Cinque Terre Itinerary

Jed,

That sounds like a fine Itinerary to familiarize yourselves with the five towns, a nice balance of activity and relaxation time.

Where are you going after Varenna? I'm wondering if it might be more efficient to go there prior to the Cinque Terre?

You have a good plan I think. There isn't much to do in each town. Monterosso is a bit bigger and has a decent beach, but all others are just quaint villages for a couple of pictures in the main drag and on the harbor. Other than that and some time spent sitting at a restaurant or a bar, I don't know what else you can do. Even shopping is limited to few souvenir shops.

Hi Jed,

A suggestion for days 3 and 4.

Day 3 – catch the first ferry of the day from Monterosso to Portovenere and spend some time walking around the town. Then either take the boat all the way home or just back to Riomaggiore then walk to Manarola then take the train from there to home.

Day 4 – take the train west to Santa Margherita Ligure. Two trains to choose from 08:21 or 09:57 arriving at 10:02 or 10:54 respectively. From the train station walk down to the beach front to the tourist info office and catch a bus from there to Portofino, there’s a bus every 30 minutes. Walk around Portofino harbour and out to the lighthouse, either catch the bus back to Santa Margherita or walk back along a spectacular coastal path/road, then catch the train home.

And as the others suggested take time out for a drink at the end of each day and appreciate the scenery

If you take just trains and not the ferry between villages, I think you're missing out on something really beautiful. We stayed in Monterosso and took the ferry to Riomaggiore. It was so enjoyable. The water was such a gorgeous blue color, andd I got a lot of terrific pictures of all of the villages. On the way back, we walked the Via Del Amore from there to Manarola, which was a lovely, flat walk. Lots of great pictures along the way. We took a train the rest of the way back, stopping at all of the other villages. As mentioned earlier, there's not a lot to do in each of the villages, so we were able to do this all in one day. When we go back next year, we will do this again and are going to take the ferry to Portovenere and look around there and will go to Portofino as well.

One point to mention......

"or just back to Riomaggiore then walk to Manarola then take the train from there to home."

" On the way back, we walked the Via Del Amore from there to Manarola, which was a lovely, flat walk."

Walking the Via dell' Amore is likely not going to be possible (depending on when you're travelling). It was closed following a severe rock slide in about September 2012, and will remain closed until April 2016 (at least that's the current information). There is a short section open from the Manarola end to the small Bar, but that's it.

A trip to Porto Venere by boat would be a nice way to spend a few hours, but with such a short time frame I wouldn't bother with Santa Margherita and Portofino, as especially Portofino is a bit "underwhelming".

Four nights is generous, more than many American visitors allot to the region. If your map shows one road through a town, then that is pretty accurate. The main activities are "exploring" and relaxing. If you are hikers, you can head uphill above each town for more views and vineyards that lazy peeps like me never reach and can get as much activity out of each day as your legs allow. In Manarola, I can recommend the lower-level vineyard walk that Rick describes on pages 374-7 of the Italy book, as well as I've heard nothing but good things about a lunch or dinner there at Trattoria da Billy.

Thanks all! Seems we have a good balance of relaxation and sightseeing. We'll play it by ear on how much more we add to the itinerary. My wife made it pretty clear we need some relaxation time built in after our last trip, which was jam packed! So, we BOTH enjoy the trip, I am trying to heed her advice! :-) Ken-once we leave Varenna we are heading up into Switzerland (Lauterbrunnen).

Thanks everyone!

Jed