We are having a disagreement about how to spend two days departing Milan in mid JULY. Ive heard it has gotten out of control with crowds in July???
or
we have 3 boys w us...6, 12, 14
What would you do?
Ha! No question in my mind but that I’d be staying at that calm, cool, lovely Tuscan villa with pool and especially if I was (or with) one or all of your boys! Some beach time is available at some of the towns but for me, with the July crowds and the heat, it would not be a good trade off. Please let us know what you decide?
Stay in Monterosso in Cinque Terre so you can explore the five towns.
Great beach for the kids there and then explore the other four towns in
late afternoon and evening by train after the crowds have left. Have dinner
in the plaza by the sea in Vernazza. Have a great trip!
Here's the problem: "day trip"
If you are trying to avoid crowds (and from all indications, that's a very real issue at CT these days), the worst of the problem is because of "day trippers." Popular places are most crowded between 10 am and 4 pm, "Day Tripper" hours.
If you stay elsewhere and day-trip to CT, you will experience CT at it's absolute worst - peak crowding. Conversely, spend the night there, and you get to enjoy it in early morning and late afternoon/evening, when the crowds thin out and the place retains its charm.
One potential way to salvage your marital issue: arrive in CT mid-afternoon, and watch the crowds start to drain away. Stay one night. That way you get to enjoy a few good hours the first afternoon and evening, get up early and enjoy a few more hours the next morning, then flee by 10 or 11 am, head for that beautiful Tuscan villa, and spend your second night there.
Everybody wins (or, depending on your spouse, everybody loses...can't help you with that). Good luck.
I was in the CT last summer in July with my 3 kids aged 9, 12, 14. I would not stay in Riomaggiore. That was our least favorite of the 5 (we visited all of them in 2 days). And I would not "day trip" to the CT from an hour away. We stayed in Monterosso, in the old part of town and liked that. I would stay there or in Manarola. On our second day, we took the train from Monterosso to Riomaggiore, ate lunch there, and hiked the high trail north to Manarola (bc the coast trail was, and I think still is closed between Rio and Manarola), staying there for the afternoon before taking the train back to Monterosso in the evening. That afternoon was spent cliff jumping off the rock in Manarola (link), and my kids could have spent another full day doing that. (Our first day, we hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza for lunch, then from Vernazza o Corniglia, and took the train back to Monterosso from C. If you do hike these two popular sections, depart early in the morning - to avoid the heat and crowds, but also to get access to the trails as they are keeping track of, limiting numbers of people now)
We went to the beach in Monterosso later on that first afternoon and it was fine. But Manarola was the winner for my kids because of the cliff jumping:
Avoid the Cinque Terre if you want to avoid crows. Rick Steves have made there on of the most popular places in Italy after Rome, Venice and Florence. If you can get to Tuscany in two hours I would head south. Check the travel time from Milan. You may want to look at Piedmonte as an option.
Enjoy
sarah,
While the "beautiful Tuscan Villa" won't have a problem with crowds, I suspect it will be a bit boring for the kids once the novelty has worn off. IMHO, the Cinque Terre would be a better choice, despite the daytime crowds.
As others have suggested, Montrosso would be a better choice as it has the nicest beaches of the five towns, both in the new town and the old town. Some areas of the beach are "pay-per-use" but I don't think the cost is exorbitant. There are free areas also. If you choose a hotel farther up Via Roma in the old town or at the far end of the new town, you won't have to deal with crowds. After about 16:00, the day trippers and cruise ship hordes will be gone and the town will quiet down somewhat. Depending on your budget and "comfort preferences", some hotels you could look at are Villa Adriana (new town), Hotel Villa Steno (old town, one of my favourites) or Hotel Porto Roca (far end of old town, has a beautiful pool overlooking the ocean).
Just for information, the beach in Riomaggiore is not as good (IMO). There's a larger beach around the rock bluff in a small bay. Otherwise you'll be swimming from the rocks, which is not ideal. Which would you prefer, THIS beach or THIS beach.
For travel this July, you'll need to get cracking and get a hotel booked SOON.
Below is the beach of Riomaggiore. It’s big rocks with the bottom of the sea dropping very quickly. I hope your kids are expert swimmers. Monterosso is the only decent real beach at the Cinque Terre.
Where is your villa in Tuscany exactly?
If you start in Milan you might as well go north and visit Lake Como.
the CT is extremely crowded (the trains, trails and towns themselves)and the beaches are rocky, hence you need lounge chairs. I would go for the pool but what do the kids want and after how many days of traveling? Is it the middle of the vacation, which is always a nice time for some down time or just at the beginning?
I would vote to stay in the CT, so that you aren't wasting time traveling there. We had 4 kids (ages 12-18), and stayed in Monterosso. This was the best of the 5 villages because it had the best beach, and we all loved our time there. There was a large rock off the shore that the kids loved jumping from, but it wasn't nearly as high as some of the "cliffs" that people jump from...much safer for older kids. But just a warning...we booked our lodging many months in advance, since summer is so busy there, so finding lodging at this late of date may be difficult. We did VRBO. It was great to hike a bit from there. And be sure to take the ferry to the other villages...so beautiful to see from the water, great pictures, and kids loved it.
You day trip from Tuscany with kids sounds much worse and will result in not being able to avoid any of the crowds you fear so much.
I am sure it varies (probably cruise line dependent) but when I visited the CT the crowd issue was not one for me. It was crowded but less so then Florence or Venice so it is all relative.
I believe those truly horrible condition pictures you see posted at the train stations are usually when there are
of course big crowds but also when the train line goes out of service and causes delays.
That creates huge backups at the tiny stations if a train headed one way does not come for a few cycles.
The crowds don't stay overnight which is why you should.
Personally - the only reason I would choose a secluded villa in Tuscany is if I had been to Italy so many times I was bored out of my mind and/or had so much extra money that I chose a secluded house on a different continent than my own...neither of which is a good decision.
I vote for the 'stay in CT' option
A day trip will give you the worst of everything as already noted. The hassle of travel, and being there when all the other day trippers are there, so you get to experience the maximum crowds.
