cinque terra?

I find cultural value in small villages, but I would consider other locations not planing on taking advantage of the trails . There are other pretty villages on the seaside that have more historical and artistic attractions.

Sadly (because the CT were wonderful when we first visited 20 years ago), they have become victims of over tourism. Especially on days when the cruise ships port in La Spezia, the villages, trains, and some of the trails, are choked with people. People visit the CT for the scenery and the hiking. There's not much in the way of arts and culture, although a couple of the village churches are nice. You might do a wine tasting or find a pasta or dessert making class.

We were In the CT Oct of 2024. Horribly crowded in the villages and also on the trails which we did not expect. I would avoid, wall to wall tourists is not what these villages were about.

They are quaint villages but in the period you are planning to go they will be crowded (especially Vernazza), maybe unbearably so if you happen to be there when a cruise ship is in town at La Spezia. If you are not interested in hiking, then a few hours in one or two of the villages will suffice. But check the cruise schedule in one of the websites below so that maybe you can avoid those dates.

https://speziacarrara.cruises/en/cruise-calendar/
https://www.cruisetimetables.com/la-spezia-italy-cruise-ship-schedule.html
https://www.cruisemapper.com/?poi=160

There are also other villages in the area which are quaint and less visited such as:
Monte Marcello
Tellaro
Porto Venere
Framura
Deiva
Moneglia
and more.

Could you add the rest of your itinerary? Roberto has some good suggestions but if we know where else you are heading there may be other villages with your requirements but without the hordes. will you have a car?

Thank you all so much. You have confirmed my fears about this location. Right now I’m just beginning to research small places, mostly with UNESCO sites, in Tuscany and northern Italy. This is our fourth trip to Italy, so we have hit the major sites and are now looking for this small gems….and there are so many of them. We only travel by trains. Thank you again!

I also visited CT 20ish years ago and even when we spent 3 days in Porto Venere in 2024 I decided to leave that memory where it was and not go back. PV is beautiful and my pictures will make you want to go but my experience was that it was much too small for the hordes of day trippers pouring through it. The ferry to CT stops in PV and so the hordes descend on small town with regularity.

If I was to go back to this area I would concentrate on the south side of the harbor - San Terenzo, Lerici and Tellaro (as mentioned by Roberto). They are a bus - or taxi - from the La Spezia train station on the south side of the 'Bay of Poets' across from PV. San Terenzo is a smaller town connected by seaside walkway to the resorty Lerici with a marina and castle on the hill and finally tine Tellaro like an undiscovered CT town. And just over hill is also Sarzana which has an interesting looking old town.

I would also love to spend a while exploring the towns of the coast north of there from Rapallo (probably too rich for me), Chiavari, Sestri Levante, Moneglia (also mentioned by Roberto) all connected by rail. Now all of these places are going to be touristy in the summer but these towns are more filled by Italians heading to coast for the summer rather than day trippers.

If you want a dark horse candidate I would throw in Brescia if you are going to be in northern Italy at all. Great Roman ruins, UNESCO corridor from ruins to the museum and castle on top of the hill. Brescia is basically a series of adjacent great piazzas strung together across the old town. I did as a day trip and really enjoyed it but it is not on any tourist radar at all.

Happy planning,
=Tod