Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre or 5 lands was made up of 5 beautiful villages round the northern coast of Italy- Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. We really loved this place as it was all very rustic, relaxed and very beautiful. Even though it is overrun by American tourists but still the place is not too developed and still has the small town feel.

Each village is linked by train or a hiking path and we managed to see all 5 villages in our time there. We visited Monterosso on the day we had the train pass and it was probably the biggest village (at least with the most beach space!) and we had a very delish tuna pizza by the marina.

The next day, we did the hike from Vernazza (where we stayed) to Riomaggiore. The hike itself would have taken about 4+ hours solid but we took a break to explore each of the village. Corniglia is the highest village, perched ontop a cliff and it has quite a stunning view. The hiking trail was by the cliff so lots of ups and down but the views and trail itself was lovely. Thankfully it was quite a cloudy day so it wasn't too hot. The best part of the hike is really the view of the villages before you reach it. The colours of the buildings and its locations were amazing.

We broke for lunch at Manarola and treated ourselves to some yummy seafood spaghetti. The seafood was really so fresh and it was just so yummy and satisfying after a long hike. The last leg of the hike from Manarola to Riomaggiore was really a stroll as the path were cemented and it was called the Via dell'Amore (Lover's Lane) and you can see lots of padlocks around the path with couples' names on them. Story is that if the locks is placed there, your love will last forever. We didn't have a lock but we don't need it as well because we have Jesus :)

We're happy we made the trip here and would have loved to stay longer to actually have time to laze by the beach but it was great nonetheless. We stayed at a room by the main street of Vernazza and it had a clothes line outside so like the Italians, I carefully pegged our clothes outside and our clothes dried beautifully.. :)

Colourful Monterosso


Vernazza - our favourite village.


Corniglia - the one ontop the cliff. If you hike the other way from Manarola - Corniglia, you have to climb up these 300+ steps to reach Corniglia!! Thankfully, we just had to skip down :)


Manarola and Riomaggiore


The locks on Via Dell'Amore and even the cactus were not spared on the path!


Ligurian seafood pasta - yummy!

For more pictures on the trip, look here