Cruise ships to Cinque Terre?

Many ships offer excursions to the towns from other ports, yes. It’s very common we had 2 ports that was an option. Neither port was a small town, both would have been too much time on bus we opted out.

So yes, 10a-4pm or so I would expect it to be busier if/assuming many cruises are in port nearby (I don’t know that there’s a port set up for major ships IN cinque terre?) and bus loads of people want to take a look.

Debi I would expect the Cinque Terre towns to be crowded during the days, with or without cruise ships. It's still a lovely area, and yes, it is much quieter at night. There are ways to avoid the crowds during the days, though.

The main reason to spend much time in this area in my opinion to hike. The towns are adorable (if touristy now), but if you aren't going to hike there, I'm not sure I would bother. If you want to hike, the main trains between Corniglia and Vernazza and between Vernazza and Monterosso are likely to be busiest (some of the other trails between towns are closed). But you could hike e.g. from Manarola to Corniglia via a detour up to the town of Volastra. It's a steep climb but easy if you take your time, up a zillion steps. And it's now an unknown hike, if not as crowded as the other trails. But...the views down are just breathtaking!! Best hike I've ever done in the Cinque Terre, just because of the views.

You can also hike from the town of Levanto (one town north of Monterosso) back to Monterosso. This hike is much less busy (about 2.5 hours as I recall) and isn't quite as rewarding as the other hikes...but some of the views are great, especially the view right above Monterosso that gives you a breathtaking view back on all five towns.

Yes, there are other lovely towns in the Italian riviera. To the north, there is a cluster of nice towns near/on the Portofino peninsula. I spent a few nights one in the town of Camogli which is a lovely Italian tourist town - not visited so much but international tourists but mobbed with Italians in the summer apparently. I was there in May and it was not busy at all. Rapallo and Santa Margherita Ligure nearby are also really nice towns, much less busy in May than the Cinque Terre towns. There are hiking opportunities in this area as well. It's really easy to zip up and down the riviera by train between Genoa and La Spezia.

Debi,

It's difficult to predict what the situation will be like for cruise ships in that area next May. Travel seems to have rebounded strongly after the pandemic so it's likely there will be passengers in the five towns during the day.

The ships typically dock in Genova or La Spezia or ports in that area, and then bus passengers to the Cinque Terre for day trips. With the travel time involved, the busy times are usually between about 10:00 to 16:00.

I haven't found the crowds to be a huge problem as I often take a day to just relax at the hotel or take a day trip to another part of Liguria so I'm not there during the busy hours. As mentioned in an earlier reply, the towns are much quieter at night. I always stay in Monterosso so my comments reflect my experiences there.

I didn't find the 5 towns to be anything special but I did enjoy the hike between Riomaggiore and Monterosso, the 1st time in the early 90s - not so much in 2005.

We spent four nights in Manarola mid September. I checked this site: https://www.cruisetimetables.com/la-spezia-italy-cruise-ship-schedule.html to see how many ships and people they carry to see what the impact might be on our four days. No ships dock IN Cinque Terre.
We definitely saw tour groups-whether related to the cruise line or coming from other vendors-each day . We tried to strategically plan ahead by taking transportation before 9am and after 5pm to minimize the impact on our days. There is no way to totally escape the crowds as the Cinque Terre is just plain popular.
We hiked two of the days, took a pesto class- well worth it- and that same day got ourselves to Monterosso to take the ferry ride around to La Spezia. Overall, we managed to enjoy the earlier part of the days in the towns and then later evenings too. You will need dinner reservations and possibly for lunch also!
Mindset-it is crowded, but careful planning can mitigate the feeling of no room to breathe. It is still worth the time.

SJS, wanted to thank you for your trip report, you inspired us last month to go back to the Cinque Terre. We also stayed in Manarola, and were very glad we did.
Debi, by October, main busy time was 1000 to 4 or 5 pm. But it was very easy to get away from the crowds. We did try to get going early for any of the lower hikes, but any of the hikes higher up were very quiet. Trains and boats and inner harbour can get crowded mid-day, but we mostly avoided that. We found if we were out after breakfast, and headed back for an afternoon relaxing in our place in the afternoon we barely saw the crowds. Then you have the quieter evening to yourself.

As noted, you can see the docking schedule for the ships in May which will be the beginning of the high season. Before deciding to go, this may give you an idea of what to expect.

Doug Mac, thanks for this article—wow, kind of discouraging. We have plans to visit the end of May and not looking forward to it now, but want to see at least a view of the villages. They say the train is packed (until maybe 4 or 5), wondering if the ferries are the same? We are staying 1 night in La Spezia, so hopefully can miss some of the crowds in the evening. Anyone have any suggestions for hitting some highlights (not hiking) that might avoid just a bit of the crowds or is it simply the same no matter which village, when, etc. Thanks!

