Beauty of Cinque Terre

"I'd stay here forever." I whispered to Rebeca. "Let the music never stop " she answered. It was 30 minutes before we had to head back to the train, finishing our trip to Cinque Terre in northern Italy. We were on a small terrace overlooking harbor of Riomaggiore, with its narrow and tall houses of all colors. An Italian jazz musician was playing "Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso" on his old sax and we were holding each other close, dancing to his rhythms. Autumn breeze was refreshing us and the smell of sea filling our nostrils. There were few people around, but we felt alone, like in some scene cut right from the movie.

Italy was our first foreign destination together and we wanted to make it remarkable. As a passionate photographer, ever since I first spotted photos of Cinque Terre, I dreamt about going there. We planned it as the last stop of our Italian trip. And I can honestly say that we've saved the best for last.

When to Go

The Cinque Terre is a coastal link of five small fishing villages in a region of Liguria. Being a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997,  it's a world-known place and can get pretty full of tourists, especially during summer.

That's why I recommend you to absolutely avoid the main season. October, for example, is an amazing time to go, because there are not many people and weather is still pleasant. Late May, June and September are great options as well.

All five villages – Monterosso, Vernazza, Manarola, Corniglia and Riomaggiore were until recently only connected by mule tracks, with accessibility only by water or rail, as cars were banned decades ago.

The best way to explore all five of them used to be a walking trail called Sentierro Azzurro (Azure Trail), but because of floods and landslides in 2011, the sections connecting Manarola with Riomaggiore and with Corniglia were closed at time of our visit.

This makes the train the easiest way of traveling between the villages. the stops are only five minutes or less of each other. It's also the way we chose.

How to Get There

We start our journey in the city of La Spezia (easily accessible from Pisa). There you can catch local train which runs 1-2 times per hour, depending on the season.

A single ticket costs 4€, which is way over-expensive. So if you plan to travel back and forth between all the villages, you should consider buying Cinque Terre Train Card for 16€ per day, or 29€ for two days.

Because of our budget (and lack of information), we decided to buy just a single ticket, see Manarola and walk all around the shore.

Manarola

Already inside the train you can make a picture of what is waiting for you. Watching out the window, in small flashes between the tunnels, you can see rocky coastline and the sea playing all shades of blue.

We hopped off the train on second stop - Manarola. Right from the platform we spot first few rooftops hidden between cliffs. There is always light at the end of tunnel and here, it's more true than ever. The view that it opens is, well, let's face it, spectacular. Small village of colorful houses, tucked between hills of green, perfectly contrasting with blue of the sea.

Take the path leading down to seashore and back up in direction to Corniglia. It undoubtedly offers the best views of Manarola (see the picture below).

Without any information given in the tourist info center and no sign, we wanted to walk all the way to Corniglia. And we were definitely not the only ones.

Very soon, we unfortunately found out, that the way is closed. So we went back and tried to take at least famous Via dell'Amore to Riomaggiore, but the story was all the same.

Don't Forget to Stop for a Snack

A little bit disappointed that we couldn't hike to Corniglia, we made our way up narrow streets of Manarola. Walking between houses, watching everyday life of few inhabitants go by, you can reach a small church.

From all the walking your belly starts feeling a bit empty. Head back to the center for a snack. Since it's pretty small, there are just few restaurants and street food stands. In one of them, called Fooderia we took fresh, well prepared, fried fish and calamari in a cone, with lemon, for just few euros.

The views around make you forget every trouble and problem that occurs. You can spend hours just wandering around and completely forget about the time. That's exactly what happened to us.

Trains Can Be Tricky

Later on, we decided to take the train again and continue to Riomaggiore. Many people consider it the most beautiful of the villages.

Be careful when taking the train. Platforms are short, so part of the train can still be in the tunnel when it stops, which makes many people hesitant about getting out of it. If it wasn't for other passengers, we would most probably miss our stop.

Riomaggiore, Most Beautiful Village of Cinque Terre

Once in Riomaggiore, don't follow the crowd heading to the center. You can do as we did and take the opposite way instead.

Take the stairs up, leading to currently closed Via dell'Amore and on the left side you will find self service bar/restaurant Bar e Vini a Piè de Mà with great atmosphere and amazing views. They offer good variety of wines to enjoy on a stone terrace with plenty wooden tables, overlooking the Mediterranean. As we are in Italy, the coffee is really cheap. You can find here good quality espresso for around 1€, cappuccino and latté for 1,20€.

After relaxing cup of coffee it's time to flex the legs and move through yet another tunnel to the center. Riomaggiore, as the other villages, is pretty small, so you can just get lost in the streets without literally getting lost.

There are many souvenir shops and small restaurants fighting for your attention. If you decide to take the way up to the church, or go down to the small harbor, you will not regret. The streets are narrow and very charming.

View from the top is as wonderful as from the rocks on the shore. Continue along the shore and you will find nice little rock beach. At the time of our visit it was cold, but on a warm summer day it certainly is a great place for relax and a good swim.

You Can Lose Track of Time

Even though both Manarola and Riomaggiore are really small, we've spent many hours just walking up and down and enjoying the pure beauty of the area. We were so stunned, that we didn't even have time to continue to the other villages of Cinque Terre, which is a perfect reason to come back soon!

If we should make a list of the most beautiful places we've ever visited, Cinque Terre would be definitely one of the top. How about you? Share your favorite places in the comments.

And if you like the photos in the article and want to improve yours, read my 5 best travel photography tips and 5 more travel photography tips.