The first I heard of Cinque Terre (5T) was on our first ever holiday in Italy around 2012 or 2013. The idea of walking from one beautiful village to another and then enjoying delicious Italian food and wine sounded quite appealing. It wasn’t until recently that the idea of actually doing it began to take shape.

This is a popular hike and there is a lot of information available if one searches or uses their favourite GenAI engine. However, I still felt like I couldn’t really get a clear picture. So, in advance of a 5T hiking holiday with friends, my family and I did a pre-holiday in the region, with a little bit of hiking, to really get a good feel for the area and the necessary information.

This post is meant to provide that clear picture – what villages are/aren’t in Cinque Terre, when do/don’t I need the 5T pass, is the train pass worth it, where should I stay, what routes are one-way etc.

Overview of the region and the villages

5T is in the Liguria region of Italy (left map). Pisa is the closest airport, but it is also well connected by train from Milan and Bologna (zoom to see detail). The map on the right shows the 5 villages (1-5) and the book-end towns of Levanto (A) and La Spezia (B). More on Porto Venere (C) later.

Unlike the Camino de Santiago, it is simpler to do the 5T hike as individual hikes over 2-3 days from a single base, rather than move from one village to another. While that (keep moving) is also a feasible option, unlike the Camino, there aren’t easily available services to carry luggage from one village to another so it would need to be done carrying your own backpack. Some packaged holidays provide the lugagge transfer service as part of the package.

All 5 villages are very pretty, and it is possible to stay in any one of them, or in one of the book-end towns of La Spezia or Levanto. We chose to stay in La Spezia because it is a larger town, so more to do in the evening after getting back from the day’s hike; it is only 6 minutes by train to Riomaggiore, the closest 5T village (30 minutes to Levanto); and it is a direct train connection from/to Pisa. In La Spezia we stumbled upon an amazing Bruschetta restaurant called Crazy Bruschetta, which fully justified our decision to stay there.

The Cinque Terre Trekking Card – The 5T trekking card (5TC) is a way to pay to use some of the trails in the 5T region. There are two options: just the trekking card, or a trekking card combined with a train pass. In general, the train pass works better for a day only if (1) the 5TC is needed for that day and (2) taking at least 3 train journeys that day.

The 5TC for one day costs €7.50 to €15, depending on the date and works out moderately cheaper if buying for two days (€14.50 to €26.70). The card also allows you to use the paid toilets at the train stations, access the mini buses that run within the 5T region, and free wi-fi at some hotspots. For our itinerary, we needed the card for only two of the days so we just bought one-day passes each day, just in case there was a change of plan.

The pass can be bought via a website (on desktop or mobile), via an app, at a train station, or at the checkpoint where they check for passes. We didn’t know about the last option so we bought it on the app.

The route and whether you need the 5TC or not
We decided to do North-South and to start from Levanto. The route can normally be done in any direction, except:
1. if taking the Via dell’Amore, which can only be done from Riomaggiore to Manarola (South to North). However, this is essentially a flat, paved path and not really a hike, and it requires an advance time slot booking and an extra fee.
2. During peak season, Monterosso to Vernazza follows a one-way system (North to South, so it fit in with our plan).

Walking Sections:
A: Levanto to Monterosso – 8km (2.5h), use Sentiero SVA hiking path (map), 5TC not required as this section is outside the 5T region

B: Monterosso to Vernazza – 4.5km (1.5h) – 5TC required

C. Vernazza to Corniglia – 3.5km (1.5h) – 5TC required

D. Corniglia to Manarola – 6.5km (2h), 5TC not required

E. Manarola to Riomaggiore – path from the mountain, not the Via dell’Amore – 1.7k (40min), 5TC not required

F. Not part of the 5T region but we added on a section from Porto Venere to Riomaggiore to add on one more day of hiking – 13km (4h) – 5TC not required

Our hike
Day 1: A + B (Levanto to Monterosso to Vernazza). We had to get a 5TC for this one.

Day 2: C+D+E (Vernazza to Corniglia to Manarola to Riomaggiore). We had to get a 5TC for this one as well because the first section requires it. Another option would be to cover Vernazza to Corniglia also on Day 1 and just pay for the 5TC for one day.

Day 3: F – Porto Venere to Riomaggiore – we decided to take this direction because we wanted a convenient train to get back after the end of the trek. Portovenere can only be reached by road (about 40 mins) or by ferry from La Spezia.

Porto Venere to Riomaggiore – some more info
This is not part of the main trail and is quite long. The day we walked was very sunny and hot and, at one point, we took an incorrect trail because someone had hand-written ‘Riomaggiore’ on it, when that trail does not actually go to Riomaggiore. As a result, we ended up in some place which was about 45 mins walk to Riomaggiore but on a highway, which was quite anti-climactic after walking along the stunning cliffs. Luckily we were able to catch a minibus to Riomaggiore.

At Porto Venere, the trail starts from near Castello Salio, which is a stone’s throw away from the centre where the taxis/buses/ferries arrive.

From there, follow signs for AV5T until a turn-off for Riomaggiore near Colle del Telegrafo (trail 501). Some parts of the trail go through a dense forest, so keep an eye out for the red and white signs, or red and white paint on the trees, or a red and white tape tied to trees/bushes.

That’s all for this post. I deliberately haven’t gone into what to see/do/eat in the 5T region; that is easily found via GenAI / Google Maps. Hopefully this small guide comes in handy for someone planning to do the hike for the first time.