

The next step was to wash and dry the basil. It had to sit in ice water for about 10 minutes as a way to blanch the basil so that the pesto turns out green. We got another glass of wine for this part. This one also a white wine from the region. Then we began the process of grinding the ingredients. First we had to grind the nuts and garlic until the oils were released and it turned into a paste. Then we added the basil, olive oil, and salt. This part was a bit trickier because we were only using a mortar and pestle which is the better way to make a small batch of pesto. Everybody’s arms started to get tired and there was a lot of standing up and adjusting movements to get the basil to the right consistency. It was totally worth the work though! The pesto was the best I had ever tasted. She knew Americans liked salt and offered up more to whoever wanted it, but it really didn’t need it. It was was perfect! There was just the right amount of flavor from each ingredient. The garlic may have been a little much for some people, but it was perfect for my taste.

They made some gnocchi and brought a huge bowl of it to each table to add to our bowl of pesto for lunch. It really was amazing! I probably ate the most at our table, but I paid 65 euros for this and it tasted so good, so I was not wasting anything. We got another glass of white wine to pair with the gnocchi. This one was a bit more dry, which I think is the more common pair with pasta. Once we finished our dinner they brought out dessert. It consisted of milk and white chocolate, I got to eat some of the other white chocolate at the table, since not all people are a fan, and then a sweet liquor which I still don’t know what it was. I was expecting it to be some kind of strong liquor that I would have to down like a shot, but it was sweet and not very strong. It was similar to amaretto, but not that exactly. So if anyone knows what it is, that would be amazing!

Afterwards I had a few too many drinks, since I also had some of Sam’s, but I was not going to be out for the day, so I drank lots of water and headed up to Castello Doria. I once again walked up the steps, but this time it was less busy and then paid the 2 euros to go to the top. It was an amazing view! The tower dates back to 1000, which is one of the things I love about Italy; everything is so old! There were quite a few people on the top of the tower when I climbed up and none of them really knew the rules to climb up and down one way stairs, which was frustrating, but I made it. The view really was something else. I have always been the kind of person that didn’t necessarily dislike the sea, but never really felt called to it like some people. I have always been a lake girl. I will say though that there is something about the Mediterranean sea that calls me. I felt it when au pairing in Mallorca. It feels friendlier than the ocean. I fell in love with it in this moment. It is so blue in the Italian Riviera. Then the green hills and colorful villages surrounding it give it so much life. I was hooked and feared I could never be happy anywhere other than on the coast of the Italian Riviera.

Sam was resting for a bit in the room, so I explored Vernazza on my own during that time. I got some gelato and found a spot next to the water to eat it. I also did a bit of souvenir shopping since I wasn’t sure how much time I would have the next day with our big hiking plans. I bought a magnet and a postcard of each town. I like to hang postcards on my wall, so I buy them in each place I go. This was maybe a lot for my wall, but I thought it would add a nice touch to my scrapbook! Before heading back to the room I stepped inside the little church, which had a really nice view of the water from its windows. I would have loved for a church like this to be my home parish.

Sam and I got changed into our swimming suits and then took the next train to Monterosso. I wasn’t so sure I would get to this town on the hike so I wanted to spend the evening there. There are two parts to Monterosso: the hotels and sandy beaches full of vacationers and then the old town. We of course went to the old town. We explored the churches, the little streets, and some of the shops. I found this cute little boutique called Lanapo. There are a few of them in the different towns of Cinque Terre. I was pulled in by the Focaccia & Mare shirt, but ended up going home with the (a)mare shirt which is a play on the Italian words “amore” for love and “mare” for sea. They are oversized, so I got a small and I absolutely love it!

Right next door was a lemonade and granita place, so we had to get something before heading to the beach. I got a mango lemonade granita. It was so good! It was definitely pretty sweet, but in a way that it had a lot of lemon juice rather than added sugar. Italians tend to not add a lot of sugar to their desserts and drinks which I really liked.

It was nearing 6 pm so the beach was not ideal as the sun was beginning to hide behind the trees making it a bit chilly, but it was still nice to hang out by the water and read. After about an hour at the beach we headed back to the train statios to go back to Vernazza. For dinner we stopped at a sandwich place to get some focaccia, since we switched things up and had pasta for lunch that day. It was a cute shop and the workers were so nice. I also enjoyed the Italian music they were playing. It sounded just like my Italian playlist. We headed back to the room to eat and my sandwich was delicious. It had chicken, onions, and a few other ingredients, but the most important part was the balsamic.

