Cinque Terre trails

Hi Kathy -
Yes, the park has a very good website which notes current status of all trails along with other useful information - such as trail descriptions.

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Eindex.php
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Esentieri-outdoor.php

Closed trail segments are marked with a red and white circles, and currently includes 2 of the 4 sections of the #2 (also called the "Sentiero Azzurro" or "Blue Trail"). As you'll see from the site, there are many other trails in the region but this one is the most popular/busiest.

Currently closed sections:
592-1 (SVA2) Riomaggiore - Manarola (Via dell'Amore)
592-2 (SVA2) Manarola - Corniglia

The 2 currently open sections of the #2 are:
592-3 (SVA2) Corniglia - Vernazza
592-4 (SVA2) Vernazza - Monterosso (steep/lots of steps)

A local website notes this trail as being pretty easy but I haven't done it myself:

593V (former 3a) Riomaggiore - Madonna di Montenero

Pretty much ALL the trails are unpaved/ steep or have steep sections, and no, there are no handrails. The easiest section is the paved piece of the #2 between Riomaggiore and Manarola (the Via dell'Amore) and most of that one is currently closed. No idea if or when it'll re-open this year so keep an eye on the website.

Go to youtube.com. There are lots of videos posted by folks who have walked the various trials. Watch a few of them and you will get the sense of what it is like.

We prefer the other trails, i.e., not the #2. Of all the trails I've hiked there, I'd say the #2 was the most difficult for me, and a bit dangerous. Check out The other trails in the Cinque Terre.

Kathy,

The links provided by the others should provide reasonably timely information on the status of the trails. You could also check THIS website for information on the current status of the No. 2 trails.

There are sections of railing in some parts of the trails, but not all. For example, THIS is one part of the trail from Monterosso to Vernazza and as you can see some caution will be required. The Via dell' Amore has more railings than other segments, but it remains to be seen whether that will reopen this year.

kathy, we went to Manarola and took the shuttle up to Volastra and hiked down to Corniglia. The trail is pretty steep much of the way and there are narrow sections with some drop offs but it is managable. I did discover that the most intimidating sections did have railings! We also hiked on #2 from Vernazza to Monterosso. There are also some spots on the trail that have steep drops next to the narrow trail but as with the trail down to Corniglia it was managable with some rails. For me, 63 yrs, the drop offs with no rails were a bit intimidating but they were spread out to different spots on the trail so I was able to hug the wall and make it through the tuff spots. I do get stressed with heights but was able to tough it out and it was absolutely 100% worth it! The previous year we were hiking on the Isle of Skye and some of the trails there were just took much for me and we had to cut a hike or two short, I didnt experience this on the trails we did at the CT....maybe it was experience I dont know. We saw a couple of folks that were pretty much freaked out by the heights but they seemed to be ill prepared for hiking the CT trails, no gear at all, no water ect. If you hike a bit for fun you can pull it off. We also went up by train (like 20 minutes) to Sestri Levante and hiked up the Punta Manara which is a cool, low stress hike up the mountain. I've never found the times estimates for how the long your hike will take to be very accurate, maybe cause we are getting older but I would add at least an hour to the times they estimate for hiking sections of the trails. Photo ops will slow you down and steep is steep over there. dj

Interesting. I don't recall railings at all on trails we took other than the dell'Amore. Was probably too busy watching my feet and the scenery! :O)