ITALY: Cinque Terre ~ Part 1

Cinque Terre translates to “five lands” in Italian.  There are five main cities in this national park which overlook the Italian Riviera: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso.  These seaside towns are connected via hiking trails.  For you outdoor enthusiasts, this is the place to be.  You will definitely get a great workout by hiking from town to town.

My husband and I spent roughly 48 hours (2 nights and almost two days) in Cinque Terre.  Our stay there was definitely one of my top highlights, if not THE highlight of our trip.  Yes, Rome, Sorrento & Positano and Venice were all amazing, but there’s something truly so special about this place.

I’m dividing our time in Cinque Terre into a couple parts since there was so much that we saw and did.  Today’s post is going to focus on our first evening there.

We decided to stay in Riomaggiore due to it’s location as well as learning from Amy of cinqueterreinsider.com that it would be the most lively out of the towns during our October/November visit.

How to get to Cinque Terre from Venice:
We took ItaliaRail from Venezia S. Lucia to Firenze (Florence), there we switched trains and took a smaller train to La Spezia.  La Spezia is the main Cinque Terre train station where we took one more train which was a 5 minute ride into Riomaggiore (depending on what town you decide to stay in).

Our train arrived into Riomaggiore just before sunset.  The train station over looks the sea and we caught the beginning of a spectacular sunset.

There’s a pedestrian walkway that you take which leads you into the main street of Riomaggiore – Via Colombo.  Our Airbnb was right there in the heart of the hustle and bustle.

After putting away our bags we decided to check out the town.  Next door to us was a cute little wine shop.  We purchased a bottle of Prosecco and headed toward the marina to check out the last of the sunset.  We couldn’t get over the view.  I mean, come on.

We headed back to the main street once the sun set over the horizon and decided to get a snack at Mamma Mia!– fried calamari & verdura.  I think I liked this place better than Acqua e Mais in Venice.

Our Airbnb host mentioned a few bars and restaurants to check out during our stay so we decided to go to Fuori Rotta which was off the beaten path.  We each ordered a spritz and sat outside enjoying the night air.  The place seemed like a local spot and everyone was so friendly.  We finished our spritz and continued our walk along the paths.

The October night air was refreshing and not too cold.  I was comfortable in a long sleeve and scarf.

We sat along the water and enjoyed our new location in Italy.  It was an early night for us as we were waking up early to hike along the trails and check out the towns.

I know this is a short post but my next post will be about our day hiking and all that it entailed.

xo, Jenneke Rose