I have been to the Cinque Terra three times in the last six years. Every time I have been there at least half the trails between the villages have been closed. The worst was this year when I was there with a family member and three of the four trails between the villages were closed. On my first trip, just one trail was closed, but it was the one I most wanted to hike. I have gone in Summer early Spring and late Spring.
Have others found this to be true, or do I simply suffer from poor timing?
I was there in May of this year. The trails between villages aka blue trails were closed with 2 exceptions.
However, for me it was no problem whatsoever, because the high trails were open and within 5 minutes of walking uphill most of the trails had little or no foot traffic.
If you are willing to exert more effort to hike the higher trails cinque terre is still wonderful, I very much enjoyed my time there.
As Ann said, Barnstormer, there are many trails in the park besides the four segments which make up the Sentiero Azzurro. Yes, at least two of the four have been closed for some time now (the one between Manarola and Riomaggiore should be fully open again in the near future), and any of them at all can close at any time due to heavy rain, rockslides or other temporary damage/safety threats. This route is also very heavily used so even erosion from all the foot traffic can require maintenance which requires occasional closure.
Other routes climb into the hills, and can be excellent hikes offering stupendous views. The park website has a complete list of trails along with current status:
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Esentieri-outdoor.php
Red-and-white circles indicate a closed trail. Clicking on any trail number in the list will bring up a detailed description of the route including length, average time to hike it (always add more for stopping for photos and rest stops), difficulty level, and location on the map.
As of Monday trails between Riomaggiore and Manarola are closed as well as Manarola to Cornoglia. We hiked Corniglia to Vernazza and Levanto to Montetossa. Plenty of non Blue Trail trails that kicked my butt!
Was there a couple weeks ago and we did the lower trail from Monterosso to Vernazza, then Vernazza to Cornglia. We then took the higher trail from Cornglia to Manarola cause the lower one was closed. It was a challenge uphill at first, but it was totally amazing and worth the trip up and over.
Barn,
Your experience is probably just due to the "luck of the draw". The status of the Sentiero Azzurro trails can change at any time due to current conditions and weather, and any of the four segments may be closed at a moment's notice.
The first two segments from the north have been open for most of this year from April until now. The segment from Corniglia to Manarola has been closed for a few years due to a severe slide, and no idea when that might be opened. The famous Via dell' Amore has been closed since about Sept. 2012 after a huge rock slide severely injured four Australian tourists. That segment is expected to re-open in April 2016 (but no guarantees).
As the others have noted, there's an extensive network of trails in addition to the "blue path" trails, and it's possible to bypass the closed sections by going further up the hills. However those are a more robust hiking experience and take longer.
Luanne, the route from Monterosso to Levanto (take the train back) is on my list for next time. Honestly, taking some of the alternate trails from the 'Blue' can be a big bonus: no conga line of people to be squeezed between!
There are some suggestions for a few alternates on the "Save Vernazza' website":
http://savevernazza.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/trailmap_new.pdf
However, anything noted as "Trail 2" on that site is part of the Blue. Here are the 4 segments and status on the recently revamped park website:
592-1 (SVA2) Riomaggiore - Manarola (mostly closed)
592-2 (SVA2) Manarola - Corniglia (closed)
592-3 (SVA2) Corniglia - Vernazza
592-4 (SVA2) Vernazza - Monterosso
It's a good one Kathy! You will enjoy it. We started in Levanto because we stayed at Argento Hotel but the scenery is breathtaking either way
Thanks, Luann!