We found Corniglia to be much quieter in the daytime when we visited mid-May 2022. The boat doesn’t stop there and the town is perched at the top of the hill, which discourages some/many. There is a shuttle van from the station to the top, you can climb the zig-zag stairs or follow the road uphill. We chose the latter and did fine. It is a workout, but it was easier for us than stairs. Monterosso Al Mare is larger and absorbs the crowd better, in my opinion, then Vernazza. It has both an Old Town and New Town, so it spreads things out. Other people in our group did the boat and had no problem getting where they wanted to go.

The article above is from 2019, and I'm not sure if conditions next year will be the same as the article described. At some point, the authorities in that area may find a way to deal with the problem of overcrowding (although that remains to be seen). Venice has also had a problem with severe overcrowding, so the Cinque Terre is not the only place where this occurs. Cruise ships are not the only source of crowds... I've also encountered European tour groups that arrive by the bus load (often in Levanto).

A few more thoughts to add to my previous post....

• The best way to avoid the crowds is to stay out of the town centres when they're busy, either by day tripping elsewhere or by finding a quiet nearby location to spend some time.
• On really crowded days, minimize use of the local trains as they can be horrendously crowded! I've experienced that and it's not fun.
• When there are cruise ships or tour groups in the area, try to avoid Vernazza as it seems to be the most popular and will likely be saturated and that's also not a pleasant experience.
• If planning to take the local ferries, keep in mind that they don't operate during inclement weather.
• If you're staying in Monterosso, Hotel Villa Stena, Hotel Villa Adriana or Hotel Porto Roca, all of those are "far from the madding crowds", if you want some peace & quiet. The latter has a nice swimming pool and great views so it would be a great place to enjoy a quiet afternoon.
• If you stay in Monterosso, you could spend some time sunning on the beach. Some of the facilities are "pay-per-use" but it might be worth it to pay a few Euro and avoid the hordes of day trippers. There are some free beach sections too, but you'll have to ask your hotel where those are.
• As others have mentioned, Corniglia is somewhat "distant" from the rail station and up on the top of a rock bluff, so it doesn't get as many tourists.
• If the ferries are operating, you could consider a day trip to Porto Venere. It's a bit awkward to get there by train but easy by boat. I found that it's not usually as crowded as the five towns.

If possible, have a look at the newest edition of the RS Italy guidebook as that will have some good suggestions.

Happy travels!

Patty, I had a lovely dinner in Corniglia one evening on my last trip to the Cinque Terre, and it was very quiet and peaceful! I'm sure it would be a nice town to stay in if you can handle the inconvenience of distance from the train station. Then again, most of the towns quiet down at night to some degree.

I just checked that cruise ship site and unfortunately, there will be a ship in on the one day we have planned——2,900 passengers from 0700-1800! So hoping crowds will thin out by 4-5, and will visit Corniglia hoping for fewer crowds. I guess as long as we see several of the villages and get some pics from the water (want to take ferries), that’ll do to hit the highlights.

First, the cruise ship schedules are not written in stone - they will vary substantially until the landing date approaches. Operational factors and ticket sales cause the cruise lines to juggle their schedules or add or delete scheduled ports. Second, the ships landing in La Spezia furnish only part of the cruising day trippers. There are also ships that land in Livorno, and sometime even in Marina di Carrara. Third, numerous tours arrive from other cities both by train and by bus.
Don't let crowd anxiety rule your trip, there will be many things to enjoy no matter what you encounter.

" just checked that cruise ship site and unfortunately, there will be a ship in on the one day we have planned——2,900 passengers from 0700-1800!"

One other thing to keep in mind is that not all the passengers from those ships will be going to the Cinque Terre. The cruise lines usually offer several excursions at each port, and some may choose to go to Florence or other locations. Also some passengers may decide to tour on their own and go to other places that they're interesting in seeing.

