Swimming in Cinque Terra

Corniglia sits above the sea, so no real options. All the rest have swimming options. I have been in mid June and August so I can't speak about swimming in mid May. My guess is that it still could be a bit chilly, but with global warming, who knows?

Monterosso has the largest beach, but as long as you can get in the water off the rocks, you can swim anywhere. Don't expect much.
Where are you from? Mid-May would be too cold for me, except maybe for a quick down dip after a hike, but there's all types!

Thanks. My research wasn't as clear as I needed. Your input is appreciated. A "dip" after our day hike just might be enough.

1. All have bad options, except for Monterosso, which actually has something that resembles a beach. That is where I used to go most often. All others (including locations in between towns) have boulders, cliffs and rocks only. Some people prefer the cliffs as the water tends to be cleaner and clearer where cliffs are, but so that you know what to expect. Wherever you choose to go, the water drops quickly, within a few feet from the shore, so be careful. Also it is better to wear aquashoes due to the presence of rocks which can get slippery.

2. If you are like people around here in San Francisco, you will consider the water at the Cinque Terre in May very warm (I think people here are part seal). If you are from Florida, you will consider it 'freezing cold'. Personally, I can't resist half a second in the water in San Francisco even in August, but water in May in Italy is not too warm either (still way warmer compared to the Bay Area). Give it a try.

We swam at Manarola, where there was a ladder into the deep water from a wooden deck. It was mid-June and the water was quite cold, but we were told that the Mediterranean is always cold ( whatever that means). The water was very clear and clean.

To reach that spot you take the trail along the water toward Corniglia. It was just around a corner, no more than 5 minutes out of town as I recall.

There were also people swimming from the docks in the little harbor, ut that was not at all appealing to us.

Hi there,
I have been swimming in Cinque Terre area in June of 2019 and considered it refreshing but not especially warm, and I'm from Southern California. We swam at Monterossa after sunning on the beach, and when we took an excursion boat to Portovenere, slightly south of Corniglia, we also sunned ourselves and swam in the harbor, there are some sandy places along the main street that goes out of the village (the village was lovely and we walked through the "fort" on the cliff) however, we were lucky we had aquashoes as there were sea urchins in the pebbly shore water. There was only 2 other people sunning/swimming there so it was very private, and I liked it more than Monterossa. We took a slow bus to La Spezia, found an awesome bakery on our way to the train station, and took the train back to Monterossa from La Spezia, which was quick.

You've received lots of good information so far. A few additional comments.....

Monterosso has beaches in both the "old town" and "new town" areas (new town is larger). Both beaches have sections which are pay-per-use but there are some free sections as well.

Manarola has a small swimming area off the rocks, but it's not very big so doesn't accommodate a lot of people.

Vernazza has a small harbour partially enclosed by a breakwater, and that's probably your best bet in May as it's somewhat shallow at one end which means it may be a bit warmer than the other areas.

Riomaggiore has a small beach around the corner from the main part of town. I've never tried it so don't know if it's rocky.

Finally, there's a very large beach in Levanto, which is only about five minutes north of Monterosso by train. I've never used it but I suspect there might be paid and free areas there also.

The weather should be starting to warm up in May, however that can vary by year so not sure what this May will be like.

We swam in Corniglia in Oct, which was glorious. It is a climb down from the village to a tiny fishing harbour and we swam off the slipway.

Thanks so much for the data. Depending on the weather, we've now got several options to consider. And, my wife bought and brought me a new pair of swim trunks just a couple of daze ago --- good to go y'all.

As mentioned, the sea bed in Monterossa is stoney. Being a tenderfoot, I will only venture a swim there using my water shoes.

I believe the small swimming area at Manarola mentioned by Ken is the one in the small harbor. That is not the one we used. We went to one around the point from the town, out in an open area. You can see it on Google Earth or satellite view, marked Spiaggia di Manarola.

If it's too cold to swim and the sea not to0 rough I would encourage you to take a boat trip with Cinque Terra Adventure. Our family of 10 had a four hour tour/swim with them in August and it was excellent. https://www.cinqueterreadventure.com/

you can check the water temperature for Monterosso (or anywhere) here:
https://seatemperature.net/monthly/monterosso-al-mare-liguria-italy-sea-temperature-in-may-931

In mid May the water temperature seems to be in the low/mid 60s F. Kind of cold in my book.

That is actually more or less the same temperature of the ocean in San Diego, CA in the same period
https://seatemperature.net/monthly/san-diego-california-united-states-sea-temperature-in-may-5227

It appears that to have decent temperatures in Monterosso you have to wait at least until June, when water temperatures reach the low 70F. The best would be July - Sept when temperatures are over 25C (77F) and even go above 80F.
San Diego doesn't get as lucky in summer. Even in June through Sept temperatures stay in the high 60s F and don't rise much above 70F, .

Its roughly the same latitude as Bar Harbor, Maine, so you cant expect a tropical climate.

We had a great time swimming in both Levanto and Monterosso in late May 2022. We saw lots of people swimming in Vernazza but we didn't try there. From the looks of things and our own experience I'd say Monterosso is your best bet. Personally, we loved Levanto and recommend it as well. Have fun.

Its roughly the same latitude as Bar Harbor, Maine, so you cant expect
a tropical climate.

True, but latitude is not the only determinant in weather and water temperatures. The Mediterranean is a closed sea, sort of a lake, not an open ocean, therefore it tends to have warmer waters than an Ocean at similar latitudes. For example the Algarve, in Southern Portugal, although at more southerly latitudes compared to the Cinque Terre, has colder waters.