Hiking Cinque Terra

You may find this useful

http://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/footpaths-cinqueterre

You’ll find that not all trails between the five towns of Cinque Terre are open for hiking. The ones that are open, notably Monterosso to Varenna have steep, rocky places without railings or handholds. I wouldn’t advise walking in the rain. On a dry day tennis shoes worked fine for us.

There are four main direct trails between the five villages - the trails most people hike, with views of the ocean much of the way.

Two of those trails, the ones between Riomaggiore and Manarola (the "Via dell'Amore") and between Manarola and Corniglia are still closed for hiking. (And those are the two easiest hikes; Via dell'Amore is barely a "hike.")

The trail between Corniglia and Vernazza and the one between Vernazza and Monterosso are still open at last check, but any of these trails can close on short notice due to slides or weather. I hiked those two trails some years ago. I hiked both with regular walking shoes, not hiking boots. I probably wouldn't do these hikes in flip-flops or poor-quality footwear. The biggest thing is that there are a lot of steps up and down. But these trails aren't especially dangerous in most spots.

There are other trails between CT towns that are more difficult and less popular and surely much less crowded than the others. If you are serious hikers, look into them; you won't likely find info on them in the guidebooks. For example, you can hike from Monterosso up to Levanto (the next town north, which is also part of the park; I stayed in Levanto twice actually instead of in a CT village). I've never done it.

There are also plenty of other hikes within the Italian Riviera. This region is much bigger than just the Cinque Terre which is all most tourists seem to have heard of. Last year I spent three nights in the town of Camogli about an hour north (by train) from the CT. It was May and almost no tourists at all; I'd expect it to be similar in October, when the CT villages will still have plenty of tourists. I hiked (after walking up steep steps from Camogli to San Rocco) to San Fruttuoso, via the "batterie" trail. This is a much more difficult and scary hike than the main trails between the CT towns I mentioned above. I am not an especially experienced hiker, and I wasn't prepared for this hike, which I foolishly did alone. And there were few others on the trail - didn't see anyone for over an hour at some point, something that would NEVER happen in the Cinque Terre!!! There were parts of the trail with no footing that I needed to scale using chains in the rocks - very scary in parts, but I am in good shape and not afraid of heights, so I made it. If you are experienced hikers you might try this trail too, but be warned about the difficulty.

So, there are plenty of other hikes and neat little towns in the Riviera besides the Cinque Terre, if you really love to hike in a beautiful area. Five days would not be too much time if you really love to hike. The train system is very good up and down the riviera between towns, too, so you can day trip all over the place that way or by boat. Also, keep in mind that if you have five days, you have a better chance of having some good weather days to hike in case it rains one or two days.

Diana,

One other minor point to note is that you'll require a Park Pass to hike the two open segments of the Sentiero Azzurro trails of the Cinque Terre. That's only a few Euro so not a big deal. You can buy the Pass at local rail stations or T.I. offices, or at the small check huts at the start of each trail. No pass is required to hike the other trails.

I've always managed fine with a robust pair of shoes such as the ECCO Trac II. I normally only pack one pair of shoes, and use them for both city walking and light hiking. I don't recall the C.T. trails being "rocky" but the surface can be uneven in parts. If you take it slow, you shouldn't have any problems.

Diana, this is the official park website:

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Eindex.php

On it you'll find a map and descriptions of all the trails, including status of open or closed. This is the page that's most valuable for hikers ("Paths and outdoor")

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

Click on any trail on the list for a description and location on the map. Any marked with a red-and-white circle or black line on the map are closed.

Info on the park pass for the Sentiero Azzurro segments:

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Ecinque-terre-card.php

No, you can't hike all trails in the rain nor would I try, even if not formally closed. The terrain is fairly fragile so those which involve vertical ascents/descents or which parallel narrow, steep slopes could be especially unstable. As Andrew noted, they do close the 2 currently open routes of the Sentiero Azzurro (SVA2) during bad weather or damage. I don't think you need boots (we didn't) but sturdy shoes are recommended.

Good advice from him, BTW, on some routes outside the CT.

We have been in the Cinque Terre four times in October for anywhere from 3 to 7 nights. We have had great luck with weather, but if you see it is going to rain, tour the towns instead of taking a trail. The Rick Steves guide includes town tours which are nice. We also enjoyed a day trip to Portovenere one day.

There is a ton of hiking that is NOT on the sentiero azzurro that everyone thinks of when they think of hiking the Cinque Terre. The other trails are, IMO, much more enjoyable. Kathy gave you some good links and you can ask locally for advice. The little outdoor shop in Manarola helped us, and there are a couple of shuttle buses that will help minimize some grueling uphill portions. Try hiking to a couple of the sanctuaries. We do like to have trekking sticks, but they are not mandatory.