I really didn’t know what to expect from Cinque Terre. Yes, I’d heard great things but in my head it was just a few seaside towns on the Ligurian coast. OMG! It is so beautiful here. Colourful cliff top towns, breathtaking views. Terraced vineyards up the mountains. I had not expected this!

I’m going to put it out there – I’m not really a water/beach/sand person. But this region of Italy is way beyond your typical seaside experience. Cinque Terre offers quaint towns, 5 to be exact, each with a personality of its own. And all well serviced by the Cinque Terre Express trains.

I chose the 4th town, Vernazza, as our base.

The day we arrived in Vernazza a national train strike was due to begin at 9pm until 6pm the following day. Luckily the travel gods were smiling kindly upon us – we arrived by 5pm, and missed the chaos.

But what an arrival! The sea was angry!

But I do love a bit of drama, so for me it was perfect! Vernazza is often described as the charmer of the five villages. Probably because of its picture perfect harbour and dramatic sunsets.

But to be honest, there’s nothing about any of this region that isn’t about tourists. There were so many Australians! I feel we were over-represented! We were everywhere 🤣. And all probably there to escape the bitter winter back home.

We decided to explore the towns ‘in order’ from Riomaggiore to Monterosso over the next few days. There are walking tracks between the villages, so this is what we decided to do!

Riomaggiore – the first town. It’s lovely, a bit edgier. Its real claim to fame is the Via dellAmore or ‘lovers walk’ that you can do between it and the next town of Manarola. It’s a boardwalk along the cliff’s edge, it’s beautiful, and easy. As part of your 10 euro ticket you can get a guide, which we did, and learnt all about the construction of the walking path and the history of the area. The story goes that the mayor who approved the reconstruction of the walking trail left a secret plaque with a cryptic message to his lover (it referenced ‘the beautiful blonde woman’ – not so cryptic given his wife was not blonde, but hey… I’m sure he thought he was covering his tracks well!). When he died, the plaque mysteriously vanished. It’s rumoured that his wife may have had something to do with its disappearance…🤫

We then found ourselves walking the hiking trail from Manarola to Corniglia. It took about 3+ hours, in the heat of the day. And, well, it was a situation where you would think that an experienced hiker like me would have made better decisions. Those being: maybe check the altitude, climbs and descents, maybe the hottest part of the day is not an ideal time, maybe waiting for the bus would have been a better optionThe path was straight up through the terraced vineyards, then straight down, and at times was about 30cm wide with a sheer drop down the mountain if you misstepped.

The hikes in this region are part of the pilgrim trail called the Via Francigenia (the red and white stripes), so while I was walking I was thinking about how difficult it would be if you had a 10kg pack on your back. And then I remembered the 10kg that magically appeared on my butt since Sicily. Same same but different 😱. Maybe I got the full pilgrim experience after all!

The last, most northern town, is Monterosso al mare – and this is where you go if you want beach and swimming. It’s the biggest of the towns and has the best variety of restaurants and shops. We walked to Monterosso from Vernazza. It was only about an hour and a half and relatively easy. Gregor went for a swim, I sipped cocktails by the beach. It was a perfect few days in a beautiful part of the world.