A Word About Walks

If this isn’t of interest to you, then skip it. This is largely for me as I wanted to make a list of the walks we had done. First, a word about the walks in the Cinque Terre area in general.

First, they are tough. These are the grades used by the CAI (Club Alpino Italiano).

There are only a couple of walks in the area with the lowest rating (T) and one of them (Riomaggiore to Manarola) has been closed since 2012 due to a landslide. According to the Cinque Terre website, the path from Riomaggiore to Manarola, and the path from Manarola to Corniglia, are expected to re-open in April 2021. However, no work on the two paths has been carried out to date, and there is no sign of any work starting in the immediate future, but we will see.

Most of the walks we have done have been rated E. All these walks have uphill and downhill sections and are mostly along rocky paths with sections of steps, that have either been built or are created using the rocks that are naturally there (occasionally we have needed to use our hands to help scramble down as the steps can be huge).

The paths overlooking the coast often have narrow sections with steep drops on the seaward side.

Not all the paths are well-maintained. We have sometimes wished for a machete so we could cut our way through thick undergrowth.

That being said, we have loved all the walking here, and would happily repeat most of the trails we have taken.

Apologies for only providing approximate times – I wish now that I had made a note of how long each walk took. I have given no distances either. We didn’t find distances very helpful – one mile on the flat is not the same as one mile up or down a rocky path!

These are the walks we have done:

Walk 1: Biassa to Riomaggiore

We took a bus from La Spezia to Biassa, but then failed to find the trail to our next point, Telegrafo, so instead walked along the road up to Telegrafo.

From Telegrafo, the path meanders down between the cultivated terraces. When we did the walk in June, all the wild flowers were out and the sea views were spectacular.

We remember the walk taking about 3-4 hours including our stop in Telegrafo. We were definitely in Riomaggiore in time for a lovely lunch in a harbour-side restaurant.

Walk 2: Biassa to Manarola

The second time we started from Biassa we did find the trail to Telegrafo (537) however we nearly turned back several times as the undergrowth clearly hadn’t been cut back for several years. We decided that if we did this walk again, we would take the road to Telegrafo, as we did in our first walk.

From Telegrafo, we took our only T-rated path, the AV5T, to Monte Galera, then the 585 to the hamlet of Volastra. We found a bar/restaurant at Volastra, but the waitress didn’t seem overly impressed with our measly order of two bottles of water. (When we stopped here a second time on a different day, she was also very unfriendly). This is unusual and most people serving in restaurants and bars have been delightful.

From Volastra, there are a lot of steps down to Manarola. After a while you are presented with a choice of two paths, the Panoramic path, hugging the coast with wonderful views and steep drops to the sea, or a gentler slope which winds its way to the higher end of the village. We took the challenging Panoramic path which was great to do once, but we thought that if we did the walk again, we would take the gentler route.

This was a longer walk consisting of a good four hours of walking.

Walk 3: Campiglia to Portovenere

Campiglia is another little village a bus-ride from La Spezia. There is a lovely bar in Campiglia selling the usual drinks plus wonderful focaccia and the staff will make up panini to take away. From the outside seating area, there are splendid views across the bay.

The walk down to Portovenere was very enjoyable taking about two and a half hours, but very rocky and steep in places. We found a couple of spots we could rest en-route.

Walk 4: Biassa to Portovenere via Campiglia

The next time we walked to Portovenere, we decided to increase the challenge by starting in Biassa. This was not a good idea as the path was overgrown, in bad condition and had no view.

Walk 5: Lerici to Tellaro

This looked like an easy walk on the map, but halfway along the path had been blocked.

We could have either turned back at this point (we didn’t know what other hazards lay ahead) or go on. We went on and the rest of the path was OK, but not great. We decided we wouldn’t do the walk again.

To add insult to injury, when we reached the small resort of Tellaro, we had to hunt to find a gelateria, and when we did, the ice-cream was not up to the usual standard. Tip: if you see the locals eating pre-packaged big name ice-cream, the local gelateria should be avoided.

Walk 6: Manarola to Corniglia

We started this walk at 6pm on a hot summer’s evening which was definitely not a good move. We opted to take the less strenuous route up to Volastra, at the higher end of Manarola, but it still seemed steep, never-ending, and was exhausting. Looking back we should have turned back at Volastra and returned to Manarola the way we had come. I have discovered there are buses from Manarola to Volastra if you want to give yourself an easier time.

From Volastra, the path is fairly flat before descending to Corniglia. From the village of Corniglia there are 377 brick-built steps down to the station, but there is a little bus running the route if you prefer.

The walk took about two and a half hours not including stops.

Walk 7: Corniglia to Monterosso

This is the only section that we needed to buy the Cinque Terre trekking card for (€7.50 for one day) and is made up of two sections – Corniglia to Vernazza and Vernazza to Monterosso. The sections take about two hours each and involve a lot of uphill and downhill. We found the first section easier and better-maintained. These two walks were the busiest we have done in the Cinque Terre area by far, but were not so crowded they were off-putting. Everyone walking the routes seemed equal to the task and at no point were we walking at the back of a slow-moving queue.

Walk 8: Riomaggiore circular

Wanting one final, but not too demanding walk today, we walked on the SVA from Riomaggiore up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Montenero.

From the Sanctuary we came down a steeper, more direct route back to the village which was fine,

and what’s more there was a lovely cafe once we were most of the way down.

The walking time was about 1 and a half hours and we decided this was a walk we would repeat if we were coming back to the area.