Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While planning a trip to UK, I decided to take a quick side trip to cross it off my bucket list.
I flew to Pisa International Airport because it was the most convenient airport for me, as the train station was only a 20 minutes walk from the airport.
At the train station, I purchased a 2-day Cinque Terre Train Card which was good for access to hiking trails and unlimited train rides in the Cinque Terre area.
Cinque Terre is a string of five villages, including Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare.
Ideally, the hike would go from Riomaggiore all the way to Monterosso al Mare. But the trail from Riomaggiore to Corniglia was closed due to damage. It was still possible to hike from Riomaggiore to Monterosso by taking a longer detour. But I arrived in the afternoon and there was not enough time for me to complete the longer hike before dark. So the plan was to take the train to the first two villages for brief visits and then hike from the third village to the fifth. Then do the longer hike the following day back to Riomaggiore.
Day 1 (10/10/2022): The Hike
Length: 5.08 mi
Elev. gain: 1539 ft
Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
The hike:
The first train stop was Riomaggiore. I got off and walked around a little. But the village was a little far considering the time I had. So I decided to wait until the next day to explore it.
The second train stop was Manarola. The train station was right in the center of the village.
The third train stop was Corniglia. This was where I started the hike.
I passed Vernazza but didn’t stop here.
It was getting dark. The sun was setting.
At last, Monterosso.
Day 2 (10/11/2022): The Villages
I originally planned to hike to all five villages today via the long route. But although I liked the villages, I wasn’t too impressed with the scenery along the trail yesterday. So instead of hiking, I decided to take the train to each village and spend more time exploring.
Vernazza.
Corniglia.
Manarola.
Riomaggiore.
I spent a lot more time in Riomaggiore because I didn’t get to see it yesterday. It was also a lot bigger than I expected.
I spent a total of less than 24 hours in Cinque Terre and took the train back to Pisa at around 1pm.
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