The Cinque Terre is one of the most magical destinations on the Italian coast. It’s exactly what you imagined when you booked your plane tickets to Italy — pastel-colored houses spilling down cliffsides into the sea. Sounds pretty great, right? It is. Unfortunately, this is also one of the most expensive destinations in Italy — but it is possible to visit without totally blowing your Italy budget. In this post, I’ll provide some tips to visit the Cinque Terre on a budget. This Cinque Terre guide covers everything you need to save money while visiting these five magical villages.
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Cinque Terre towns
The “Cinque Terre” refers to five small villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. Each village has its own unique character. Connecting the Cinque Terre towns are hiking paths (some easy, some hard) and a train line.
If you’re in a rush, you can visit all five villages in a day (on foot or by train) — but if you want to explore each village thoroughly and fit in some beach time, longer is better. The ideal Cinque Terre itinerary is at least two full days — one to hike, and a second beach day.
Riomaggiore
Riomaggiore is the first village you’ll arrive at in the Cinque Terre. It’s right along the sea, with a cluster of buildings in the (flat) town center and residential areas extending into the surrounding hills.
Riomaggiore has a rocky beach in a pretty cove where you can safely swim, a small boat dock, and a handful of restaurants and shops. It’s a great base town if you’re visiting Cinque Terre on a budget — it has some affordable accommodation options. (More on this later.)
This is also the place to be during sunset. Buy a bottle of wine from one of the local markets, sit on the pier, and enjoy one of the best ocean views you’ll ever get.
Manarola
A short walk down an elevated boardwalk from Riomaggiore is Manarola. This town is smaller than Riomaggiore, but still feels pretty busy.
The cement pier here offers more outstanding views and is a great place for a picnic lunch. You can pick up traditional Ligurian flatbreads in town for about €3 and enjoy them here.
Manarola is more a stop-by-between-other-towns type of village — there isn’t a lot to do here besides stroll through.
Corniglia
Possibly the most beautiful — and certainly the least touristy — of the five villages, Corniglia sits precariously on the edge of a cliff above the sea.
Corniglia is tiny — it’s really just a small cluster of houses, with a couple of shops and restaurants scattered in between. It doesn’t have a beach. Getting here requires either climbing 300 steps or taking a shuttle bus from the train station, or hiking in. Because of its isolation, many tourists skip Corniglia.
The single best view in the Cinque Terre isn’t from the village itself — but if you hike partway down the path between Corniglia and Vernazza, you’ll get a to-die-for glimpse of Corneglia from above.
Vernazza
Vernazza is quite different from the other Cinque Terre villages, and the one to avoid if you want to visit the Cinque Terre on a budget. It has more of a beach-resort vibe. High-rise hotels disrupt the small town vibe, and rowdy tourist bars cater to visitors.
On the flip side, Vernazza is very pretty. To save money when you visit the Cinque Terre, skip the hotels, bars, restaurants and cafes here. And if you want to enjoy the sea without the crowds? Head down the hiking trail to Monterosso until you get just outside the village. You’ll see some large rocks overlooking the water. This is one of the locals’ favorite cliff-jumping spots. Don’t worry — the rocks aren’t too high, it’s totally safe, and it’s a great way to meet local friends.
Monterosso
The last village in the Cinque Terre is Monterosso. Similar to Vernazza, it’s bigger and more touristy, with beach umbrellas and pricey restaurants. But it also has the best beach in the area — a long strip of golden sand, and few waves in the sea.
If you get tired of lounging on the beach, go on a stroll through the village to find its authentic, local side. The cathedral is just a few blocks off the main strip, but feels totally untouched by tourists.
Honorable mention for visiting the Cinque Terre on a budget: La Spezia
Chances are, you’ll pass through the gateway town of La Spezia as you travel to and from the Cinque Terre. It’s where connecting trains depart from.
The downtown area of La Spezia doesn’t have much character. But it does have large supermarkets and other amenities. Pick up groceries and wine here before hopping on a train to the villages. It’ll cost you twice as much if you wait until you’re in Riomaggiore.
When to visit the Cinque Terre on a budget
If you’re backpacking through Italy on a budget, the time of year matters. Prices skyrocket in the high season of June-August. This is especially true in the Cinque Terre — due to its beachy location, its prices vary widely based on season.
The best time of year to find good Cinque Terre deals is in April or May. Hostels will be 20% cheaper and you can even book them last-minute. However, all the tourist shops and restaurants will still be open. The weather will also be warm and dry enough for you to hike and even enjoy a bit of beach time, without being blazingly hot.
Prices are also low in October-March, but the weather is more questionable. You may get rain in the autumn, while in the winter it will be too cold to enjoy the beach. Shops and restaurants close down. But it will be far less crowded and quite affordable.
If you must visit the Cinque Terre in the summer, expect high prices and big crowds. You can avoid the worst by booking your hostel well in advance — if you wait until the last minute, you may be sleeping on the beach!
Cheap things to do in the Cinque Terre
There are three main things to do in the Cinque Terre: Hiking, enjoying the village atmosphere, and hanging out at the beach. All of these are affordable. In fact, your only costs are food, accommodation, and a small fee to visit the villages.
