Cinque Terre - Italy

I used to go there regularly when I lived in Italy. My favourite village was Vernazza. I’m guessing it has become much more pricey but still worth a visit . We used to eat at Gianni Franzi (I’ll,check that later)

Here

Havnt berm for a few years but the whole area is beautiful with wonderful old villages along the coast. Enjoy.

Think the train runs along the coast from village to village it’s a wonderful ride.

Daily mail did a recent article in their travel section - not that I read the Daily Mail! It is on our list of places to go. Sorry can’t add link.

Thanks everyone. Thanks Lucca for the link.
I didn’t realise that we are actually staying about an hour away, in La Spezia
I think there’s regular trains though.
I’ll make some notes in case anyone goes in the future!

We love the area, haven't been in a few years. No recommendations except to say - enjoy the scenery, food and wine.

We stayed up in the mountains at La Spezia, and caught the trains from there to see the rest of the 5 lands ( cinque Terre). Also went to Pisa and up the tower which I thought was leaning rather too far snd the following week it was shut down for repair.

There was also a ferry from la spezia to a rather lovely village with quite along name. It was lovely approaching it from the water.

Where will you actually stay, which village? Or in La Spezia? Are trips organised for you?

Depending on weather, it is good to spend one day doing all the villages by boat, and another by train.

Ooops sorry, just seen your answer. From La Spezia, so easy to do by train with stops in all villages. But most of it is in tunnels, so not much view along the way.

And yes, ferry another day, for the views. But at this time of year, if sea is too choppy, they won't go.

We stayed in Bonassola in mid June about 15 years ago, had a car with us as we were touring for 5 weeks. I remember the hotel had a car park as parking was difficult.
Lovely memories of doing the train and boat journey.

We stayed in Sestri Levante and accessed Cinque Terre from the sea on a boat trip. I can't remember any restaurants or anything, but take good walking shoes and be prepared to walk up and down lots of steep slopes and steps.

JackyB

We stayed in Sestri Levante and accessed Cinque Terre from the sea on a boat trip. I can't remember any restaurants or anything, but take good walking shoes and be prepared to walk up and down lots of steep slopes and steps.

Not too arduous I don’t think !

JackyB

We stayed in Sestri Levante and accessed Cinque Terre from the sea on a boat trip. I can't remember any restaurants or anything, but take good walking shoes and be prepared to walk up and down lots of steep slopes and steps.

Boats often don't operate at this time of year if sea is choppy- but trains always run. Most tourists stay in or near the harbour, so there is no need for lots of up and down walking. We love to explore and get away from crowds, so we chose to go up all the steps, behind and beyond. But you just don't have to.

We had quite a nice time, although I wasn’t really prepared for a weekend of rain dodging!

We stayed in an authentic Italian apartment with the cutest, original lift and Juliet balcony.
It was within walking distance of the port where we got the ferry both days. We went to Manorola, Riomaggiore and Port Venere (although not technically part of the ‘five towns’ - we loved it)
The weather restricted ferry times so we were back in La Spezia in time for a quick doze before eating out in the evening!

As I said in my original post, we were not really prepared for our trip.
If we did it again (doubtful) we would probably get the train one day to see more of the towns (you definitely need to do the ferry at some point to see the full beauty of the coastline)
We would research and book restaurants everywhere as we struggled to just ‘walk in’. We would probably get at least one guided tour.
I would take better footwear and be more prepared for bad weather!
All good and drink was lovely.

I doubt we will return as there’s so many other places to discover, but it’s a truly beautiful coastline, so for that alone, I would recommend it.

Food* and drink

Glad you enjoyed it, but yes, this week's weather so pretty bad- such a shame. I am surprised you were not prepared re shoes, as JackyB warned you

3 days is just not enough, if including travel to and fro. Where did you fly to? Genova?