If you’ve read my other posts about traveling this summer in Italy, I’m not going to go into that much detail, but for those who might be thinking about coming to Cinque Terre this summer, I’ll give a short report. I spent three days in Vernazza this week (Mon-Wed). My host said the weekends are pretty busy because the Italians come and spend the weekend when they’re not working. But during the week it’s pretty dead.
The trails are open and most shops and restaurants are open. However, I did notice that a lot of shops and all the gelato places closed for the evenings. Maybe they stay open later on the weekends when it’s busier? The restaurants were all pretty empty. Everyone I spoke to, my host, all the restaurant owners were ALL thrilled to hear that Americans could come for tourism again. They were so excited. There’s been a lot of debate on this forum about when you should travel, and that should always remain an individual decision based on your own situation. But I wanted to communicate what I experienced here in Cinque Terre.
What I heard from restaurant and shop owners was that they need tourists to come back to be able to survive financially. And they’re so excited for Americans to return. That’s just the opinion of the few that I spoke to, and that can’t reflect the overall opinion of every Italian in the country.
This was a unique opportunity for me to be here with so few tourists in high season. When I did the trail from Vernazza-Corniglia I saw maybe ten people at 9AM. The trains are mostly empty. I am very grateful for this experience.
Lastly, a few recommendations. There are hundreds of posts you can search that have similar suggestions, I’m sure. The best hike I did (and the easiest!) was the vineyard walk RS has in the Manarola section. The views are stunning. The best food experience I had was at “Il Pirata delle 5 Terre” here in Vernazza. It’s up the street from the train station. The views are terrible (apartment buildings) but the food was great and the owner speaks great English and is so warm and friendly. Even though I speak Italian, when he asked where I was from he insisted on speaking English the rest of the evening. And then treated me like I was a guest in his home back in Sicily.