When I finished it was only a little after 8 and I wasn’t ready to call it a night so I walked over to the water and found a place to sit and read for a bit, although I ended up talking on the phone rather than reading, but it was still nice. The day trippers had mostly all left, so the town was finally at peace. I loved it. I could have sat out there forever except that it was actually starting to get cold, which was probably the first time in my whole time in Italy that I was cold.

Day 2

Now there is a certain point in any trip where things start to get to you, but you have to learn to let them go. Our hiking day was off to a rough start. We talked about when wanted to get started hiking the night before. I suggested 8 am, but this was Sam’s day and she wanted to do 7 am, so that is what we did. The thing about me is that I don’t like waking up early, but I will if I have to, especially when traveling. Anyway I was ready to go at 7 am. I just had to finished purchasing my Cinque Terre pass before getting on the train. Well, we did not the make the train. The next one wouldn’t be for about another hour.

I was a bit upset, because that was my original suggestion and I would have loved to have slept in another hour, but oh well. There is only so much you can control, which is something I struggle with. So, I made the best of it and luckily was able to find a cafe that was open that early. I ordered myself a chocolate croissant and a cappuccino like usual and hung out at the table outside for a bit. It was kind of nice being up before everyone else. It was so quiet and the people that were around were the workers taking care of truck drop offs and trash.

I was able to change my mindset and was ready to set out on the day of hiking. We decided to start at the end with Riomaggiore and make our way back to Vernazza. I am not sure if that made the most sense, but it was my idea and Sam rolled with it. The nice thing about doing it this way is that we were able to start with the easy trail as a warm up. We walked through Riomaggiore a little bit because I wanted to see the towns, but didn’t spend too much time there. It was also nearing 9 am which is the time slot we had for Via dell’Amore, the paved trail between Riomaggiore and Manarola. It only recently reopened after some rockslides that damaged the trail. It had some of the most pretty views of the water and the rolling hills. It was nice to start easy to get into things as it was only a kilometer, but I think I got a little too cocky afterwards.

We rolled into Manarola not too long after and took advantage of being in the town by filling up on water and using the restrooms our hiking pass got us into for free. Then we started walking towards what we thought was the trail, but in fact was not. We had to turn around and then went to the national park desk at the train station to find out where we needed to go. It turned out that the normal trail was closed, which is what we started on. Instead we had to take the detour up into the mountain to get to Corniglia. We made a little drink stop on the way to the detour, because we could already feel the strength of the sun. I literally chugged a powerade.

Now here is the thing about hiking in Cinque Terre. Corniglia is on a hill. To get to it ether way you have to go up in elevation. The recommendation is to start in Corniglia to go to Vernazza and Manarola, but that seemed like too much back and forth with having to catch the train, plus we wanted to do it in one go so we decided we were going to take on the hill to walk to Corniglia. Big mistake. There were so many stairs. They just never stopped. I was absolutely miserable. Between the actual work, the heat, and lack of shade, I struggled. Eventually we made it to the top and it was beautiful. There was another small little town on the top that was mostly residential, but there was a little shop selling drinks to visitors and a cute little church we saw on our way back to the trail.

The trail took us through some interesting spots from there. We walked through vineyards and at times I thought we were actually walking in people’s backyards. It was here though that we had the best view of the entire hike. You could see how far we had climbed from Manarola plus the sea that was now dotted with boats. Eventually we made in into the more wooded part of the trail which felt more familiar. Here Sam was trying to convince me to do the whole trail to Monterosso with her. In this moment I felt invincible, so I was like “why not?” It would be really cool to do the whole thing, although it really isn’t the whole thing because it does reach to some other towns, but the just the entirety of Cinque Terre.

When we made it to Corniglia it was around noon and I was ready for lunch, so as we were exploring the town I stopped at a cafe for a focaccia. I am not sure if they were just really busy or maybe just a bit disorganized, but it took awhile for me to get my food. They also were a bit weird about their bathroom, because they yelled at Sam when she went over to the drink cooler so see what they had which was by the bathroom. Anyway, it wasn’t my favorite food place in Italy, but I got what I needed. We sat outside and enjoyed the small town atmosphere before heading back on the road. I will say that I loved the feel of Corniglia. It is a bit different than the other villages, because it isn’t actually on the water as it is on a hill, which means you can’t reach it by the ferry, only hiking and the train. I think this gives it a little bit of a secluded feel.

I thought that the hike to Vernazza would be much easier than the one we just did since we would be going down hill. I was wrong. We did go down hill, but then we had to go uphill again before going down hill again to Vernazza. It was just as long as they each were about 3 kilometers, but now it was even hotter.

I think the only thing that got we through the hike were the fun little stops along the way. In the middle of it there was a little bit of a park, which was mostly just benches, but here there were a couple guys playing the accordion. I could hear is from a distance and thought I was just hearing things, but there really was accordion music on the trail. It was so fun.

