30 Jul 2014

Cinque Terre, Italy

The Cinque Terre, literally meaning 'five towns', consists of five fishing villages on the North West coast of Italy. 

Monte Rosso

Monte Rosso is the most popular of the villages, with tourists flocking to it's pebbly beaches. The beaches are covered in sun beds that you can rent for a half or full day. You can also rent kayaks, pedal boats, and my personal favourite... Stand up paddle boards! After a day relaxing by the ocean, you can head into the streets of Monte Rosso to explore the souvenir shops or enjoy a drink or Italian dinner at a nice restaurant.




Vernazza

Vernazza has a bustling Main Street packed with restaurants and people. We hired kayaks in the Marina and paddled halfway to Monte Rosso before heading back to town to sunbathe. The waves were quite rough in this area, but a small waterfall can be found halfway between the villages.




Corniglia

Corniglia is the highest of the five towns, with over 300 stairs to get from the train station to the centre of town. We walked down another large set of stairs on the other side of town to discover a cove perfect for rock climbing, sunbathing and swimming (if you have reef shoes).



Manarola

stayed in Manarola, so might be biased in saying that it was my favourite of the five towns. It is definitely the most picturesque, with a viewpoint where you can look back at it's houses perched on the cliff side.



Rio Maggiore

On Thursday we hiked the four hour inland trail between Manarola and Rio Maggiore.




Upon arrival, we found a beautiful Marina and a Main Street with lots of lovely shops to browse through.





No comments:

Post a Comment