Mermaids definitely lived here
Cinque Terre is one of the most magical places I have ever experienced. No wonder why the magical world of Disney based one of its latest animated films there. Cinque Terre, meaning five lands, is made up of five small villages spread out over the coast. These villages, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso may seem similar from a far, but all have their differences.
We stayed in Riomaggiore, which is the closest village to the La Spezia train station. We loved staying in this portion of the five lands with its winding streets, sea breeze, gorgeous views, and quiet nightlife buzz. Since the town are packed during the day with cruiseshippers and daytrippers, I would recommend staying in an AirBnB in-town versus staying in a hotel slightly outside. The towns come to life at night when a lot of the day tourists leave and there is more room to breathe.
The AirBnB we stayed in was the best “home renting” experience I’ve ever had. I booked the spot because of the host’s 5-star rating, but wasn’t expecting anything but a friendly greeting and a clean space.
Instead, we were not only greeted by the host at the train station and walked to the apartment, our apartment was completely stocked with food, beverages, alcohol, slippers, chargers, plug converters, and more. I was on the verge of happiness tears when I saw the set up. Unfortunately, his AirBnB is pretty much booked up at the moment, but I’ll link it anyways.
Our host was gracious enough to call in a favor and get us into one of the most popular restaurants in the village: Rio Bistrot.
FOOD
Rio Bistrot
This spot right next to the boat bay got a Michelin star in 2022. Even though it did not achieve concurrent stars, this spot still was a bright point on our trip. I had the sea urchin pasta and could have had four more helpings–it was THAT GOOD. They only have two rounds of seatings, early and late. I would recommend getting a reservation for the 9:30 PM seating so you can sit and enjoy the night without having to get up for incoming customers.
Nessun Dorma
The next day we took the train to the town of Manarola (my personal favorite) to take a pesto making class. Make sure to pack your swimsuit in your bags whenever you travel between the villages because once you see everyone swimming, you’ll also want to jump right in and unfortunately these are not nude beaches.
This pesto making class was a blast. We drank and ate a little too much, sang out of key very loudly, screamed “DIE DIE DIE!” at the top of our lungs, and still somehow learned how to make pesto at home! Overall, fabulous.
Street Food
Cinque Terre is also known for their deep fried seafood cones that are lining the small streets. You can stop at any one of these shops and have some of the best (deep fried) seafood you’ve had in your life.
Activites
The 5 Lands By Sea
When I was doing my own research on Cinque Terre, the number one recommendation people had was seeing the region by sea. I rented a private boat for the four of us on ClickBoat.com (find boat here) and we enjoyed our full-day tour. You can find non-private cheaper options/boat tours, but no matter what, I concur that you have to see Cinque Terre by sea.
Tips:
Prebook all your train rides and DO NOT TRY TO TRAIN HOP WITHOUT A TICKET. You will get caught and fined.
We didn’t get to see Monterosso, but that is the only town with a real beach.
Corniglia is only reachable by a set a very very steep set of stairs, so I would not recommend staying here. Plus, there isn’t direct access to water.
Book reservations in advance. We didn’t and only got to eat at the one nice place we did have a last minute reservation at.
BRING SWIMSUITS EVERYWHERE AND JUMP IN WHENEVER YOU CAN.