Hi there -
A group of 5 of us will be traveling to CT from Milan on Sept. 19 of this year. While the time is limited, we do want to make the best of it. We arrive CT around 3p Sunday and leave Monday late evening to go to Florence which gives us about 1.5 days in CT.
Can anyone recommend the best place to stay, restaurants to eat at and how to maximize our time in CT?
We are very much open to the hike!
Thanks.
In order to receive more replies, post your questions on the Italy Travel Forum. You are currently on the Italy Reviews Forum. Have a great trip.
I would also book accommodations in the Cinque Terre as soon as possible. It's less a matter of recommendations for favorites at this point but being able to land anything which suits budget and amenities at this late date. There's a post in the Italy forum by a gentleman who is also looking for a room in Sept. and having trouble finding availability.
As far as "the hike", there are many hikes which can be done, but some are longer and more strenuous than others, and you don't want to be on the trails if it rains so have a Plan A and B.
They appear to be overhauling the website for the park, and the English tab throws you into a different site that's not very helpful: hope it's temporary just until they get translations done. Anyway, the page for the trails on park website (Italian only) is here, and those which are close are marked with a red andwhite circle:
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/sentieri-outdoor.php
The trail route most people do is SVA2 (592-1 to 592-4). This is also called the Sentiero Azzurro (Blue Trail) and runs along the coast for 7 miles or so between Monterosso and Riomaggiore. As you will see on the chart/map, the 2 segments between Corniglia and Manarola, and Manarola to Riomaggiore are closed. A piece of trail from Manarola heading towards Riomaggiore is open but doesn't go all the way through.
You can get segment info and location by clicking on any trail on the list, and then copy/pasting the text into an online translator like bing or google translate. " Itinerario chiuso" with that same red/white circle as on the map means the route is closed.
You can also get trail locations and numbers on the map here:
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/map.php
Click the box for "itinerari", and then click on the blue icons with white arrows.
You do need to buy a pass to hike the trails, and that info is here:
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/cinque-terre-card.php
Passes can be purchased for the trails only, or in combo with a train pass.
These are park and train combo tickets:
"Cinque Terre Train MS" one day Adults: Euro 12.00
"Cinque Terre Train MS" 2 days Adults: Euro 23:00
"Cinque Terre Train MS" child 1 day: Euro 7.30
"Cinque Terre Train MS" one day over age 70 (senior): Euro 9.70
"Cinque Terre Train MS" one day family: Euro 31.50
These are park only:
Park pass 1 Day Adults: Euro 7:50
Park pass 2 Days Adults: Euro 14:50
Park pass 1 Day Park child 4.50 Euro
Park pass 2 Days Park child: Euro 7.20
Park pass 1 Day Silver (over 70): Euro 6:00
Park pass 2 Days Silver (over 70): Euro 10.00
Park pass 1 Day Family: Euro 19.60
Park pass 2 Days Family: Euro 31.50
Kathy --
Thanks so much for the detailed reply. The sites are proving to be very helpful in our planning. We are still a bit confused on where to start our hike. It probably makes sense to start and end the hike in the same town that our "hotel" would be, so I guess the question is where should we stay out of the 5 lands?
Additionally - I've heard stay is in the homes in CT and not hotels. Is there a site you know of where I can find places to stay for the 5 of us?
Thanks again for the help,
Arpit
Hi -
I think at this point you choose whatever village you can get an accommodation in. No, most accommodations are not necessarily in homes: they definitely do have hotels although they are on the small side. We stayed in one in Monterosso but I'm sure it's probably booked up for next month. I would get onto booking.com to see that's available for your dates. Corniglia is the smallest of the five, and the most involved to get to as the trains come in far below the village: you have to take a little bus or make a long, steep walk to get to the village itself.
If you end up having the same sort of booking challenges as the other member who recently posted, I'd look at staying in Levanto.
We have not done a loop hike so can't help you with that but it really doesn't matter where you end up. As long as your route ends in one of the villages, you can take a train or ferry back. We did the Sentiero Azzurro but took a train around the segment between Corniglia and Manarola which has been closed for some years now. And as I said before, a segment of that route is currently closed between Manarola and Riomaggiore as well.
The trails are fragile, and many are very steep so heavy rain or unexpected rockslide can close any of them at any time so you may just need to be flexible. There are some suggestions for other routes on the savevernazza.com website:
