5 Best Hikes in Cinque Terre

If you only walk one stretch of the Sentiero Azzurro, make it trail 592-3. Vernazza to Corniglia covers 3.2 km with an official time of 1 hour 30 minutes, a maximum altitude of about 220 m and something in the order of 250 m of ascent, again an estimate rather than a published park number. The park applies the same Esperto grade it gives the Monterosso leg, but the climbing here is spread across the whole route instead of stacked into one staircase, and most reasonably fit walkers find it the easier of the two open sections. A Cinque Terre Trekking Card is required and checked at the gate.

The sting comes at the end. Corniglia is the only one of the five villages not built at sea level, and getting from Corniglia station up to the village means the Lardarina, a brick zigzag staircase of roughly 380 steps. Walking the route in this direction at least means you arrive at the top of it rather than starting your day at the bottom.

Pro Tip: Skip the Lardarina on the way back down. The ATC shuttle bus runs between Corniglia village and Corniglia station, and it is covered by the Cinque Terre Treno MS Card, so anyone holding that tier pays nothing extra to save 380 steps on tired legs.

The Via dell'Amore, trail 592-1, is finally back in full. The last section at the Manarola gate reopened on 3 April 2026 according to the Comune di Riomaggiore, restoring end-to-end walkability for the first time in over a decade. The path is 900 m long, graded Turistico, paved and wheelchair accessible, and the park allows a maximum transit time of 30 minutes. Access is one-way only, Riomaggiore to Manarola, with the entrance at the Riomaggiore end.

Booking a timed slot is mandatory. The park releases 200 entries every 30 minutes, capped at 400 people an hour, and a guide meets each group just past the entrance gate. There is no standalone Via dell'Amore ticket any more: a Cinque Terre Card is the only way in, and the same card also covers Riomaggiore Castle. Opening hours run 09:00 to 21:00 from 29 March to 24 October 2026 with last entry at 20:30, then 09:00 to 18:00 from 26 October 2026 to 28 March 2027 with last entry at 17:30. Entry is free and needs no booking for under-3s, disabled visitors with certification, and residents of Riomaggiore, Vernazza and Monterosso. Riomaggiore Guest Card and CETS holders still have to book but may walk in both directions. Refunds are issued only when a yellow, orange or red weather alert is in force.

One practical consequence of the one-way rule: plan the return. Manarola and Riomaggiore stations are one stop apart on the Cinque Terre Express, whose 2026 season runs 14 March to 1 November, and a Treno MS Card covers that hop without a separate ticket.

Pro Tip: Book a slot after 19:00 between 29 March and 24 October 2026. Last entry is 20:30, the light comes off the water rather than straight down onto it, and the 200-entry half-hourly cap bites far less than it does at midday.

This is the entry almost every Cinque Terre article gets wrong. The direct coastal path between Manarola and Corniglia, trail 592-2, has been closed since 2012 after landslides, and the ground has stayed unstable ever since. Only about the first 300 m out of Manarola is walkable, there is no reopening date, and both the park and local sources are clear that it will not reopen in the coming years. Anything telling you to stroll the coast between these two villages is repeating pre-2012 information.

The working alternative climbs over the hamlet of Volastra: trail 506 from Manarola up to Volastra, then trail 586 across to Case Pianca and down into Corniglia. That comes to about 5 km, about 2 hours 30 minutes, a maximum altitude of around 400 m and a medium Escursionistico grade. The middle section along the terraced vineyards above Case Pianca is arguably the best walking in the park, with the villages laid out below rather than beside you. Walk it Corniglia to Manarola if you can, because the Manarola side involves roughly 1,200 steps. Trails 506 and 586 are reported to be ungated, so no Cinque Terre Card is checked, though that comes from a reliable secondary source rather than an official park page. Trail 587, Corniglia to Cigoletta, is also open at about 2 hours 20 minutes and an Esperto grade if you want to link up to the ridge.

Pro Tip: Take the ATC bus from Manarola up to Volastra and walk down to Corniglia. It removes the 1,200-step climb outright, puts you straight onto the Case Pianca vineyard balcony, and leaves you at Corniglia station for the train back down the coast.

Park trail 591, formerly trail number 1, is the Sentiero Rosso or Alta Via delle Cinque Terre: about 40 km from Portovenere to Levanto along the ridge above the villages, roughly 11 hours of walking, a maximum altitude of about 800 m and around 1,300 m of cumulative ascent. It is graded E for Escursionistico, waymarked in white and red, and it is free. There are no gates and no Cinque Terre Card is needed anywhere on it. The whole ridge sits inside the UNESCO World Heritage site of Portovenere, Cinque Terre and the Islands, and it is the one route here where you are more likely to meet Ligurian walkers than tour groups.

The park divides it into five official stages: Portovenere to Telegrafo, 4.7 km in 3 hours 20; Telegrafo to Cigoletta, 6.9 km in 2 hours 40; Cigoletta to Il Termine, 7.1 km in 3 hours 15; Il Termine to Sant'Antonio and Punta Mesco, 7.2 km in 1 hour 35; and Mesco to Levanto, 3.3 km in 2 hours 15. Most people should take the final two stages as a single day. Il Termine over Punta Mesco to Levanto is 10.5 km and about 3 hours 50, it holds the sea view for most of its length, and it finishes at a station rather than a bus stop.

Pro Tip: Finish at Levanto station and ride the Cinque Terre Express back. The 2026 Express season runs 14 March to 1 November, single fares are EUR 5, EUR 8 or EUR 10 depending on the fare band, children aged 4 to 12 travel half price, and a single ticket is valid for 75 minutes and one direct trip only.