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Driving in / to the Cinque Terre

Posted by (Boston, MA) on

Wanted to post this since it is much discussed and most experts routinely recommend against it.
While I cannot comment about any towns further than Rio Maggiore or Manarola I wanted just to post to say based on my experience any fears are much overblown.

The drive could not be easier and any GPS or app will route you the best way. The worse part of the drive is the slow grind of driving through the not very scenic town/city of La Spieza. The winding mountain roads after La Spieza were pretty and very simple to drive, never scary or very curvy compared to other parts of the country.
The views were very nice of the La Spieza harbor from high above and we would have missed that on the train, timing is roughly the same but happy we did not have to fight with our bags with the crowds in a train station.

Parking in the main Manarola lot for our 3 night stay was cheaper than parking under the La Spieza train station and our car felt very safe. They offer a discounted rate for staying more than 1 night.
Depending on where you are staying the walk from the car parking lot may be better or may be worse than from the town's train station, at least in Manarola they are in opposite ends of town.

Just my $.02

Posted by
4637 posts

I cannot comment on driving to Riomaggiore or Manarola but try driving to Vernazza and you will certainly agree with experts.

Posted by
1832 posts

That may be true, as I did not drive further than Manarola but Riomaggiore and Manarola are both easy drives.
if staying past Manarola and traveling from La Spieza my experience may be useless.

Posted by
16236 posts

Yes. I nearly always drove to Riomaggiore's parking garage with either a car or a motorbike (which of course is easy to park) and it is very easy to reach. Same with Monterosso, on the opposite side of the CT.

But the issue is also the width of the road as you approach those towns. That is not a problem for me and obviously it is not a problem for you either, but I can guarantee you there are Americans, including some who may come to this forum for advice, who have never driven in a street that is less than 25-30 feet wide and who would scared to death to drive on a two way road that is only 5-6 feet wide with a stone wall on one side and a guard rail or another wall on the other.

So I think we should present the facts as they are, then let people decide if they would be comfortable negotiating narrow spaces.

Vernazza, I believe, now only permits parking for residents, I think visitors can only park for an hour (if at all).

Posted by
1832 posts

Roberto, yes the road can be narrow at times and you do not wish for oncoming traffic.
After having spent a few days driving on narrow roads in Florence with traffic, some poor condition roads in the Tuscany countryside with worse hairpin turns and then doing some absolutely scary driving in the Dolomites though the Cinque Terre roads from what I saw were a breeze.
I am only pointing it out because there seems to be some much consensus to have bad the driving is in the CT but then folks rave about how wonderful the driving on the Dolomite mountain passes are which as an avid driver I found actually unenjoyable due to ridiculous angle of the curves, thin roads and danger of on coming traffic.

Posted by
11701 posts

We easily drove down the hillside to a lot by the water in Monterosso.

Posted by
288 posts

Yes, we were there last year and were unable to legally park in Vernazza we had to go up and over and park in Corniglio. The roads down to Vernazza were very narrow and the switchbacks somewhat nervous for me as you did not know what might be coming the other way, and I am a Colorado driver used to switchbacks and windy roads.

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