Is Cinque Terre worth visiting? Known as one of the most beautiful places in Italy, the Cinque Terre region often appears on many European bucket lists. Unfortunately, my personal experience in the region was far from perfect.

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Is Cinque Terre worth visiting?

My Stressful Weekend in Cinque Terre

This post was supposed to start with the words “I’m just back from an epic Easter weekend in Cinque Terre, one of the most beautiful places around the world.” Unfortunately, Cinque Terre did not live up to my initial expectations at all. This Italian destination has been one of my dream places for so long, and while I knew it was touristy, I was completely unprepared for the real Cinque Terre experience.

The goal of this post is not to discourage you from visiting the Italian Riviera, but rather to offer a word of caution: it may not always feel the way it looks in photos. Cinque Terre is undeniably beautiful and unique, no doubt about that. However, I want to shed light on some of the less glamorous aspects, so you can avoid making the same mistakes I did and have a more informed and enjoyable experience.

Where is Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is a coastal region located in the northwest of Italy, along the coast of Liguria. It consists of five small, picturesque villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

What is Cinque Terre known for

Cinque Terre is famous for its villages, known for their colorful buildings, steep cliffs, and scenic hiking trails connecting them. Due to its picture-perfect appeal, Cinque Terre is one of the most visited destinations in Italy. It is also a popular winemaking region, as the hillsides around the towns are covered in terraced vineyards. Due to its architectural significance and uniqueness, Cinque Terre is also recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

What is wrong with Cinque Terre?

Before visiting Cinque Terre, I was aware that it was one of the most popular destinations in Italy, so I wasn’t even considering going there in summer. However, the Easter holidays in Cinque Terre didn’t seem that bad. Especially since I had previously visited the French Riviera, Algarve, and Costa Brava (all some of the most visited place in Europe) during Easter. For some reason, I thought Cinque Terre would be the same. Well, I could not have been more wrong.

For this weekend, we rented a nice apartment outside the main Cinque Terre villages to avoid the overcrowded feeling and enjoy Liguria. Well… we did enjoy the apartment, traveling across the Italian Riviera was another story. Although we rented a car, I had read on blogs about the difficulty of parking and the convenience of the train connecting all five cities of Cinque Terre. So, we headed straight to La Spezia to travel by train. To our surprise, all the parking lots there were full. We waited for an hour in line until we could park. But when I thought that was just a minor setback, we took the famous Cinque Terre Express train. When it stopped in Manarola, it was the rock bottom of my European travels.

While I had previously visited many overcrowded and overpriced places, including Mykonos, Santorini, or Colmar during Christmas, I was still unprepared for what happened in Cinque Terre. Our train stopped in Manarola, the door opened, but there was nowhere to step out, as there were already thousands of people standing and waiting for something. The line of tourists exiting seemed to be stuck, not moving in any direction. Apparently, there was only one small tunnel connecting the Manarola station to the city. It was so overcrowded that we needed at least 40 minutes to get out. If you don’t have agoraphobia or claustrophobia yet, this is the perfect place to develop it. I couldn’t believe my eyes. And there were two local Italian policemen sitting on a bench chatting, instead of trying to manage the human traffic.

While Manarola has charming architecture, walking around was far from an enjoyable stroll through a small European town. There were so many people that there were lines everywhere, and no place to even grab a coffee. Honestly, for the next two hours in Manarola, I spent my time thinking of all the possible ways we could avoid taking that train again. Ironically, there was nowhere to run. The Manarola boat service was officially closed due to the weather conditions. Even though I clearly saw small boats bringing tourists, none were leaving from Manarola. Doomed to return to the train, we decided to get off in Vernazza on the way back, which was a bit less crowded than Manarola but still impossible to enjoy.

I initially thought we would spend two days exploring Cinque Terre, but I was so done. If you’d ask me what’s wrong with Cinque Terre, I’d say it’s not only the overcrowding, but also the way things are organized in Italy. They shouldn’t even sell tickets if the train station is going to get so overwhelmed. Local authorities should work on organizing the flow of people better. It reminded me of the nearest Portofino, where we spent three hours in a traffic jam to enter the small town, only to see the policeman at the entrance turning every car around, saying there were no parking spots in Portofino. Why not have a police patrol earlier on the road to let people know there’s no point in waiting in line for three hours?

Is Cinque Terre worth visiting?

I wouldn’t say Cinque Terre is absolutely not worth visiting. As you can see from my photos, it is a picture-perfect destination – you can’t take that away from the region. Maybe if you visit in winter on a weekday, it might be better, but honestly, I wouldn’t be willing to try it again myself. For me, it was not worth it. There are many overrated and overpriced destinations around the world that are still worth experiencing at least once – like Mykonos or Santorini, where I wouldn’t return, but it felt worth the hype to see those places once. However, in the case of Cinque Terre, I felt that a quick visit wasn’t worth the effort to get there, especially since we couldn’t even enjoy the vibe or stroll around due to the crowds. In my opinion, compared to other charming coastal towns in Europe, like those in the French Riviera, Costa Blanca, or the fishing villages of Asturias, Cinque Terre isn’t significantly prettier to justify the experience you go through while visiting this region.

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