cinque terre, italy

cinque terre is one of the most breathtaking places i have ever been in my life. i'm sure most of you have probably seen pictures of it on pinterest - it is the city on the water with the brightly colored buildings. let me be the first to tell you that it definitely lived up to the pictures and was even more beautiful than i ever could have imagined.

cinque terre translates directly to "five towns." it would make sense that it is made up of, you guessed it, five towns: monterosso, vernazza, cornelia, manarola, and riomaggiore.

generally, people come here to hike between each town. the hike is right on a cliff along the water and from the first town to the fifth is about 11 miles.

we went in off-season so not much was open and there had been a mudslide that closed the main trail, so we ended up having to hike 26 miles. i would recommend going in the summer so you avoid the weather issues and have more to do in each town.

if you don't want to hike between each town but still want to go see them all, the train runs through each town and costs 1 euro each time you take it. tickets can be purchased at any of the train stations or in advance here.

i would absolutely do this again. i am not much of a hiker myself, and by no means was it easy, but the views were beautiful and i would do it again in a heartbeat. the towns were so quaint and were each so different from each other so it was interesting to see what each town had to offer.

go see cinque terre if you ever have the chance and i promise you will not be disappointed!

happy reading and happy travels! xoxo -k