Cinque Terre: best town to stay in and things to do

Cinque Terre is made up of five lovely, cliff-side villages each of which has its own distinct personality. Here is a map from the excellent website cinqueterre.eu.com that will help orient you:

My family and I had a lovely stay in Manarola but, having now visited and gotten the lay of the land, I would have chosen Monterosso as our home base. Of the five villages, Monterrosso has the most relaxed seaside feel and the only long and sandy beach. You can see the sea as you walk along the long main street. You hear the sound of the waves breaking on the shore and feel the sea breeze against your skin. There are more restaurant options, the side streets are lovely and wider than they are in the other towns and there are a greater variety of shops to explore.

Another plus for Monterosso is that it is the starting point of the most popular hike in Cinque Terre, which goes from Monterosso to Vernassa. Staying in Monterosso would have saved us from having to catch a morning train there from Manarola. But we would have also missed out on the lovely afternoon we had in Manarola when we arrived.

Here is our itinerary, and info on our experience, to help you make your own, well-informed choice on which town to make your home base. I am listing the towns in the order we visited them. Corniglia, Manarola and Monterosso were the prettiest towns. If you have to skip one village, Riomaggiore is the one it would be.

Manarola

Sunset in Manarola

We arrived in Manarola at 3 o’clock, after a five hour train journey from Venice. Our route took us from Venice to Florence, then to La Spezia Centrale, where we caught another train for the short ride to Manarola. (Click here for what to expect on Italy’s trains.) Our Florence train did not arrive in time for us to make our scheduled Manarola train, but it was no problem. Trains to Cinque Terre leave three times an hour from La Spezia and we simply hopped onto the next one. (BTW, these are massive, powerful, fast trains, not the slow-moving, chugging romantic ones I had envisioned.)

When you arrive in Manarola, you walk through a long underground tunnel which brings you to the town’s main street. If you turn left, you will walk downhill towards the busiest part of the main street and, eventually, end up at the water. It you turn right, you will head uphill, towards the residential area. You will pass a very good hiking store and a take-out store owned by the Manarola foodie sensation Nessun Dorma, which makes the best pesto I have ever tasted. (More on Nessun Dorma later.) As you walk uphill, you will be headed towards the start of the Manarola Vineyard Trail, the village church, and the small streets where many of the Airbnbs are located. (We stayed here.) Our AirBNB was simply furnished, but had everything we needed including a washing machine and a balcony with a lovely view of the terraced lemon groves and the water. We dropped off our bags, walked the lovely Manarola Vineyard Trail, and watched as our sons took a joyful swim in the cliffside sea.

The Manarola Vineyard Trail

The trail is a relatively easy walk on a narrow, dirt path overlooking terraced vineyards and lemon groves, the town, and the sea. There are some stairs to climb, but the trail is nowhere near as challenging as other hikes in the region. It begins near the church and ends at the harbor. Just make sure to stay on the original path and don’t veer off to the right where the sign says Volastra-Corniglia. That route ends in Corniglia and is very challenging.

The Manarola Vineyard Trail will bring you to Punta Bonfiglio, a point with spectacular views…

Nessun Dorma, the most popular restaurant in Cinque Terre, is located on this point. The views from the restaurant are spectacular and, as I mentioned before, the restaurant’s pesto is the best I’ve ever had. It is owned by a married couple and the wife, Simone, offers a very popular pesto making class that I would have taken if we had had more time here. You pick the basil fresh from their basil plants and get her recipe. Need I say more?

Snagging a table at Nessun Dorma is no easy feat. You need to download their app in order to put your name on the waiting list, The list opens at 11:30 a.m. We tried joining the wait list at around noon but the app could tell that we were still far away from Manarolo and wouldn’t let us. (We were still on the train from Florence.) By the time we got to town and signed up, we were number 437 on the list. (Yes, you read that right – 437!!!) Even at that number, we were eventually offered a table, but we were in another town when that happened and lost our spot. We decided it was not worth trying again, since we had already seen the view when we walked the Vineyard Trail and were able to easily get the restaurant’s food at their take-out shop in town, Nessun Dorma Officina 231.

Here we are on their Instagram page! The pesto and mozzarella sandwich was so amazing that we went back the next day to have it again.

