Hello everyone,
We're (DW and I) plan to visit Cinque Terre 03/26/23 - 04/01/23. How many days do you recommend? We would also like to visit Portofino. We normally travel at a slow pace but are open to visit other areas nearby if time permits. Looking for suggestions.
Thanks in advance,
Joe
Hi Joe. What do you wish to do in the Cinque Terre? I love the area, but I also love to hike there. I'm not sure I'd bother going there unless you really want to hike. I have not been there in March. I'm guessing it's much less crowded at that time of year, but if it's rainy, hiking might be challenging.
There are lots of lovely towns in the Italian Riviera. Portofino is really nice, but so are nearby Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure, and Camogli. Those three are easy to get to by train. You can walk (not much of a hike really) or take the bus from Santa Margherita Ligure to Portofino. I'm not sure if the boats connecting them will be running in March.
You could stay in one of the Cinque Terre towns or another riviera town and train to the others (but not Portofino directly).
Hi Joe, when I visited Cinque Terre, it was late March and the weather was perfect for hiking and the ferries were running. You can take a ferry from Monterosso al Mare to Portofino but you may have to transfer (2h 15m). You don’t need much time for Portofino so it’s a doable day trip from the Cinque Terre.
We prefer Santa Maria Ligure and Camogli to Portofino. A couple of hours in Portofino was enough. Pretty setting but focused on ultra high end shopping, not my interest. We also enjoyed Porto Venere.
We spent three nights in the CT so that we had two days to complete the hike from Monterosso to Rio Maggiore. The CT is about hiking along the cliffs overlooking the sea.
Thanks for the feedback. I should've started out by posting - we look forward to hiking.
We don't have anything specific that we want to do. Just see the sites, take lots of photos from different locations, hangout, enjoy the views and eat (energy needed for all that walking 🙂).
Thanks for the info on nearby town, we'll check then out also. This info at least helps start planning our visit.
Which on town in Cinque Terre would you recommend is used as a home base?
Thanks again.
Monterosso al Mare is the town that’s furthest north of the Cinque Terre towns and has better train connections.
All five villages are nice, but we all have our preferences. I've never stayed in any of them but have stayed in Levanto (one town north of Monterosso) several times. I like Monterosso the least because it's the largest of the five, more "resorty" with umbrellas on the beach etc. Manarola is the smallest and some think the most quaint. Corniglia is the least accessible because it is high above the train station, and many tourists avoid staying there due to the steps/down (or not wanting to deal with a shuttle bus), but that also makes Corniglia the most quiet probably. I'm partial to Riomaggiore for no particular reason - I always seem to wind up going back to that one whenever I return to the Cinque Terre. in March, it may not be that busy so may not matter that much which village you choose.
I think the main hiking path between Manarola and Corniglia (down closer to the water) is still closed - has been for years. But there's a detour hike between them by hiking up (and up, and up, and up!) to the town of Volastra. It's a lot of steps to climb up, but views down are breathtaking. This is the most scenic hike of all of the Cinque Terre hikes I've done.
