Cinque Terre has been on my travel wish list for a while now – I had actually bought a travel book on it back in 2011 when I was living in England. But then in Oct 2011 they had bad flooding and mudslides so I didn’t end up going (I found this article about it from a local – pretty awful and scary! https://silvias-trips.com/cinque-terre-flood/)
Since we were spending a few days in Genoa, Chris looked at the map and realized Cinque Terre would be relatively close so we decided to do a day trip – we took the train to Corniglia (the middle of the 3 villages) then hiked the path north from there, through Vernazza where we had lunch, then up to Monterosso.
To get there, we hopped on the metro to the Genoa Brignole train station (east of town – not the main station) then took a train to Corniglia, with a change in Siestri Levante and made it to Corniglia by 10:30 AM.
It was a beautiful day for it! We were in short-sleeves and Chris was even in shorts – not bad for February! And since it’s off season, there were no crowds. A lot of steep stairs (up and down) but well worth it for the amazing views!
As the name suggests, Cinque Terre consists of 5 villages (it translates to “five lands”). The 5 villages (from north to south) are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. They are ancient fishing villages that date back to the 11th century and originally only accessible by water or train. What are now hiking paths between the villages were originally path for mules. (https://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/)
Once we got to Corniglia, we walked from the train station into the village (about 15 min walk). The trail was pretty well marked with these arrow signs (and in between small red and white stripes let you know you’re on the right path).
I can’t imagine doing those stairs and some of the narrow trails when it’s crowded (and hot) in summer so we ended up being there at the perfect time. They do charge to use the trails in peak times, with passes that include the train as well. We did see huts along the way that I assume are checkpoints for this pass. It was free when we went so the huts were closed. (https://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/cinque-terre-card) Off season there are less places open (a couple of cafes along the trail and some of the restaurants in the villages) but we didn’t have any trouble finding a bite to eat in Vernazza and a post-hike drink in Monterosso.
Did I mention the walk from the training station involves a steep set of stairs?! 382 stairs take you up into the town. There’s also a shuttle bus from the train station but we took the stairs. The village sits at about 100 meters (328 feet) above sea level.
We took some time to walk around Corniglia itself before starting out on the trail to Vernazza. (https://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/corniglia)
We came across the Chiesa di San Pietro (Chiesa = church) – a 14th century church built on the site of a smaller 11th-century chapel. The third picture is an 18th century church, the Oratory of Santa Caterina
After wandering through the village, we hit the trail.
As we hiked up out of the village, it was cool to look back and see the view of the village as we got further and further away.
There were relatively flat sections and then some steep up and downs. Parts of the trail were very narrow too. A lot of the up and downs were steps (some steeper than others!)
As we got closer to Vernazza, we had amazing views in both directions and started to be able to see the village from pretty far back on the trail.
This was one of the most picturesque views coming into Vernazza.
Once we got to Vernazza, we took a stroll around to see the village …..
… then stopped for a lunch of calamari and fries!
After that, we got on the trail toward Monterosso. As we ascended up the trail, we had some great views of Vernazza from the north.
Between Vernazza and Monterosso we crossed a couple of cool bridges …
… and continued to have some amazing views.
More stairs! Chris actually captured a great compilation them on his 360 camera.
Then as we got closer we had some great views of Monterosso.
So close! The occasional signs gave you a good idea (in km) how far it was to the next town. The red and white stripes to the right in this picture were painted along the way and were very helpful to make sure we didn’t go astray.
We made it to Monterosso and walked around then finished the day with a couple of post-hike drinks before getting on the train home.
Cool map of our hike on Garmin. Overall we had an elevation gain of 1,476 ft and descent of 1,132 ft.
We hopped on the 4:55 PM train back to Genoa Piazza Principe (the main train station in Genoa). This train was only an hour and 10 minutes and we were treated to a beautiful sunset on the way home (sorry for the somewhat blurry photo – it was through the train window).
In total we spent about 3 hours on the train (2 hours down, 1 hour back) and €27 a piece roundtrip (including the metro within Genoa) so not too bad for a day trip. And I can’t believe how lucky we got with the weather. What an amazing experience! One day we’ll go back and do the whole hike through all 5 villages.
