Cinque Terre (May 25th - May 29th)

GETTING THERE

Genoa is probably the closest airport to fly to, to get to the Cinque Terre region. Florence is another alternative. Rome and Milan are options as well. I flew to Milan, but went to Venice first. So I made my way to Cinque Terre by train from Venice, which incidentally connects in Milan anyways. The time from Milan Centrale Station to Levanto was a little under 3 hours.
Regardless of where you fly to, you will eventually need to take a train, or drive to Cinque Terre. I guess you can go by sea as well, but I haven’t really explored that option and don’t know much about it. Trenitalia (http://www.trenitalia.com) has a great user friendly website one can use to check fares, schedules and make your reservations online.

You can either take the train to Levanto (recommended if coming from the north) or La Spezia (if coming from the south). Both Levanto and La Spezia and larger cities on each of Cinque Terre. You can choose to make these towns your base, or do like we did, just pick a village in Cinque Terre and stay there. There are trains running almost every 30 min between Levanto and La Spezia which stops at some or all the 5 villages. The five villages are all in a 5.28 km stretch, so the train rides are really short (2-3 min) between each village.

For tickets, you can but a single ticket and use it as many times within a 6 hour window as long as you go in the same direction as when you started. (to return, you will need a separate ticket). In anycase, tickets between villages are cheap (€1.40). Also, you have an option of including unlimited train with your Cinque Terre pass. The Cinque Terre pass, allows you on the trails between the 5 villages. It is €5.00 per day. Other options are also available for longer lengths. For more information, visit http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/news_parco_primo_piano.asp?id_lingue=2&pag=1


CINQUE TERRE ACCOMMODATIONS

I read a lot of information about Cinque Terre accommodations – from peoples blogs, to trip advisor, hotels.com, friends who had visited the area – and finally after sending out a couple dozen emails to various bed and breakfasts we decided on our accommodations.

Our first step was to narrow down which village we wanted to stay in. Most of the bigger travel sites (like hotels.com) listed hotels and B&B in Riomaggiore, arguably one of the biggest of the 5 villages. However, my first instinct was to stay in Corniglia since it is in the middle of the 5 villages. I found one B&B I liked, but after reading the review (which now, I can vouch is true) it was not a very convenient spot. After 5 or 6pm, there are no buses. You can take the train between villages. If you choose to eat dinner at Riomaggiore for instance, when you return to Corniglia, you will probably have to walk for at least 20 min to get to your room. It finally came down to a decision between Monterosso al mare and Vernazza.

Monterosso has the best beaches of Cinque Terre, and the most variety and number of restaurants among all the other villages and Vernazza looked just so pretty. Not being able to decide between the two, we decided to stay 2 nights at each place. In hindsight, it was a good decision – I enjoyed both places immensely. Perhaps if I had to choose only one, I’d pick Monterosso – It seemed to have more restaurants and bars. Also, the train station is in the heart of the new town and a short walk from old town, making it convenient to spend a late evening at another village and still being able to make it back to Monterosso late.

At Monterosso, we stayed at the Unico Affittacamere. At peak season, we paid €70/night It is owned by Adriano Rossignoli. I love the room. It was small, but very cozy, charming and clean. The location, in old town was perfect too. I would highly recommend it - this place is a gem. You can email Adriano at unicoscienza@libero.it . Basic information about the room is available at http://www.monterossonet.com/eng/strutture/hotel/da_unico/da_unico.htm

At Vernazza, we stayed at an apartment (without kitchen). The cost was €85/night. The location was fantastic. Just a few blocks from the train station, and steps away from the beach (You have a view of the beach from the bedroom window - See Photo). The only drawback with this apartment was that it can get very noisy till late at night or early in the morning since there are a couple of café/bars next to the apartment. Still, if you keep the windows shut, you can keep the most of the noise out. To make reservations, contact Alberto Basso at albertobasso@hotmail.com


A TOURIST IN CINQUE TERRE

DAY 1
After checking in to our room in the late afternoon, we spent our evening exploring Monterosso, walking in the old and new town. We spent a relaxed evening, eating dinner at the Enoteca Internazionale followed by a glass of wine at a bar just a few steps from our room.

DAY 2
We bought the Cinque Terre Pass for the day (€5/pp for the trail only - €8.50 for the trail + train for the day) … We planned to walk all the way from Monterosso to Riomaggiore stopping by each of the villages for a snack or wine or both. The trail from Monterosso to Vernazza (approx 1.5 hrs) and then from Vernazza to Corniglia (approx 1hr) was the hardest – but absolutely gorgeous as you pass through vineyards and orchards and have spectacular views of the Mediterranean at the same time. Corniglia to Manarola (approx 1 hr) was a straight stretch of road for the most part (other than the steep walk down the paved path towards the train station in Corniglia to get to the train – and the 300+ steps to the trail) – still it was a breeze compared to the hike between the previous two villages. Manarola to Riomaggiore was just a 20min walk – the trail called Via Dell’ Amore (lovers trail) was a pathway hugging the coastline offering expansive views of the Mediterranean. Absolutely gorgeous!

At Vernazza, we stopped at a café for juice and a sandwich. At Corniglia, we hunted for Miele Gelato (Honey gelato - a specialty of Corniglia) and were rewarded at a gelateria with the most delicious honey gelato. At Manarola, I wanted to drink the local wine made with grapes just from Manarola (as compared to the blends with grapes from all regions of Cinque Terre). I wasn’t too lucky. Instead, we settled for the most delicious foccacio’s at a bakery. At Riomaggiore, we stopped for a drink – my first glass of wine that day at La Corniglia. We took the train back to Monterosso and after relaxing and freshening up went to dinner at Al Carugio – a restaurant a block away from our room.

Having spent the entire day getting a flavor of all the villages – we planned to spend the next day in Vernazza (since we were to stay there for the next 2 nights), and then our last day in Corniglia and Manarola.

DAY 3
We checked in at our apartment at Vernazza. Alberto – the owner of the apartment suggested a La Sondra for lunch – an excellent recommendation. After lunch, we explored the village (did not take much time doing that) and then spent an hour at the beach. Dinner was at Belforte – a great restaurant, with an excellent location – overlooking the sea. I would recommend making reservations to make sure you get the table with the best views.

After dinner, we spent the evening with Alberto, his girlfriend Catherine and a couple of his friends. It was an unplanned event – we wanted to see a soccer game on TV and Alberto graciously offered us his living room to watch the game. He was entertaining some friends that evening and invited us to join them. I ate one of the best Tiramisu’s ever – and even got the recipe for it from Alberto.

DAY 4
We took the ferry to Riomaggiore. We wanted to go to Manarola, but due to rough seas, the ferry wouldn’t stop there. At Riomaggiore we explored the area a little, then took the train to Corniglia for lunch. No – I had no intention of walking that day. Lunch was a take away sandwich and some juice to keep us hydrated, and our treat later was the real reason we were there in the first place - their honey gelato. Hmm yummy!!!

We took the trail from Corniglia to Manarola – the only trail that you do not need the Cinque Terre pass. At Manarola, we sat at a bar, enjoying Cinque Terre wine and waited till 6:30pm, so we could eat dinner at Marina Piccola. After dinner, we took the train back to Vernazza and spent our last night with a bottle of wine sitting on the rocks, overlooking the sea, listening to waves crash at the shore. A wonderful end to a wonderful stay in Cinque Terre. The next day we were to head out early on a train back to Milan.