Tips for hiking in Cinque Terre in July

Not all of the trails are currently open. You will have to check online to see which are open and which are closed. My last visit I could NOT walk all 5 towns along the coast.
Here is a link to a map that shows the trails, but does not say which are currently open or closed long term for repairs. ( looks like my hyper links did not work at all.....sorry)

http://www.wanderingitaly.com/a/cinque_terre_hiking_trails.htm[[1]

http://savevernazza.com/traveladvisortrailupdates/

The blue path is the famous route that connects the 5 towns. It is now open only from Monterosso to Vernazza to Corniglia. The other part is closed from storm damage. This trail will have crowds in July. There are other trails above the villages that should be less trafficked, but they are considerably steeper and away from the water so they will be hotter.

This explains what is open and proposed openings.
https://www.incinqueterre.com/en/trail-number2-blue

Crowds is a relative term on the trails.

I consider a trail crowded when I cannot hike my own pace because there are too many people in front of me to pass. This did not happen to us hiking Manarola to Corniglia to Vernazza when we were there.

When we got to Vernazza, OTOH, it was too crowded. We could not move on the main street without being blocked everywhere. It was not easy to maneuver. I would not go back to Vernazza if you paid me.

LB,

Most visitors tend to focus only on the Sentiero Azzurro trails and those are the ones that tend to be crowded at certain times of the day. However, there's an extensive network of trails in that area, including trails to Levanto on the north and Porto Venere on the south, so you could easily spend more than two days hiking. Many of the other trails extend higher in the hills, so they're a more robust and longer hike. One point to note is that a Park Pass is required to hike the Sentiero Azzurro trails, but that's easily obtained.

Parts of the Sentiero Azzurro have been closed for the last few years due to slide damage, so it's likely that you'll only be able to hike the segments from Monterosso to Vernazza to Corniglia. The Manarola - Corniglia segment has a large slide across it, so it's going to be some work to clear up. The segment from Manarola to Riomaggiore ("Via dell' Amore) is not scheduled to re-open until 2018, but I suppose that could change. It was closed in Sept. 2012 after a severe rock slide that injured some Australian tourists.

I don't find the crowds to be much of a concern. If you're not in a hurry, that shouldn't be a problem.

Just to add, here's the comprehensive list/map of trails in the CT park:

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

This is a great website to have on hand as it'll provide status on trail closures as necessary. For instance, you can clearly see the two segments of the Sentiero Azzurro which are currently closed and have been for some time. Those are (the black lines on the map):

592-1 (SVA2) Riomaggiore - Manarola
592-2 (SVA2) Manarola - Corniglia

The longer, higher and/or more strenuous trails will have the fewest amount of bodies to contend with. Clicking on any trail in the listing or on the map will provide descriptions including length, difficulty level, etc).

With your limited time in the Cinque Terre and the fact that many of the trails will probably be closed, I recommend an alternative for seeing the Cinque Terre that worked for us. We got an all day pass on the boats. From the boat, you get a very scenic view of the coastline and will probably be able to visit more towns in your two days. Once you get into town, you can hike the trail above the town to get a great view of the town. When I compared what we were able to do and see compared to our tour mates that hiked the trail from Monterosse to Vernazza, I think we got a better appreciation of the Cinque Terre. At the end of the day, we had felt like we had hiked the same amount of distance but we saw a lot more. Keep in mind, the streets of the towns are pretty steep. Most of our tour mates had planned to hike further but didn't. You can take the trains to the other towns, but I thought the view from the boat was spectacular.

Avoid the main trail #2, take the high trail from Manarola to Corniglia that passes through Volastra

Ones definition of crowds can really vary.

I would say out of the average visitor to Vernazza or any of the 5 towns in the CT, less than 5% walk any of the trail routes at all assuming the Via Del Amore remains closed.

So not sure any of the open trails are really that crowded but for some who want to be alone the Blue trail will always have other walkers/hikers on it, especially in July.
For those folks there are higher up trails, just be advised these hikes are steeper and more importantly take much longer to get from point A to point B so you need to be in the Cinque Terre primarily to hike I think to go on these other trails if you only are staying 2 days.

I would say out of the average visitor to Vernazza or any of the 5
towns in the CT, less than 5% walk any of the trail routes at all
assuming the Via Del Amore remains closed.

We were there the May after 2011 flood and the Sentiero Azzurro was REALLY busy. The morning trains unloaded scores of people in hiking attire ready to hit the trails. We didn't attempt the higher, longer routes as we weren't sure, given the amount of reconstruction all over the area, how many had been badly damaged or washed out, and info was sketchy. Next time...

Anyway, the leg between Monterosso and Vernazza was a wall-to-wall conga line, and there were a fair amount of tourists who had seriously overestimated their ability to manage that one. The stretch of the S.A between Vernazza and Corniglia had been damaged and was still under repair but it was passable with caution: we encountered the fewest others on that one only because many thought it was still closed. Via Del Amore was open at that time and very busy although I don't consider it a 'hiking' trail, really.

Thought it might be worth noting that even at a time when tourism was down due to the flood, there were plenty of feet on The Blue.

Was there this Sept and the town streets and harbor areas where packed with people in all of the towns. Less so in Corniglia making it a good place for an outdoor lunch or dinner but still crowded there though the little bus that runs from the train stop to the town was beyond crowded and not run often enough to handle the volume. On the trails there were very few people about, more crowds at any of the restaurants or bars for sure.
Maybe the past few years popularity have changed the average visitor from hiking/nature lover to mainstream tourist.

I found the tourists look very much like the tourists in other busy Italian cities though you do definitely see a few more backpacker types.
The trails are really not advertised nor have great signage to their starting points so you really wouldn't stumble upon it and start walking long usually up steps without prior knowledge and planning which eliminates most of the crowd in my experience.

http://webcam.parconazionale5terre.it/
This site has webcams in the towns you can see what the crowd looks like (hiking attire folks you can assume will hit the trails, those not looking for a hike can also be spotted)

FWIW, work is starting in 2017 on the 800 meter stretch of Via dell'Amore between Riomaggiore and Manarola after 5 million Euro were budgeted for the construction by the Ligurian Region and the Italian government. The work is expected to take 24-36 months, and to reopen in 2019. This article also mentions that CT tourism has been growing by 20% annually.
http://genova.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/11/10/news/cinque_terre_per_la_via_dell_amore_5_mln_di_lavori_riaprira_nel_2019-151745903/?refresh_ce

We were just there in mid- September and hiked the strenuous trail from Monterosso to Vernazza. It was very crowded with people going both ways, although there were plenty of places to step aside and let the faster hikers pass. I can't imagine how crowded this would be in the middle of summer.

I like the suggestion of taking the boat from town to town and then just walking a short distance on the trail out of town. I was pretty exhausted from the hike we did and wish now that we hadn't done it.

Thank you all! These few post have given me a much better feel for how to plan our trip than any of the articles I have read. July is not the ideal time, but we are going to make the best of it and plan to have a fantastic experience in Italy!

learn to say "pardon " & " excuse me " in English, German , Spanish & French. It's a crowded mess between 9 am & 4 pm. Go before or after these times & the trail is yours- have a great trip!

I was here in July 2016 based in Monterosso al mare and hiked from there to Vernazza in about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
I found that if you start the hike after 6 pm there are less crowds and you get the benefit of the sun setting.