Cinque Terre, along with Portofino and Porto Venere are located in Italy’s Northwest region of Liguria. There are more must see rather than must dos in these places. This part of Italy is more about relaxing and taking in the beautiful surroundings. Your family can easily reach these pretty coastal villages from either Florence or Milan.
Portofino
Portofino is a pretty village on the Italian Riviera coastline, 3 hours drive south of Milan. It only has about 500 residents, it is a popular holiday place for VIPs from around the world. Brightly coloured traditional buildings, beautiful natural landscapes, all sheltered around a hidden bay equals: “perfezione”.
Highlights of Portofino include:
- Sitting at one of the cafes and enjoy coffee or even a glass of wine. Kids will enjoy the open space of the Piazzetta main square.
- Walking up to the Sun Church of St. George. View of Portofino get even better from here! Walk a further 10 minutes and you will reach the beautiful Castello Brown.
- Renting one of the traditional wooden boats in the bay. You can paddle yourself or hire a sailor to help.
- Luxury shopping. The buildings may look traditional but these buildings are mainly occupied by famous luxury brands. Hello Hermes, hello Rolex!
Portofino is expensive and a day trip here will give you more than enough time to see everything.
Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre means five villages. How many villages do most people visit? Three! Riomaggiore, Manarola and Vernazza. And the other two? They’re not that great. It’s like a boy band, you remember the Harry Styles, JT or Nick Jonas but the rest.. you can live without them.
Easiest way to explore these villages is to base your family in La Spezia. La Spezia is only a 10 minutes train ride from Riomaggiore. It is not as pricey, offers much more dining and accommodation options. On the other hand staying in one of the villages will involve navigating through busy trains, carrying heavy bags up and down narrow stairs plus relatively limited dining options depending on which village you stay in.
WARNING! Do not try to board the Cinque Terre train without buying the correct tickets. Tickets are regularly checked and hefty on the spot fines are issued.
You can either buy one-way tickets or buy a “Cinque Terre ticket” (from the Cinque Terre, Levanto and La Spezia Tourist information office – not available via the machine). The card gives you access to the national park hiking trails together with unlimited train ride on the Cinque Terre Express trains on the Levanto – Cinque Terre – La Spezia line. There is choice of 1, 2 or 3 days card. Discounts are available for children, seniors, and families.
Riomaggiore
Riomaggiore is the smallest of the 5 villages. From the station you have to walk about 5 minutes through a pedestrian tunnel and down narrow stairs to reach the seaside village. The brightly coloured buildings packed together along the seaside cliffs are simply stunning. Most of your time here will be spent taking photos and enjoying the village vibe. As you enter the village go left and up the stairs to get the postcard famous photos.
- Chill by the ocean
- Walk along the main street Via Colombo to explore local cafes and shops.
- Enjoy views from Castello di Riomaggiore.
- “The Way of Love” – a famous hiking path connecting Riomaggiore and Manarola (Via dell’Amore) remain on the mends with no fix reopening date.
Manarola
This one is our favourite Cinque Terre village. Photos of Manarola is what made us want to visit Cinque Terre in the first place. The village is best viewed from the seaside viewpoint which is accessed via a paved walkway leading to the top of a cliff that overlooks the village.
As for dining options? Try to get a booking at Nessun Dorma – positioned right next to the scenic viewpoint. Register for your number via their app and wait for your number to be called. Getting a table in this cliff side restaurant is a bit of a mission, but certainly worth the effort. Prices are reasonable, the food is good and the view is to die for – Aperitif heaven!
Surprisingly Nessun Dorma’s staff are really kids friendly (just like everywhere in Italy I guess!). We missed our table number (by 5 minutes!) but the wait staff saw us travelling with 2 young boys and gave us the next available table. Try to get here mid afternoon, close to sunset time. As a bonus there is a kid’s playground just outside of the restaurant!
Other things you can do in Manarola:
- Take a swim in the clear waters of Manarola’s harbour.
- Explore hidden alleys that rise and fall among the tall buildings of Manarola.
- Consider joining a boat tour. The Cinque Terre villages are best viewed from the water
Vernazza
Vernazza is the biggest of the 3 famous villages. If you insist to stay overnight in one the villages we would recommend Vernazza. There are plenty of shops and restaurants lining the main street as you get off the train. You can also explore small side alleys that lead away from the crowds.
- Vernazza has the prettiest harbor of all the villages. Spend time people watching here
- When it’s warm enough you can also have a swim.
- Visit Santa Margherita d’Antiochia (the big church sitting along the harbour). Area in front of this church is the best spot to dine and relax
- Hike toward Monterosso (head North). We walked a 10 minutes hike up the hill to reach the famous view point. Along the way you get to see interesting machinery used to by locals harvest grapes
- Another viewpoint can be found at the beginning of the trail from Vernazza to Corniglia (head South)
- Drink wine and eat lots of ice cream
La Spezia
La Spezia is the gateway to Cinque Terre. We recommend finding accommodation between the train station and the main shopping street (Via del Prione and market at La Spezia food market).
La Spezia is surprisingly offers plenty of high quality restaurants. Most of them are located in the narrow streets west of Via del Prione.
Portovenere
Portovenere is not as popular with tourists compared to La Spezia. Often it’s considered as the 6th Cinque Terre town and we can certainly see why. Just 20 minutes from La Spezia, we love Portovenere for its laid back and more local feel. You get the seaside settings, pretty village look and delicious Ligurian cuisine without the hoards of tourists.
While in Porto Venere your family can:
- Relax and enjoy delicious food
- Wander the village streets and shops selling local produce (Lots of pesto!)
- Admire seaside church of San Pietro.
- Take a boat tour to explore nearby islands: Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto
The easiest way to reach Porto Venere is to catch a ferry, drive or catch a bus from La Spezia.
For other places we have visited, checkout our website’s travel Destinations section. We buy our travel essentials online via Ebay
