I know Cinque Terre is a busy place but wondering if anyone knows when the cruise ships offer tours (we don't want to go that day or days)? Is there a day that is less busy in June than other days? We have only one day to visit Cinque Terre and hoped we could avoid HUGE crowds by picking our one day wisely.
Thanks.
Cruises which offer passenger tours to the CT are most likely to dock in La Spezia. Here you go:
http://crew-center.com/la-spezia-cruise-ship-schedule-2018
Clicking on the ships will provide their size, passenger load.
Try this site. Kathy beat me on the location above....but you can change the one on this link to the other ports as well
I am surprised to see that the cruise ships are not there every day (at least not according to the schedule on the linked page).
Given all the reports I've heard about how miserably over-crowded CT has become, this makes me wonder...
Personally, I have no plans to go to CT anytime soon, but a family member is planning to go in May, and she is oblivious to the overcrowding that I hear so much about. I have a close friend who was there in September and he described the overcrowding as "heart breaking". I'd like to try and set expectations appropriately for my relative who is going in May (and suggest a strategy for mitigating the worst of the crowding she will experience). I'm worried she has no idea what she's in for and is expecting a quaint, quiet little romantic town...
Oh, rats......the Symphony of the Seas will be in dock on 16 of May :( Maybe those 6780 passengers will choose to go to Carrara to study the marble instead of coming to the Cinque Terre. Thank you for that link, Kathy. It's best to be prepared than to be surprised.
Thanks for the responses!
I think the CT is just BUSY regardless of where the tourists are coming from, although the locals seem to think that more and ever-bigger ships have exacerbated the situation.
This RS piece on avoiding the crowds is a few years old but still relevant:
https://blog.ricksteves.com/cameron/2016/05/crowd-beating-tips-for-the-cinque-terre/
To be honest, like Capri in the Amalfi region, this is not a location I would day-trip to. We were there for 3 nights, and the golden hours really are before the day-trippers arrive and after most of them depart. We still found sanity in the upper reaches of the villages during the busiest hours, though. If you're willing to puff up some steep streets and paths that tours and a lot of day trippers won't tackle, it's not so bad. Some folks like just booking a great accommodation with a balcony or terrace and hanging out during peak crowd periods.
David, in response to your question about the accuracy of the ship port schedules, I would not trust them completely. I was on a cruise in the Adriatic a couple years ago and mentioned those types of sites to some of the crew and they just laughed and said they were very inaccurate. At least they were inaccurate for the ship we were on, which only had ~200 passengers, maybe they were better for the larger ships.
It's true the cruise ship schedules are not necessarily accurate. But it's also true there have been megaships docking at La Spezia on Wednesdays, such as May 16, for the last several years.
My husband and I have been there every May for the past five years, and every year is worse than the year before. We've been there week days and weekends. Our experience has been from around 10:00 a.m. to mid afternoon, it's crazy (especially all transportation). The crowds start dying down later in the afternoon. It's frustrating, but we can't help ourselves. We keep going back.
Like I said, the CT is just really busy during high season, cruise ships or not, accurate ship schedules or not. Best to just anticipate crowded trains, crowded village centers, crowded restaurants, crowded popular trails, etc. during peak hours.
All good advice, thanks, I'll pass it along to my family member headed there in May.
Megaship Wednesdays...? If that's the case, does Monday/Tuesday, and Thursday/Friday offer any respite?
I assume weekends are worst, simply from people trying to squeeze in trips there over their weekends.
Let's see...avoid Wednesdays. Avoid weekends. Avoid Italian holiday weekends. Avoid May, June and September. Also avoid July and August. Avoid days when big cruise ships are in La Spezia or Genoa (see linked web pages for dates, but don't rely on them). Avoid being out from 10 am to 4 pm on any day, and during those hours, hide inside someplace or flee uphill, where the vertical terrain thins the crowds. If you want to hike the trails, do it before 9 am or after 5 pm (but not in the dark). Careful around the trains.
OK, I think I got it. She's going to love hearing my advice...
I always go in late October, crowds are not nearly as bad. Weather is pleasant. Have been there 3 times......love it! Go to restaurants off the beaten path. Much more value for your Euro.
Happy Travels!
This has been addressed dozens of times.
It is crowded. After visiting twice in the last two years I can tell you the cruise schedules are helpful but not 100 percent reliable. It's only really crowded for about four or five hours. During that time take a boat, crowded but not that big of a deal. Lunch in Portovenere, beautiful village and a bit less crowded. For those who are spending several days, I'd recommend a mid day trip via train to Camogli. Maybe take the CT train to Levanto and rent bikes through the old train tunnels. Levanto is very underrated with a nice beach and beautiful village My favorite moments on our CT trip were mid day in the village of Tellaro. Since we went in October, our only way to get there was bus through LaSpezia to Lerici and then Tellaro. It took forever and I wouldn't recommend it, but in the summer I believe there is a ferry to Tellaro, maybe from Portovenere. Those few hours in Tellaro during midday when it was shut down rank among my favorite vacation moments ever.
We had a balcony right above the sea in Vernazza, it was a great escape from the mid day crowds. We'd get some cheese bread and wine and enjoy the sea view and watch the crowded boats come and go. Perhaps a quick nap and everyone would be gone when we woke up.
It's crowded, but I'll keep going back.
Key to enjoying the CT is get up and hour early and stay up an hour later. Mornings and evenings are magical.
I have not been to CT since July 2010.
From this and many other posts, it sounds like there has been a huge influx of tourists. When we there we certainly were not alone, but did not feel like we were crushed in crowds.
Has it really changed that much?
Thanks to all for these informative responses. And, thanks to jhr95 for posting the question again. Always good to know the current situation, especially as it sounds like the Cinque Terre is changing so quickly with the influx of travelers.
Thanks to all for these informative responses. And, thanks to jhr95 for posting the question again. Always good to know the current situation, especially as it sounds like the Cinque Terre is changing so quickly with the influx of travelers.
