"Hiking the Cinque Terre" a Liguria Travel Page by diver-x

Before we started off on our tour of Tuscany, we stopped over in La Spezia in Liguria for a couple of nights so we could explore the Cinque Terre. The five coastal fishing villages that make up the Cinque Terre are connected by rail and by hiking paths. From La Spezia, we hopped on the train to Riomaggiore and hiked north to 3 more of the villages up to Vernazza. By that time it was dinnertime and so we decided to finish the hike the next morning. So the next day, we took the train from La Spezia to Monterosso and then we hiked south back to Vernazza.

It was too bad that we opted to see the Cinque Terre first in our tour of western Italy. It was the highlight of our trip and everything else we did just didn't quite measure up. I think big part of the reward of the Cinque Terre was the effort it took to hike it. The trail ranges from incredibly easy in the south to very challenging in the north. And each village along the way is a reward to look forward to at the end of each leg of the trail. If you take the train from village to village, you're really missing out.

Cliff put a video together of the trip. Click here to see it!