Cinque Terre

The combination of mountains and water is probably one of our most favorite things, so our adventure to Cinque Terre, the five lands, was something that we both have been looking forward to. For as much as we like exploring cities, our real joy and passion is when we are in more of the countryside and get to appreciate nature at it’s finest. Cinque Terre is comprised of five different towns (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso)…and the best part, you can hike between all five.



So once again, we put on our athletic gear and were beyond excited to be hiking again. We stayed in Manarola which is the smallest of the five and in our opinion, has the absolute best view. There is only one main street and majority of the town is residential. Aspects of it reminded us a lot of Valpariso, Chile because all of the houses are built into the mountain and circle the town’s harbor, while the lush landscapes made us dream of Sapa. We were blessed with a perfect balcony, so each night was spent rewarding ourselves with a very big bottle of wine and just taking in the view. 

There are “easy” trails that connect all of the five towns but due to a large landslide in 2011, some of the trails are closed…forcing you to go off the beaten path and be a bit more adventurous. It was actually a blessing in disguise because our favorite part of the hike was from Manarola to Volastra to Corniglia. The first part of the hike, was in no exaggeration, STRAIGHT up hill. I still can’t decide if the stone steps made it worse or better, but half way through, my legs wanted a new owner. The views were beyond worth it though. As we weaved in and out of local vineyards and hillside houses, we looked out into one of the most beautiful views of our trip. .bright green vineyards filling the mountainside that collide with the turquoise blue water below.  I think our mouths were wide open 90% of the time just in pure awe of the landscape around us…ok, maybe part of that was from huffing and puffing too.

As we made our way along the hike, we made sure to explore each town. It was amazing how unique each of them were.

The hustle and bustle of Riomaggiore brought people weaving in and out of the streets and also brought some of the best seafood stands. We were more than happy to partake.

Cornigilia sits high above the rest and has never ending winding streets that bring little surprises along the way….like the delicious slice of pizza that was our saving grace in making through the rest of the hikes.

You hear the sounds of children playing and adults finding their inner child in Vernazza while swimming at the harbor and being surrounded by beautiful architecture.

And lastly we were welcomed by pure relaxation at the rocky, ‘pebble’ beaches of Monterrosso. By pebbles we mean beautiful stones of all shapes and colors that have been smoothed to perfection by years of waves crashing on the shores. We collected as many different stones as we could so that we can use them for our new Mancala-esque game that we are bringing home from Zanzibar.

Our trip to Cinque Terre would not have been complete without one last, perfect Italian meal at a family run restaurant that did not disappoint our palette or our waistlines. There are so many aspects of Italy that we fell in love with during our short time there. There is no doubt that we will be back again, hopefully sooner rather than later, to experience the magic once again. And hopefully next time, we will be speaking the language now that I am completely obsessed. Cheers!