If your priority while visiting the Cinque Terre on a budget is to keep costs low, consider using solely your feet as transportation. You can purchase a hiking pass for just €7.50, granting you access to all the trails for a day.
The official website has Cinque Terre hike trail maps. There are two types of trails: blue (easy) and red (hard), but honestly, neither is particularly challenging for experienced hikers. Segments of the blue trails also routinely collapse during rainy season, so you may need to take some red trails.
If you pick one Cinque Terre hike to do, I suggest the red trail between Manarola and Corniglia. This spectacular three-hour walk takes you up into the vineyards and farms in the mountains high above the villages, and you’ll hardly encounter another tourist. If you’re a serious hiker, you can cover the there-and-back route between all five villages (25 km) in a full, long day.
Not a hiker? No problem! You can purchase an all-day train/hike combo pass for €16. This allows you unlimited access to the trains that run every 30 minutes between villages. If you mostly want to hike but want to add in a train trip here and there, you can purchase the hiking-only pass, plus add €2 per train ticket.
If you’re staying in one of the villages, you can visit one of the legendary Cinque Terre beaches for free! Otherwise, your only cost would be the train ticket or hiking pass that you need to reach the village. Because of the cluster of hostels in and around Riomaggiore, it’s the most budget-friendly beach.
Whatever you do, don’t even think about trying to sneak onto trains or hiking trails without paying. Not only are there large fines, it’s also just a jerk move — with the massive influx of tourists in the Cinque Terre, local life has been pretty severely disrupted. Paying your fair share is one way to keep relationships between locals and tourists positive.
Where to stay in the Cinque Terre (if you can’t afford boutique hotels)
There is no way around it — the Cinque Terre is an expensive place to stay. If you’re not doing a Cinque Terre day trip, prepare to part with some serious cash even to stay in a dorm room.
If you have your heart set on staying in the villages, there are a handful of cheap hostels in Cinque Terre — mostly in Riomaggiore. The most popular is Affittacamere Patrizia. The owners operate a handful of dorms, private rooms, and apartments. It’s somewhat affordable — prices start from €35 — but while it has the highest rating of all the central Cinque Terre hostels, it doesn’t get the best reviews.
But really, the best town to stay in Cinque Terre is actually not one of the Cinque Terre villages at all — it’s the small village of Biassa, high in the hills above Riomaggiore. Ostello Tramonti is the lone hostel here, but it’s a great one. Views from the hostel’s patio are some of the best in the entire Cinque Terre region. The hostel has amenities like a €1 shuttle to Riomaggiore (free if you stay 3+ nights), hiking maps, and traveler information. But it’s far away from the tourist activity and very relaxed. They’re currently renovating, so expect even better facilities in early winter 2019.
Regardless of where you stay, you’ll need to book well in advance if you want to snag a room in a cheap Cinque Terre hotel. That means weeks in advance in July and August. In a pinch, you can sleep on the beach in Riomaggiore.
Where to eat if you’re in the Cinque Terre on a budget
Finding cheap food is another obstacle to travel in the Cinque Terre on a budget. Unfortunately, the Cinque Terre restaurant scene is pretty pricey. Although if you have the cash, dining on fresh seafood with a view of the ocean is pretty awesome.
The best locally-priced food is in the cafes in Corniglia, where tourist numbers are fewer. You can pick up a sandwich from any coffee bar for about €4. Alternatively, you can live off of foccacia — a Ligurian flatbread topped with rosemary and olive oil.
Once you reach the Cinque Terre, you won’t find any large supermarkets, and even corner stores are hard to come by. Your best bet is to stock up in La Spezia.
Luckily, you can still find affordable coffee, pastries, and gelato in each of the villages. Riomaggiore’s main street has a handful of great cafes where an espresso at the bar will run you less than €1. The gelato on the beach in Monterosso is a real treat.
How to get to the Cinque Terre (cheaply)
The Cinque Terre is roughly halfway between Pisa, in Tuscany, and Genova (Genoa in English) in Liguria. It’s most easily reached by train, via La Spezia.
You could do a Cinque Terre day trip from Florence, Pisa or Genova. But it would be a very long day. It also wouldn’t be particularly cheap, since you’d have to buy there-and-back train tickets on the same day.
Far better is to take the train in and spend a couple nights. If you’re heading onward to Milan or the Lake District, you could take the train from Pisa/Florence, stop at the Cinque Terre, and then continue to Milan via Genova. For details on how to get from Milan to the Cinque Terre, click here.
The train from Pisa (two hours) is €8, from Florence (3.5 hours) €14, and from Genova (two hours) €8. You never have to purchase train tickets in advance for local trains in Italy. Check schedules here.
The closest airport to the Cinque Terre is Pisa.
Summing it up: Total budget for the Cinque Terre
At the extreme low end, it is possible to plan a Cinque Terre itinerary on under €35 a day — €20 for a dorm bed outside of the villages, €7.50 for national park fees, and €5 for food.
You may be jealous of those rich tourists eating at fancy cafes and renting their beach umbrellas, but don’t let that stop you — even if you must visit the Cinque Terre on a budget, it’s worth it to see one of the most beautiful and charming corners of Italy.
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