We have our hotel booked in Santa Margarita, 3rd week of May 2019. Would appreciate any info on the present conditions, ie: roadways, trails, ferry schedules, road to Portofino etc. Especially concerned for the wonderful residents of CT & how they are doing since the storm & flooding? RD
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
15807 posts
Can't answer about current conditions for Santa Margarita or Portofino (which are not part of the Cinque Terre) but very little of the CT was affected by the storm. All 4 segments of the popular Sentiero Azzurro (Blue Path) coastal trail are currently closed to winter repair but at least two of those 4 should be open again this spring, barring any storm damage between now and then. Reference the park's map for all sorts of other trails which, while longer and possibly more strenuous, may not be affected during the dates of your trip.
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Eindex.php
https://cinqueterreinsider.com
Understand that a trail which may be open now may not be a week, a month or several months from now. Same in reverse.
Editing to add: we spent 3 nights in the CT (Monterosso) the May after the truly devastating flood of October 2011, which buried large parts of Vernazza and Monterosso under tons of mud and debris. While work was still in process, it was nothing short of miraculous how much recovery had been accomplished in just 7 months. We had a wonderful time. Most of the pictures labeled "2 years later" in the link below looked like that when we were there, they'd gotten so much done.
Posted by
Boston
1698 posts
A recent post on a different forum asked the same question so I paraphrase the responses: There are no effects of the storm damage remaining in Cinque Terre. Visitors to Santa Margherita would be hard put to find any remaining storm effects. There is some work remaining to be done on the harbor breakwater, but that's it. The road between SML and Portofino is open to pedestrians, and there is bus service between the towns though passengers must transfer buses at one point. Special winter ferry service is in place from SML to Portofino and regular ferries will begin in March. Vehicle access is scheduled to be restored to Portofino by April 25.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32206 posts
Kathy has provided lots of good information that should answer all your questions. A few thoughts to add.....
You can easily take the Ferry from SML to Portofino (about 20 minutes as I recall) so you won't have to use the roads. If you're using a rental car, parking could be a problem (and expensive) so the Ferry would be a better option.
The five towns of the Cinque Terre weren't as badly affected by the storms in the fall of 2018 as some of the other nearby towns. You'll probably find that the wonderful residents and the five towns are booming in May. Given that you're staying in Santa Margherita Ligure, you won't have as much time to explore the C.T. as if you were staying in one of the towns.