Havent been to the Cinqe Terre since 2019 because of the Covid mess, but I have stayed in Vernazza 8 times between 2003-2019, always in the spring or fall, avoid the summer. I usually stay 3 or 4 nights, many times you catch a rainy day. Long gone are the days of the old women cruising the train station and main square trying convince you to rent a room from them for 50 euro a night, on the main square, thats how it was, pre 2010. My observation is that a handful of "business men" have bought up the town, rooms, restaurants and shops, and now you are lucky to find a room for 90 euro a night, and get an overpriced meal, (better meal value in Monterosso). But this was all starting to happen even before the seige of the cruise ships started. As far as cruise ships, they dock at Livorno (south of Pisa), you will be lucky to find a seat on a train when they are in town, and hiking, you want to get your hikes is in the morning before they get there, or late afternoon after they leave, the towns are still pretty quiet at night. Hiking when the cruise ship people are on the trails, means getting stuck behind groups of 5 or 10 people that are constantly talking, arent wearing proper footware, and never hiked a mountain before. My last trip, I got a late start in the morning, there was a woman in a group right in front of me, not paying attention on a narrow part of the trail over a little gully, took a bad step, fell 8' into the gully, landed in her shoulder, either dislocated or broke it. These are some challenging trails at places, so I was suprised when they got this brainstorm of sending thousands of unprepared cruise people onto these trails. My biggest complaint the last 8+ years, other than the cruise ship traffic is the fact that 2 of the 4 mountain/ocean trails have been closed for 8+ years. The two easiest hikes Riomaggiore-Manarola-Corniglia have been closed because of "rock slides", which I think is bogus, you do have to buy a hiking pass to hike the trails, and 2 of 4 have been closed this long, no, something else is going on here, unacceptable! In fact a Park employee that sells the hiking pass, told me my last visit that she has serious doubts that those trails will ever reopen. They do point out that there are inland mountain trails also, I can hike all the inland mountain trails i want here in PA, I want the ocean view trails! From earlier years of me being there, trails were seldom closed longer than a week to a month, they have a crew of guys that goes and fixes the problem, weather its rock slides, washouts, etc. I couldnt help but notice the closing of these trails pretty much corresponded with the cruise ship invasion, maybe the private land owners, or towns at that end of the trail didnt want to put up with the cruise ship traffic? Just went on their web site this morning, www.parconazionale5terre.it, it claims the Riomaggiore-Manarola trail is under construction, going to reopen in 2024, and the Manarola-Corniglia trail is closed indefinitely because of rock slides. Now that I am 65, I would like to hike the easier trails also!! As far as did the cruise ships ruin it ? The Cinque Terre was well on its way to over commercialism, over pricing, and over crowding already, the cruise ship game has made it much worse. With 2 of the 4 trails being closed my last three visits, and still closed, I am not nearly as enthused about going there as I used to be. But if you have never bin, check it out, enjoy it for what it is, and plan your hiking wisely. Bonnasola is a very quiet seaside town, just west of Levanto, on the rail line. Read about it in Pauline Frommers Italy book, she thought it was on the verge of "being discovered", I dont think it ever was. You can walk the beaches, some paved paths around town, an old railroad bed, I was there in the late fall, stayed two nights, it was pretty well shut down for the season, most restaurants weren`t even open then. Probably at least worth a day trip.

Your best bet would be to head to Rapallo, or Santa Margherita to start your day, explore one of these then head to Monterosso, have lunch then hit the other towns as the day progresses. This should eliminate some of the crowds toward the end of the day.
It will also give you a good comparison for future visits.

Mornings and evenings are a respite, as are the upper trails--which is the main reason to go there imo. Are you going for the hikes or the scenery?
There are plenty of other pretty coastal towns. For hiking trails, look at the Portofino area (Camogli and Santa Margarita Ligure). Montemarcello park is also nice; Lerici and Tellaro are pretty towns there. Car advised but not an absolute if you are willing to put the walks in (and make use of bus). Last, if you are coming in or out of Rome, Ucellina/Maremma park is lovely. Car required there though.

I note the occasional entitled rant showing up through this thread. At what point in time did one sort of tourist become the “right kind” and all others annoying nuisances to be dealt with?

I’m not very fond of crowds either, but when I travel I have to acknowledge that my being there makes me part of the crowd.

If crowds are a major irritant, aim for the off season for some relief.

I dunno, I mean they are tiny villages that cannot absorb that many people. It is a problem. Fortunately, there are many alternatives for those willing to look beyond the fame.

Did I miss it, or has no one mentioned that May 1 is a national holiday in Italy? You might also encounter huge crowds of Italians.

I note the occasional entitled rant showing up through this thread. At what point in time did one sort of tourist become the “right kind” and all others annoying nuisances to be dealt with

I absolutely think it's fair game to discuss the difference between what is know as foot traffic and what is known as onslaught traffic and there is a huge difference in experience - nothing wrong with letting the "unsuspecting" know what could await them.

Like periscope, I really appreciate the tips on attempting to navigate crowds. We usually always visit a bit before the big crowds set in, but next year it's just not possible for several reasons. I understand we are part of the crowd, not complaining about that, just trying to see, from experts, if there are ways to minimize being in the hords and I have always gotten excellent tips that are often priceless on this forum in the last 15 years. I appreciate those tips---for example, the idea of visiting Corniglia, as many tourists don't, is a great tip to me. Thanks to all, I'm formulating our plan of attack!