The next stop was a juice bar that we had been looking forward to since the talk with the trail expert. We came across some kind of restaurant that looked closed and we thought maybe that was the juice bare and were a bit bummed, but a little further on this hill we found it. It was so cute. It was a vineyard and in the middle of it was this little juice bar serving all sorts of different juices, lemonades, and fruit. After some research I discovered the name is Bar Il Gabbiano, but if you hike the trail, it is pretty much right there.

From there we had a long hike down to Vernazza. This is when I knew I was done hiking. I nearly wiped out a couple times and I could feel my joints resisting. It didn’t help that there wasn’t actually stairs like other parts of the trail as it was just rocks you had to maneuver your way down.

I wanted to go the rest of the way but it was already nearing 3 pm and I had also wanted to spend some time on the beach and go on the ferry, so I called it while Sam finished going to Monterosso. I had debated where I wanted to go to the beach, but ultimately decided to stay in Vernazza even thought the beach was more rocky than sandy, but it just made for a more interesting dip in the water.

I had stopped for gelato (obviously) before setting up on the beach with my book. I only had about an hour here before I wanted to get ready to take the train to Monterosso where I would take the 5:25 pm ferry to Riomaggiore. I get some anxiety about missing things, so I wanted to get to Monterosso early, especially since I needed to buy my ticket. I ended up being a little too early and had about 20 minutes to kill, so I walked around a bit. I was also a bit hungry and wanted a snack so I bought some melon from a cafe along the way and then sat by the water to eat it. I was so content here.

After a little confusion over what ferry was mine I was on the boat heading off to see the towns by sea. It was about 50 minutes on the boat to get to Riomaggiore. I love boats so I enjoyed it completely even though I didn’t exactly have the best seat and it was crowded. I didn’t spend much time in Riomaggiore, because in all honesty I struggled to walk up the stairs from the docks to the city. I was completely exhausted so I took the next train back to Vernazza.

We planned to go to dinner at the restaurant Sam had been to when she was here the time before. It was just in the square by the water. I kind of wanted to go to where my mom suggested, that I am also pretty sure is a Rick Steve’s suggestion up in the fort, but we really were not feeling any more stairs. Sam’s last bit of the hike was even worse than the rest of the trails we did. It was more stairs as well as the hottest it had been all day. She said it was good I dipped when I did.

Now I can’t tell you for sure the name of the restaurant. I have learned in Italy it doesn’t matter quite as much in the United States. In most places you sit outside surround by umbrellas or a tent, so you never really see the name of the restaurant. I can tell you what I ordered though! It was a penne in a prawn sauce which means it was of course served with prawns, that I wasn’t really sure how to eat. I also ordered a lemon spritz which I wasn’t actually a huge fan of. It tasted too much like those lemon candies, if you know what I mean. We had a nice chat with the mom and daughter from the US at the table next to ours though. The daughter works in journalism and lives in Cairo, so Italy was a meeting place for them.

I knew I was going to order dessert not only because I had burned 1000 calories hiking, but also because I needed to try cantucci, the real Italian biscotti. Did you know that biscotti is just the Italian word for cookies and biscuits? What we think of as biscotti is actually called cantucci in Italy and it comes from the Liguerian coast and Tuscany. They tasted really good, but I am still not sure if I was a fan of the sweet wine it came with to dip in. It was a bit strong for my taste, but it tasted ok on its own so maybe I just didn’t like the combination of the two.

After dinner we headed back and I called it an early night. I was exhausted. Luckily the next day we didn’t have to be awake too early because our train to Pisa left at 8:48, so I would get to have a long night of good sleep.

Day 3

Even though I finally had an opportunity to sleep in, I didn’t want to. I was in love with Cinque Terre. I wanted one more hour to enjoy my new favorite town before heading out. I found a new cafe to try and ordered my cappuccino as well as tried a new pastry. I was not sure what it was called in the moment but I have discovered it is sfogliatelle. It was a little sweet for my taste as it was more frosting and less pastry then I was expecting.

I took my breakfast to the water where I found a spot to sit. There was hardly anyone out again, which made it so peaceful. I am not a morning person, but I could be to have mornings like this everyday. It was perfect and I definitely did not want to leave. I couldn’t imagine any other destination on this trip making me feel this way. Actually scratch that. I couldn’t imagine anywhere in the world making me feel this way. I was in love with the sea. (A)mare indeed.

That is a wrap on Cinque Terre. Stay tuned for my stop in Pisa on my way to Rome, the last stop of my Italian adventure. For more posts of my Italian stops check out the Italy tag on this post!