Cinque Terre in a Day

Cinque Terre, the 5 instagramable seaside towns, is about 2 hours away by train from Florence. We decided to make the day-trip over and speed run the 5 villages. The weather didn’t look like it was on our side as it was raining when we disembarked in La Spezia. Luckily, the hotel had umbrellas that we could borrow. We made our way back to the train station, picked up our “hop on, hop off” Cinque Terre pass, and made our way to the furthest town, Monterosso al Mare.

The tail-end of winter and the threat of heavy rain kept the crowd to a minimum. No sunny beach vibes, no swimming, tanning, or sipping Aperol spritz. These towns must be crawling with tourists during the warm summer months. We spent maybe an hour or so in each town before hopping on the train to the next. Our pass allowed us to hike some of the trails between the towns, but we didn’t have enough time.

All the towns have a similar pastel color palette. Vernazza is the town that inspired the setting for Disney’s Luca. We skipped Cornelia because you had to take a bunch of stairs to reach the town. Manarola is perched up on the sea cliffs and is one of the iconic visuals that come to mind when you hear Cinque Terre. We ended our day in Riomaggiore. The heavy rain that was forecasted stayed over the ocean and dissipated just as the sun started to set and we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Rushing through the towns in less than a day is not the ideal way to see the Cinque Terre. Most of the bars and eateries don’t open until late March. If you are looking for beach vibes and you can tolerate crowds, early Fall seems like it would be the best time to visit. Slowly hiking through the hillside vineyards, hydrating with local vino/beer/spritz, and cooling off in the water sounds like the proper way to experience the Cinque Terre.