If you have more time than we did in Manarola, a visit to the restaurant would be lovely. Click here for info on how to download the Nessun Dorma app, as well as info on the pesto making class, and to see their live webcam of Manarola! (Scroll down to the bottom for the webcam.)

After you are done at Punta Bonfiglio, follow the hiking trail back to the harbor. Stop for a swim, like our boys did. That night we took a train to…

Riomaggiore

Of all the villages, this was our least favorite. Of course, the view of the water was beautiful, but it did not have the charm of the other villages. We ordered a paper cone filled with fried fish (calamari, shrimp, and prawns) at Tutti Fritti and shared it walking, and briefly sitting, along the main drag. It was delicious. We had planned to have dinner in Riomaggiore but, instead, headed back “home” to Manarola for dinner where the restaurant options were better. The next morning, we woke up early and took the train to…

Monterosso

Monterosso was love at first sight for me. If you are a follower of this magazine, you know that I love the ocean and all things having to do with water. Even from the train station here, you can see, hear and feel the ocean. The ocean view from the café at the Monterosso train station (at the exit from Platform 1) was so pretty that we ordered a pastry and coffee and sat down to soak it all in.

Good thing we fueled up because the hike that followed was surprisingly demanding. (This is NOT a hike for older people, or those who are not fit.) There were many flights of steep stairs, taking you up and up and up into the terraced lemon groves. But we are all in good shape and the challenge of the hike was worth it. The scenery was gorgeous and the view of Vernazza as we approached was dazzling.

Vernazza

The approach to the village from the hike was beautiful -- lined with lemon trees and bougainvillea -- and the town itself looks spectacular from a distance. At first, the town was lovely to walk in, but then the tour groups from the cruise ships arrived and clogged the streets. The stores are tiny and their aisles impassable if there are only five people in them. You can imagine what happens when it is crowded…

I had thought we would spend hours exploring here, and also having lunch but we decided it was too touristy and crowded. After a quick walk through town, we headed back to Monterosso for lunch.

Monterosso revisited

This time we walked the length of the ocean promenade. Even though it was busier than it had been in the early morning, it still felt like there was room for everyone to enjoy the beauty of the place. You can rent chairs and umbrellas on the beach, or sit for free at the part of the beach near the statue of The Giant in the new part of town.

We walked to see beach near The Giant and then backtracked, walking the entire length of the promenade and exploring the lovely side streets in the old part of town. (Put “Pesto Lab” into Google Maps to find the nicest side street.) That street was full of charming restaurants, many of which seemed like good options for lunch. I had my heart set on an ocean view and we continued on the ocean promenade until we found the perfect restaurant at the very end of town. The food was not memorable, but the view and the experience were magical.

My family at lunch in Monterosso.

 After lunch, we headed for…

 Corniglia

Because it is not on the water, this is the town I was going to skip if we were running out of time. I’m so glad we didn’t! Everything about Corniglia is lovely – its narrow, cobblestone streets; tiny shops that are not replicas of what is in every other town, and sweet little bars and restaurants.

Even the way they hang their laundry is beautiful!

Be warned: you need to climb a lot of stairs – 382 to be exact -- from the train station to get to Corniglia. But the stairs are not as steep and challenging as the steps on the hikes and there are many switch backs with flat areas. We found them to be an easy climb, and the people around us seemed to be having no problem with them. If stairs are an issue, there is a shuttle at the train station that will take you to the town center. (The fare is included in your Cinque Terre pass. More on that later.)

Terraced vineyards as seen from a side street in Corniglia

A cute little bar in Corniglia

Helpful tips for hiking in, and visiting, Cinque Terre:

 Most of the hiking in Cinque Terre is free, but from April through October you do need to pay a fee to hike the two most popular trails: from Monterosso to Vernazza and from Vernazza to Corniglia. The best option for most people is to buy the Cinque Terre Train Card. This gives you access to both of the payment-required hiking trails, as well as unlimited rides on the trains connecting the five villages, and on the shuttle bus in Corniglia. You can buy one at all the train stations for one, two, or three day access.

NOTE: The one-day pass expires at midnight on the day you purchase it, so it is best to buy it in the morning.

Story and photos by Irene Daria