I'd seen the photos a thousand times — those impossible candy-colored houses stacked above the Mediterranean. But screenshots don't prepare you for the smell of basil drifting up from someone's kitchen window at 7AM, or the sound of the Cinque Terre Express rattling along a cliff edge 200 feet above water so blue it looks fake.
This is my week. Unfiltered.
Landed at Pisa, grabbed a Trenitalia regional for €8, and was in La Spezia by 4PM. My hotel — Hotel Firenze e Continentale, right beside the station — cost €75/night. Which sounds reasonable until you realize rooms inside the five villages start at €180 and go up from there.
The La Spezia waterfront isn't going to make anyone's Instagram reel. But the Passeggiata Morin promenade at sunset? Actually decent. I found a gelato at Gelateria Artigianale on Via del Prione that tasted like someone had just crushed pistachios five minutes ago. Because they had.
Dinner at Osteria della Corte: trofie al pesto for €12. This is Liguria's signature dish — tiny twisted pasta with the greenest, most aggressively delicious pesto you've ever had. No cream. No parmesan. Just basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and pecorino. I ordered a second plate. Don't judge me.
Bought the Cinque Terre Card at La Spezia station — €33 gets you unlimited trains between villages plus trail access. Worth every cent.
Riomaggiore is the southernmost village. Eight minutes by train. I walked down Via Colombo — the main drag — past fishing boats hauled up on a concrete ramp, laundry strung between windows, and a cat that gave me a look of pure disdain.
The pebble beach is tiny. Like, 30-people-max tiny. But I sat there for an hour watching boats bob in water so clear I could count rocks on the seafloor.
Lunch at Dau Cila, perched above the harbor. Fritto misto di mare — €14 for a pile of fried squid, shrimp, and anchovies that made me briefly reconsider my entire life back home. Then I attempted the hike to Manarola via the SVA trail (the direct Via dell'Amore is partially closed — check parconazionale5terre.it for current status). The alternate route goes through Volastra, past terraced vineyards that somehow cling to slopes steeper than most staircases. Moderate difficulty, but I was sweating.
Made it to Manarola by 5PM. Nessun Dorma — the most famous terrace bar in Cinque Terre — was already packed. Got there early enough for a table. Aperol spritz: €8. Bruschetta plate: €7. The view of Manarola's houses turning gold in the sunset: genuinely priceless. I'm not being cheesy. I'm being accurate.
Corniglia. The village nobody talks about because it's perched 100 meters above the sea and you have to climb 382 steps — the Lardarina — to get there. There's a shuttle bus from the train station (every 20 min, covered by the Cinque Terre Card), but I was feeling ambitious.
Mistake? Maybe. But at the top, Corniglia was silent. No tour groups. No selfie sticks. Just narrow lanes, a honey shop run by a guy named Alberto on Via Fieschi, and a viewpoint at the Belvedere di Santa Maria that made every step worth it.
Then I hiked to Vernazza. The Corniglia-to-Vernazza section of the Sentiero Azzurro (Blue Trail) is the best — 3.5 km of coastal drama, vine-covered terraces, and views that kept forcing me to stop and stare. Took 90 minutes. Could have been faster if I'd stopped taking photos.
Vernazza's harbor is the real deal. Swam off the rocks beside the boats. Climbed Doria Castle for €2 — the 11th-century tower gives you the best elevated view of the harbor. Dinner at Gambero Rosso: spaghetti allo scoglio (€16) on a terrace overlooking the water.
I needed a break from hiking. Monterosso is the largest village and the only one with a real sand beach. Fegina Beach on the new town side. Sun lounger and umbrella rental: about €25/day. The free public section is at the far east end near the tunnel — smaller but perfectly fine.
Spent the morning doing nothing. Read a book. Swam. Watched Italian families set up elaborate beach camps with enough food for a small army.
Walked through the tunnel to old town for lunch at Il Frantoio — legendary focaccia. The cheese one (focaccia con formaggio) was €3 for a slab big enough to be a meal. Visited the Capuchin monastery and Church of San Francesco up the hill. Free entry. A Van Dyck painting hanging in a tiny church in a fishing village. Italy is ridiculous.
Splurged at L'Ancora della Tortuga for dinner — their crudo platter (€18) and whole grilled branzino (€22). On the rocks between old and new town. Worth every euro.
Pesto-making class with Cooking with Claudia in Riomaggiore — €55/person, 2.5 hours. We made pesto genovese with a mortar and pestle (never a blender, she insisted), hand-rolled trofie pasta, and focaccia. Then ate everything with local wine. I've tried to recreate it at home three times since. It's never the same.
Afternoon boat tour from Riomaggiore harbor — €22 for a shared boat, 2 hours. Seeing all five villages from the sea puts them in perspective. They're absurdly vertical. Like someone took a regular town and tilted it 70 degrees. The sea caves near Vernazza were a highlight. We stopped at a cove for swimming. The water was cold enough to make you gasp, warm enough to make you stay.
Skipped the five villages entirely. Took a bus from La Spezia to Portovenere — 30 minutes, €3.50 each way. This town doesn't get the Cinque Terre crowds but it's equally gorgeous. The colorful Via Cappellini winds through medieval alleys. The Church of San Pietro sits on a rocky promontory — dramatic is an understatement.
Caught a boat to Palmaria Island — €5 round trip, 5-minute crossing. Hiked 30 minutes to Cala del Pozzale on the west side. A wild beach with maybe ten people on it. I had lunch at Il Terrizzo, the one restaurant on the harbor side (seafood mains from €12), and felt like I'd discovered a secret.
Back in La Spezia, I got farinata at Pizzeria La Pia on Via Magenta — a chickpea flatbread that's a Ligurian specialty. €4.50. No frills, no ambiance, outstanding food.
Hit the Mercato Centrale in La Spezia one last time. Bought a jar of pesto, a bottle of limoncino, and some dried trofie pasta. The cheese vendor gave me a taste of aged pecorino that was so sharp it made my eyes water.
Final espresso at Bar Sole, near the station on Via del Prione. €1.20. Standing at the bar, the way Italians do it. A focaccia for €2 because I couldn't help myself.
Without question. But I'd come in late September or early October — the April-June and September-October window the locals recommend is real. July and August are apparently overwhelming with day-trippers. I'd skip the car entirely (they're banned in the villages, and parking in La Spezia runs €15-25/day). And I'd budget at least five full days for the villages, not including the day trip to Portovenere.
If you're torn between Cinque Terre and Italy's other famous coastline, check out our Cinque Terre vs. Amalfi Coast comparison for a detailed breakdown. And if you love the Italian coast, the Amalfi Coast offers a completely different (but equally memorable) experience.
The thing about Cinque Terre is that the photos don't lie. It really is that beautiful. What they can't show you is the €3 focaccia that changed your standards permanently, or the old man in Corniglia who saw me wheezing at the top of the Lardarina and offered me water from his garden hose.
That's what you come back for.
