Long weekend in Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre means “five lands” and it is an are in Liguria close to La Spezia made up of 5 main towns: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore - we really liked all towns except for Monterosso al Mare which was the biggest, loudest and “ugliest” one. Cinque Terre is known for it’s old school charm and architecture - the houses are all colored and there ambiance is very old school Italian. People usually come here to relax, hike, drink wine and enjoy the sea. Being a gourmet blog we always want to recommend the best restaurants, bars and local delicacies which is usually very easy in Italy as the food tends to be amazing. In Cinque Terre though, being such a touristy place, we have to admit hat we struggled - the search to find good restaurants was hard and we were at times very disappointed with the quality of food that was served to us. Below you will find the places that we really liked and that stood out to us.

Very important - make sure you take out some money before heading to the Cinque Terre as many restaurants/bars don’t take credit cards and the cash machines ( 1 in each town) don’t work on a regular basis.

How to get there: Cinque Terre is not the easiest destination to reach when traveling by train, the journey from Zürich lasts around 8 hours, which is really not ideal for a long weekend. We decided to rent a car and it took us 6 hours to get there (we left Thursday evening and drove back Monday to avoid traffic). The trip can also be done in 3 days but we recommend you spend 4 nights in this region considering the travel time.

When to go: Cinque Terre is absolutely beautiful and unfortunately this is not a secret, tourists from all over the world come every year and since the Cinque Terre are not very big it tends to get very very full and sometimes it’s not very comfortable. This is why we recommend you come in May/June or September/October (September being the best month weather wise).

Activity Ideas: Cinque Terre is full of amazing activities and is perfect for couples, solo travelers and families. One of our favorite things to do was Kayaking but Stand Up Paddle tours are also available. Another great idea is seeing the Cinque Terre from a boat taking part in a boat tour. If you prefer to hike there are also plenty of options - we did the hike on our own but if you prefer a guided hike you can check out this one or this one. When you are done with physical activities you can take part in a pesto making class or a wine tour.

Where to stay: Unfortunately finding great places to stay in Cinque Terre can be a bit hard as we also experienced first hand with our hotel stay - the hotel we had booked, La Torretta Manarola was supposed to be one of the best hotels but ended up being a bit of a disappointment in terms of price and service. We did find a very cute place in Portovenere called Il Gabbiano Suite which we do recommend. In Cinque Terre you won’t find many fancy hotels and more airbnb’s and people renting out rooms - try not to stay in La Spezia which is the city near the Cinque Terre and try to find something in Varnazza, Manarola, Riomaggiore or Porto Venere.

Below you will find our weekend itinerary with various activity options you can choose from.

Weekend Itinerary:

Day 1 (Friday)

We arrived in Manarola on Thursday evening and went directly to bed as it was already very late so Friday we woke up very early to make the best of the day. We started by walking around Manarola and getting a feeling of the town. We then took the train and headed to Monterosso to start our Kayak tour. We did the 6 hour tour as we really enjoy kayaking and being in the water but they also offer 3 and 2 hour tours. After our tour we took a dip in Monterosso and relaxed until dinner time since we had booked a dinner in the same town. For dinner we went to Ristorante L’Ancora della Tortuga a very cute restaurant right by the sea with magnificent views and very good seafood. As mentioned above, finding good food in Cinque Terre turned out to be more of a struggle than we thought but this restaurant was really something special.

Day 2 (Saturday)

On Saturday we decided to take it a little easier as we had spent the entire previous day kayaking. In the morning we took the train to Porto Venere to explore a bit and then in the afternoon we decided to do a wine tasting in Manarola. We then relaxed by the sea and headed to Nessun Dorma at around 4pm. Nessun Dorma is the most iconic bar/restaurant in the Cinque Terre as many famous people have visited it and because it has the best views of Manarola. Unfortunately they don’t take reservations and the line can be huuuuuuge. During our 3 days in the area we realized that the best time to go is from 2pm until around 4pm as this is the time when the line is shorter. (10 min wait). After 5pm the line really starts to build and it peaks at around 7/8pm (on Saturday we saw around 150 people standing for a table). Of course it depends on how badly you want to go but we would not recommend standing in line for 2 hours on a Saturday evening so just go during the afternoon and enjoy the beautiful view without the line. For dinner we headed to Trattoria dal Billy in Manarola - the specialty here are the pastas with crab or lobster, really delicious and fair prices.

Day 3 (Sunday)

Sunday was another very sporty day as we decided to hike from Manarola to Monterosso al Mare. The hike is absolutely amazing and challenging, the great thing is you can split it and take the train in one of the towns if you are tired or don’t want to go on. If you decide to do this hike you will need a Cinque Terre Trekking Card which can be purchased on the spot in cash or online. The first part of the hike from Manarola to Volastra is all uphill but once you get up the views and the beautiful vines will reward you. From Volastra you hike down to Corniglia (this part is quite easy and downhill). In Corniglia you can take a break and then continue to Vernazza (light uphill/downhill the entire time). In Vernazza we grabbed a focaccia for lunch (focaccia is a must while you are in liguria and they are really good in almost all panetterie (bread shops) - our favorites are the onion and olive focaccia. From Vernazza you will then walk to Monterosso al Mare - this was our favorite part of the hike, it goes uphill and downhill a bit but it is not too strenuous (if you don’t want to do the full hike do this part only). When arriving in Monterosso al Mare we were a bit disappointed as the hike had been amazing and we thought we would arrive to another cute town like the ones we had just seen but unfortunately the last town really disappointed us. Monterosso al Mare is quite big, has a large parking area and was just really underwhelming - we took the train back and relaxed a bit longer in Vernazza. On Monday morning before driving back we went back to Corniglia as we had really liked it and had breakfast there.