The Cinque Terre was the first destination I visited in Italy and it absolutely blew me away. After I graduated from grad school, I went to Europe for 5 weeks by myself. While I was there, I met up with friends in various cities along the way and one of my stops was in Interlaken, Switzerland. I stayed with a family there that my husband knew. After a few days in Interlaken, they asked me if I wanted to abandon my plans to travel to Geneva and instead go with them to Italy......... Is that even a question? Like, would anyone ever say no to that? I don't think so. I drove with them through the alps into Italy and it was like a dream. The colors, the sun, the PASTA! This must be what heaven is like. Oh, and did I mention the gelato? Die.
To give you a little background, the Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small towns along the northern coast of Italy. There are only a couple miles between each town and you can either hike or take the train between cities. I would not recommend driving because you can't even access most of the towns by cars, there are no roads built to them. The best way to get there is to take a train from Milan into La Spezia and from there, you can take a train into the Cinque Terre.
The second time I went to the Cinque Terre, my favorite travel companion, Christy, and I stayed in Riomaggiore. Accommodations are limited in these little towns but we found an AMAZING hostel on HostelWorld.com (which is where I book all of my hostels). It was $25/night and it had the most incredible terrace and view. However, it was all luck that we got the best room. We happened to get there earlier than some of the other guests who were checking in and they just showed us all the rooms that were available and let us pick. It didn't have the best ambiance but the view was to die for. We just sat on the balcony and drank wine every night.
If you are in a rush, you really only need 2 nights in the Cinque Terre and you can see it all. If you have the capacity to stay longer, do it. We made our way to all 5 cities in one day using the train. We had intentions to hike but the oceanside path was closed between most of the cities so we resorted to the train. It runs every 15 minutes and only takes about 5 minutes to get to the next city. You can spend an hour in each one and see the whole town but of course could spend much longer if possible.
And if you are visiting other destinations in Italy and you are thinking, I don't want to buy everything I see here because I might find things in other places that I like more so I'll save my money and luggage space for later. DON'T DO THIS! BUY EVERYTHING YOU SEE! I say this with such intensity for a multitude of reasons. One, the hand made serving dishes and plates you find here, you will never find anywhere else. Two, if you don't get the things you love, you will go home and think, what the heck was I thinking I should have bought that. Lastly, and most importantly, if you do find them in other cities in Italy, the markup is like 400% and I'm not kidding (ehem.... Positano I'm looking at you). Seriously, I found this gorgeous fish pottery in Positano and it was like $50/plate and that was for the small pieces. I found the same exact pottery in the Cinque Terre and the small plates started at $5 and ranged to maybe $12 for the large pieces. I still have these bowls and plates and use them all the time and it makes me happy. And really, if you can't tell, everything about the Cinque Terre makes me happy so get your butt over there!
