Cinque Terre DIY tour ITALY / 21 May 2018

Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy

Cinque Terre is one of the popular destinations in Italy located in the northwest.  It consists of five villages  stretched in a coastal area within Liguna.  All these five villages:  Riomaggiore, Mnarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare are part of the Cinque Terre National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Likewise, the coastline and the surrounding hillsides.  All the five villages are

accessible by train.  Except for Corniglia, Cinque Terre is also accessible by boat.  Each village has viewpoints overlooking the aquamarine waters of  Ligurian Sea

It has been almost four (4) years when we had visited Cinque Terre.  It still excites me whenever I see the photos and videos we have taken.  The visit to Cinque Terre, Italy was part of our Europe tour in 2018. We normally travel with our two grown-up girls.  This trip,  it was just me and my husband.   On the 20^th May in 2018, we flew from Paris, France to Pisa, Italy, direct flight by Easy Jet from Orly with travel time, one hour and forty minutes.  We departed  from Orly at 18:15.  From the PISA airport, we walked  to Pisa Centrale to take train to La Spezia.  We purchased the train tickets in one of the machines in the station.  Travel time was  almost an hour from 21:22 to 22:14.  We had booked an overnight stay in Hotel Firenze Continale, 160 meters  or one minute on foot from the La Spezia Central Station.  We took the train from this station the next day for our travel to Salerno.   Why didn't we stay in one of the villages?  There are apartments and hostels on all the villages, however, most were on steep cliffs.  Imagine the pain with our heavy luggage. 

Please let me share with  you  some of the costs for this trip.  All in EUR and most  rates are in 2018.

Cost of flight from Paris to Pisa for two                                         148.72

Train ticket from Pisa to La Spezia  each   EUR20                          40.00

Hotel rate for overnight stay with breakfast for  2                          134.00

Park Pass  with unlimited train/bus ride for a day each EUR7.50    15.00

Bus from La Spezia to Porto Venere   each EUR3                              6.00

Boat tour from Porto Venere to Monterosso  each EUR 18.10   (2022 price)

It was summer during the visit.  The day was long.  Sunset was past 8pm.  After the breakfast served from the hotel, we checked out  and left our luggage in the hotel storage.  We walked down to the street of Corso Covour  and bought a bus ticket to Porto Venere from the tobacco shop.   The bus going to Porto Venere  is Bus P with travel time of less than  half an hour.  It was like an hour though because the road was zig-zag.  You could opt to take a cab to get to the Port.  I just don’t know how much will it cost.  The bus ticket was 3 euros from the tobacco shop or news stand.  It would cost twice as much if purchased from the bus driver.  We were going to Porto Venere  to take the boat excursion to Ciinque Terre, Monterosso Al Mare the last stop.  We could have taken the train to Monterosso using the unlimited  train day pass, but we want to view  Cinque Terre from the sea.

The ferry travel time was an hour and a half stopping in Riomaggiore, Manarola, Vernazza and Monterosso.  Corniglia is the only village in Cinque Terre that is not accessible by water transport.  Corniglia is accessible by train though, it is atop hill.  To get to the town from the train station, either you take the bus or climb 365 steps.

We had arrived Monterosso Al Mare past lunch time.   I was jealous of those  in the beach.  We walked around the village and had focaccia (like a pizza on bread with olive oil)  and some fritters from Vagabond (sort of a street vendor).

Monterosso Beach (Feguna), view from the hiking trail

We hiked the 90-minute Monterosso-Vernazza trail at Cinque Terre, Italy.  It was exhausting for me, I am not young anymore.   The visit was in May, the temperature was a bit tolerable and less tourist.  I could not imagine when in summer (July and August), it must be crowded even up there.  I think it took us almost two hours as we had few stops during the approx. 700 steps ascend to catch our breathe.  Nevertheless, we were rewarded with the picturesque view of Vernazza in the distance and the breathtaking view of the coast.  Before entry to the park,  we had showed our Park Pass with the day transport pass

Vernazza,view from hiking trail

 

Not only the beautiful views of the Vernazza we deserve, a pint of pistachio gelato too.

 

Ruins of Doria tower

The rain has started.  Fortunately, we had finished the trail.  Sorry for those who were still up there.  We transferred to Manarola by train.  This was the first time we used the day pass for the transport.  It is important to stamp the pass before boarding the train.   There are inspectors boarding the train to check the tickets.  Had we failed to stamp, we could be penalized .

Manarola

We had our early dinner in Manarola before we explored the village.  Vernazza may be popular but I think Manarola is a bit better.  See the beautiful pastel houses perched on the cliff and the small harbor with turquoise water where you can swim across the viewpoint named,  The Via dell’Amore.

The Via dell’Amore

Seafood Pasta at Cinque Terre

It was raining even when we were at Riomaggiore.  If you plan to do the same day tour, it is important to check the frequency of the train.   During the time of our visit, it was every hour.  The train was so packed.  We had stayed about 50 minutes each in Manarola and Riomaggiore.  We went to Levanto also just to kill time.  Our overnight train was at 11pm.  We just stayed in Levanto for a few minutes.  We actually rode the same train when we went back.  We had skipped Corniglia.  It was raining and could slow down the bus going up and too slippery and time consuming to take the 365 steps.  More so, I had enough on the Monterosso-Vernazza trail.  

Corniglia

We were able to view some of the houses in Corniglia from the ferry earlier.

Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore

We freshened up at the hotel’s powder room when we picked up our stuff.  We were early at the La Spezia Central Station.  We took the overnight train to Salerno.  We were so worried until the train comes.  We kept on checking if we were on the correct platform for our carriage.  We were thinking. Do we have enough time to run with our stuff if we were at the other side?

We missed our overnight train ride from Bratislava to Prague.  We were praying it would not happen again.  I have never realized we were taking the regional trains in Italy.  Should we were in the wrong line, we could board the train and just walk all the way to our carriage.  It was not like the train we were supposed to take in the East.  It was an International train where the attached trains with different destinations are detached at the border.  I have a rant blogabout this experience.

The train officer checked our passport and tickets when we got to our cabin. YES! We made it!  We did not miss the train.  The next morning, the officer gave us light breakfast and informed us an hour delay to our destination.   Nevertheless,  here we come AMALFI!

Ticketing Machine at
Pisa Centrale, Italy

Train ticket to La Spezia from Pisa Centrale

Train travel from Pisa Centrale
to La Spezia
by Trenitalia in Italy

The hotel was a bit dated, nevertheless, clean and consider its proximity to the La Spezia station and to the downtown

La Spezia rooftops and the mountains, view from the hotel's restaurant

La Spezia is the second largest city in the Liguria Region after Genoa.

HOTEL BREAKFAST

La Spezia, Italy

La Spezia, Italy

Public bus to Porto Venere from La Spezia

Porto Venere in the Province of La Spezia, Italy

with the view of the San Lorenzo church

Church of St Peter and the Doria Castle in Porto Venere, Province of La Spezia, Italy

Ligurian Sea and hilltops surrounding Cinque Terre, Italy

Approaching the village of Riomaggiore, one of the five(5) popular villages in the Northwest Italy named CINQUE TERRE.

continued from our tour in Paris 2018

continued to AMALFI