Day Trips from Firenze – Cinque Terre
During my first stay in Italy, my favorite city that I visited was actually a combination of five small towns set into the cliffs of the Mediterranean called Cinque Terre. I was thrilled to hear that it was possible to travel to Cinque Terre from Florence as a day trip! All of the 18 students on the dialogue, as well as our TA booked tickets for a bus tour that visited 4 of the 5 towns – Manarola, Riomaggiorre, Montessero, and Vernazza. The 5th village is set up higher on the cliff, and requires a steep climb in order to reach it from the train station, so we did not visit it.
The bus from Florence to the first city – Manarola – took about 2 hours. There, we had just enough time to grab a cappuccino and croissant and walk along the cliff walk. There is a railway system that connects the five villages, which we took to travel from one city to the next (with one exception). In Riomaggiorre, we tried to climb to a tower on top of the hill but did not have enough time to reach it before we had to leave for the next leg of our trip, but I’m sure the view would have been amazing! From Riomaggiore, we traveled to the northernmost town Monterosso by boat rather than train (the exception I mentioned earlier).
The boat ride along the coast of Cinque Terre was the highlight of my day and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who visits the five lands. The breeze was a welcome relief from the heat of the day, and the view of each town and their connecting vineyards was breathtaking! When I had been here before, I was not able to see the lands by sea, so this addition made the trip even more special.
Monterosso is the largest of the five lands, with the longest stretch of beach as well. Our tour gave us the chance to spend about three hours here, and a group of us from the dialogue had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the water, and then rented kayaks from the beach. We were only able to rent the kayaks for about 45 minutes before we had to leave with the rest of the tour group, but it was an incredible experience! The water was bright turquoise blue, the air was clear and salty, and the view of the village from the water was unbelievable.
Our last stop on our tour was Vernazza, the smallest of the five towns that is only comprised of 2 major streets and a strip of beach. We stopped for gelato and strolled along the beach before heading back to the bus and our ride home to Florence.
I would highly recommend Cinque Terre to anyone traveling to Italy, because it’s unlike any place I’ve ever seen. Ideally, I would have liked to spend a day in each of the five cities enjoying the local wine and pesto and meandering through the shops. However, it is still very enjoyable if you are only able to spend a single day. Be sure to bring a camera and a bathing suit!
