KEY POINTS:
It's not the longest walk in Italy, but it's one of the most famous. And, like all great walks, it leaves images of beauty in the mind and vestigial memories of pain in the hamstrings. It's the Cinque Terre (the five lands), named for its five tiny villages.
The walk starts (or ends) in the village of Riomaggiore and ends (or starts) in the village of Monterosso. In between are the three villages through which the walk passes: Manarola, Corniglia, and Vernazza.
All five villages hug the coastline of the Italian Riviera. Each is perched in whole or in part on cliffs or hilltops which run down to the sea. The track itself is never far from the sea, which is in view for most of the five and a half hours or so the walk takes. It's 11km and very steep, and walking from east to west, which means starting from Riomaggiore, is the easier way to do it.
Like the villages, the track hugs the cliffs and snakes along the sides of mountains which rise almost vertically from the sea. It's not a comfortable walk for those who suffer from vertigo. Below, 100m and more, the mild Mediterranean waves surge gently onto the rocks. Hundreds of metres above the track, trees cling to the rocky soil. On gentler slopes there are sporadic rows of vines, and terraced orchards. Only some of the vineyards along the Rhine, and on Cote Rotie in the Rhone, offer similar challenges to viticulture.
Although the walk is not easy, because of the frequent steep climbs, it is perfect for those who want to do it in stages, or who decide that a portion of it is quite enough.
First, one can stop at any one of the intermediate villages for a rest, or refreshment - or even for the night if necessary.
Second, there is a train which runs through the villages. Want to shorten the walk? Easy. Hop aboard to the next village.
Only dedicated walkers would do the return trip the same day, which means overnighting in either Monterosso or Riomaggiore. The logical, and most popular, means of returning is by train.
There are fast and slow trains. As the distances are short, the slow trains are better, with their views of the sea and the villages. The fast trains offer only brief glimpses. But the slow trains are regular, and the stations sell day tickets covering all five villages, and also the nearby village of Levanto, up until midnight.
You can also return by boat - far more pleasant and far more scenic, but also more expensive. Boats from every company on the Riviera cruise along this portion of coast, all through the summer. You have to specify which village you want to stop at, bearing in mind that Corniglia has no harbour.
The villages themselves, like most ancient European villages, are a mixture of the quaint, the beautiful, and the crumbling and the grubby. Houses, shops and restaurants snuggle into each other. Souvenir shops outnumber the others, and the restaurants raise their prices during the August season. Nevertheless, there is good eating and drinking to be found. The cobbled streets are narrow and steep and winding, and wooden boats are often parked in them. They are lowered into the water below by winch. Space is at a premium here.
The 11km walk is called the Blue Trail, and is the most popular of the walks in the area. But for the adventurous and dedicated walker there are longer hikes, most with frequent sea views, but others heading inland into chestnut forests, pine woods, and countryside dotted with dry stone walls and churches. The attraction of all these walks is that they are interlinked, and manageable. One can do all, or one or more, or bits of several.
Further information
Visit www.cinqueterre.it.
