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Day 9 - The Hike

The Cinque Terre includes five towns along the Ligurian coast known as the Italian Riviera. The five towns are all part of a national park and they are all connected by hiking trails and a train. We stayed in Monterosso al Mare, the town at the northern most point of the Cinque Terre. We decided to start our day of exploring with the hike south to Vernazza. Our "research" indicated that this would be the toughest hike connecting any two towns and it was best to do it early in the day. By train, the trip to Vernazza was about 4 minutes. By foot, it was about 1 1/2 hours on the trail. We walked into town and purchased two Cinque Terre cards that would allow us access to the trails for the day and if we decided to use it, the train.

We started our hike at about 9:30 am. The trail from Monterosso quickly took a turn up the hillside and it didn't take long to see why this part of the hike was labeled as the toughest. As we leveled off and took a look back the views of Monterosso were fantastic. The trails were made up of rock steps, dirt steps and just plain old dirt. They were very narrow in places but for the most part very manageable. Only a few rests and photo stops were needed and we soon found ourselves on the trail down to Vernazza.

Vernazza is a small town with about 500 residents. The town revolves around its harbor with a number of outdoor restaurants and a bar hanging over the edge of a castle. We found our way onto the main street, via Roma, and spent some time going through the shops. The town was a mix of locals, hikers and tourists that had come in on the ferry. We grabbed a quick lunch and took a nice walk through town. The next town down was Corniglia, the only town of the 5 that's not directly on the water. The hike from Vernazza to Corniglia was about 2 hours. We decided to make the best use of our time we would hop on the ferry and take it all the way down to Riomaggiore, the town at the southern most point of the Cinque Terre. From there we would start hiking back through Manarola and up to Corniglia from the south. In Corniglia, we would hop on the train and ride it back up to Monterosso.

The ferry ride was a great way to see all five towns from the water. The ferry stopped in the harbor at Manarola and then continued south to Riomaggiore.

Once we were in Riomaggiore we spent some time checking out the town and then we started our hike north back to Manarola. This leg of the hike was much different. The trail here was much more like a sidewalk of flagstone. Known as the " Via Del Amore" the trail was level, landscaped and had a guard rail. It was a pleasant 30 minute walk with a beautiful view of the coastline. We took some time for a quick siesta on some rocks about 200 feet below the trail. A recently installed set of very steep steps led to a beautiful private spot on the rocks. After siesta, we climbed back up and made our way to Manarola. Again, we took some time to walk around the town and we stopped for some gelato before heading back to the trail. North to Corniglia was an easy hike on a stone trail. Some steps up and down but for the most part an easy 45 minute walk. Once we got to Corniglia, we boarded the train took the 10 minute ride back to Monterosso al Mare.

Map of the Cinque Terre - Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

Cindy on nature's stairmaster. This was at the start of our hike to Vernazza.

As we kept going up the views kept getting better. A look back at our hotel in Monterosso al Mare from the trail.

We were surrounded by grape vines all along the trail. In front and to the right, the grape vines are terraced down the hillside. This is also a great view of Monterosso that shows both the new and old sections of town.

Here we are at the highest point of the hike between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza.

Turning the corner to Vernazza. This was on the trail down to town.

This is why it's called the Italian Riviera.

"The Grape Coaster"

These tracks run all over the hillside through the terraced vineyards. The grapes are harvested and placed on this strange monorail type contraption to bring in.