Cinque Terre

Smokey,

January will not be the best time to visit the Cinque Terre. Many of the hotels, restaurants and other facilities will be closed for the season and the weather could be cold and miserable. The trails may be accessible but may be treacherous if it’s wet. Some parts are more of a hike than a “walk”.

I’d suggest planning a visit there at a different time of year.

I'd probably go, if you can visit then and at no other time. While it clearly would be off season and the weather may not be good, you might luck out and get a few dry days and be able to hike at least a little. On the upside, you'd be missing the mobs of tourists that you'd see much of the rest of the year.

Checking Booking dot com, there seems no shortage of places in the CT towns with available rooms in January, so finding a place to stay shouldn't be a problem.

What I might do instead though is plan a visit optionally based on the weather. Because it's off season, you'd clearly have no trouble booking places at the last minute. if a few days out the weather forecast looks bad, change your plans and go to say Florence or Genoa instead. At least you can visit museums indoors. With the trains, it's easy to get places quickly e.g. if you want to visit Genoa on a rainy day in the Cinque Terre, take the train up for the day.

Suggest reading Ken's post twice.

We were there the week after Christmas, 18 years ago. It was wonderful! Weather was sunny but cold. The sunsets were amazing every night. We had no problem finding restaurants and shops that were open. We explored the towns, but didn’t walk the trails. I would much rather be there on a cold day in January than in July, when it is hot and overrun with crowds. You’ll love it!

I recall a recent report by someone who is there now, very disappointed that all the trails (including the ones that were open this summer) were closed due to the recent (October) storms. They looked online before going and could not get that information, so went ahead, assuming at least some trails were open. I cannot remember if the report was here on on TripAdvisor, it most likely here as I do not usually look at the Italy forum on TripAdvisor. Maybe someone can find it. I believe they said the trails are not expected to re-open till spring.

On the other hand, if hiking is not a priority and you are happy just hanging out and unjoyimg the views, off-season can be a pleasant time to visit a place that is normally overcrowded in summer, as Travel4fun says.

Here's the link that is mentioned
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/cinque-terre-closures

The link in the previous post addresses the point I was trying to convey. Under ideal circumstances, one could travel to the Cinque Terre in January and have an enjoyable holiday. However there have been some bad storms in Liguria so far this fall, so that's not a good indicator for a pleasant holiday - https://www.thelocal.it/20181031/veneto-and-liguria-count-the-cost-of-storms-and-flooding .