Italy in May

I was there in two years ago and it was not all that crowded. Cinque Terra was much more crowded on the weekends. We hiked on a non-weekend day and did not see much of anyone, but did a hike on a weekend day and it was packed. We hit the lemon festival in Monterosso and that was quite nice.

Much less than July and August.

Lucky you to be planning Italy in May. It is perfect. better have reserv tho in Ct as it is small and has fewer lodgingthan most of Italy espec Sat. and Sun.

I have been there during peak travel period and would guess that you won't notice any crowds in May.

I hate to disagree,but I have been there the last two years in May and both the hill towns of Tuscany and the Cinque Terre were crowded. Certainly not as crowded as in the summer, but May is no longer off season in Italy. The Cinque Terre in very nice at night after about 5:00 when the hikers have left. but it is certainly crowded during the day.

My experience in May 2007 was that the weekend of May 1 was a holiday weekend and the CT was crowded; I barely got into my favorite hotel. Trains were packed with mostly young holiday travelers in the area. The other weekends in May hotels tend to fill up; it is a good idea to have a confirmed reservation for Fri/Sat nights if you want to stay in one of the five towns.

just as a side note, the water is not that warm in May compared to later in the summer (eg. July, Aug, Sept)

The CT has become one of those areas that defy normality. It's popularity has outstripped capacity, so you get these instances of being horrendous one day and relatively vacant the next. May though was manageable for me both times, but as other mentioned, suffers from the weekend crowds and groups at any time. Good thing is that in the evening, it quiets down alot