One day in Cinque Terre!

Where are you coming from, the direction from which you approach the CT makes a difference in answering your question--from Florence or the Milan side, or what?While you're answering that question, here's a link with detailed information on the hikes (scroll down): info on CT hikes

Sorry i forgot to include that, I will be coming from Florence. Thanks for the link!

You'll have to choose between hiking and stoppping at beaches--you won't have time for both in one day. The beaches there aren't all that terrific anyway, in my opinion.

As between the two, I'd go with Riomaggiore. Stunning views over the water there and the town is picture postcard quaint.

I agree. Stop at the first of the five villages you will come to, Riomaggiore. CT is now a National Park and requires a permit to enter.

Don't expect too much of the beach. If I were choosing, I would choose to hike. That activity is more impressive to me than swimming at the beach. There are beaches all over the world; but only one CT hiking trail.

Take a look at the pictures on this page:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=cinque++terre+pictures&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=vouZSaG-G6S8MeiH1fwL&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title.

There several hiking trail map webpages.

If you look at the hiking trail map you will see that you can save time by taking the train between villages when you find the hiking distance too great for your limited time.

The distances between villages will vary; or you can hike only a short part of any trail and go back to your beginning point.

The following is a suggested 1-day visit to the Cinque Terre. 1) stop first in La Spezia and go into the TI office in the station. Buy a 1-day Cinque Terre Treno card. They'll give you trail information and a train schedule with the card. 2)jump on the next local train to Riomaggiore. Walk through Riomaggiore down to the water to pick up the coastal trail. 3)walk the coastal trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola (about 25 minutes and very flat). There is a cost but it's free with your CT Treno card. 4) Tour Manarola and go to the beginning of the trail to Corniglia. 5)take the trail from Manarola to the Corniglia train station (about 45min). You don't need to hike up and see Corniglia. 6)take the local train to Monterosso. Tour Monterosso and have lunch (about 2hrs). 7)take the local train to Vernazza. Tour Vernazza (about 60-90min). 8)take the late afternoon or early evening train back to Lucca.

Note that your CT Treno card provides unlimited train travel from La Spezia to Levanto. This includes all 5 CT towns. It also covers the costs on the coastal trails. It's a long day but it will work.

I would suggest from our experience that you start your hikes from Riomaggiore. Most people do. We started from Vernazza to Corniglia and had to constantly make way for the large amount of hikers going north. Also, you can try these extra two hikes that I didn't describe above but they take a lot longer and you'll miss touring the towns.

We had a very momorable day in CT and quite enjoyed it - though at 36 C it was way too hot to hike and we did it anyways ...

We started out taking the 9 am boat at La Spezia and took it all the way to Monterosso. You get the best views of the towns from the sea! We could see a lot of hikers on the easiest pathway from Riomaggiore to Manarola. The boat ride is about 2 hrs.

We disbarked in Monterosso, had a gelato on the beach, stocked up on water and then took the hike to Vernazza.

This is one of the most beautiful stretches with fantastic views. It's also one of the more strenous parts. Takes about 2 hrs and it was well worth it - though my kids beg to differ as they would have prefered to simply stay at the beach and swim considering the incredible heat that day.

When we arrived in Vernazza we had a picknick lunch. It was really crowded with tourists, we couldn't find a spot in any of the more reasonably priced restaurants at 1.30 pm! So we just bought more water (most fountains we walked by said non-potable) and some fruit.

We left pretty soon by taking the train to Riomaggiore. By then the Via Dell'Amore pathway to Manarola was very quiet. And the easy walk was about as much as we could handle by then. There is a nice little cafe at the half-way point, well-shaded with more beautiful views. We stopped there for lemonades and another rest.

In Manarola we had some more gelato and took a dip in the water. There were a lot of people swimming and diving from the rocks, also a lot of great sunning spots, too, but frankly, we had more than enough sun that day!!

By about 5pm we took the train from Manarola back to La Spezia leaving us enough time to shower at our hotel before going out to a restaurant with a tv to watch the final of the Euro-Cup.

The ferry won't save you time to get from town to town but it will give you spectacular views. I'd not miss this opportunity!! The train is the fastest way to get from town to town.

One additional comment: our itinerary was pretty much perfect for one day and I recommend it to anyone who has only one day for CT. EXCEPT:

If you get a very hot day, i.e. over 30 C, do the most strenous hike as early in the morning as possible. In our case we should have taken the train from La Spezia to Monterosso, do the hike from 9am-11 am, continue further ... and do a boat ride later on and enjoy the spectacular views with a sea brease during the hottest part of the day.

Another note: if you take the boat from La Spezia you have to buy your pass to enter the Park in CT. We got ours at a small office in Monterossa, very close to the harbour. Do not forget it: there are small booths at the trail heads of the different sections and they will check your passes - but they can't sell any (at least not last summer)!

A comment on choosing Riomaggiore for the starting point of your hike.

From what we saw that is what a lot of people do - and that's why this section is very crowded in the morning. As crowded as CT was when we were there at the height of the season, so crowded that we really disliked Vernazza for that reason only - none of the hikes we did was crowded. And we did Monterosso-Vernazza first and Riomaggiore-Manarola in the afternoon. 95% of hikers we met in the morning did Monterosso-Vernazza and very few were headed in the opposite direction. However, by the time we arrived in Vernazza we saw quite a number who were ready to continue on to Monterosso in the afternoon.

Thanks for all the great info and itinerary suggestions. We're really looking forward to the Cinque Terre day of our trip! I think we'll take the train for at least one of the longer portions of the trail, from Vernazza-Monterosso or Corniglia-Vernazza. Is one of the two portions more scenic than the other? We'd like to make at least one of the two more treacherous hikes for the views and the experience.