10 Things to Do in Cinque Terre That Most Tourists Miss
There is no place in the world quite like Cinque Terre. But to experience it properly, you need to know where to look.
Table of Contents
- See the villages from the sea on a Ligurian gozzo
- Swim in the coves that can only be reached by boat
- Walk through the vineyards of Corniglia at dawn
- Taste hand-pounded pesto in Vernazza
- Discover Manarola outside peak photo hours
- Have an aperitivo at Monterosso harbour
- Explore the high trails of the National Park
- Try the salt-cured anchovies of Monterosso
- Levanto: the hidden gateway to Cinque Terre
- Choose the right moment — and arrive before everyone else
- Sources and useful links
1. See the Villages from the Sea on a Ligurian Gozzo
If there is one thing this guide wants to tell you before anything else, it is this: Cinque Terre is best understood from the sea. Not as an alternative to walking the trails, but as a foundational experience — the one that puts everything else into perspective.
Seen from the water, the Cinque Terre coastline is something entirely different from any image you’ve seen before. The villages reveal themselves in their true form — clinging to the rock with a tenacity that borders on the incredible, built vertically because horizontal space barely existed, coloured so that fishermen could recognise their houses from out at sea. The cliffs fall sheer into the water. Hidden coves appear unexpectedly between one headland and the next. The light changes everything with the hour of the day.
Navigating on a traditional Ligurian gozzo adds to all of this a historical and sensory dimension that a modern motorboat simply cannot provide. The wood, the slow rhythm, the closeness to the coast: it’s the way this sea has always been experienced, and there is something very specific you feel when you’re sailing inside it.
Our boat tours depart from Levanto and Monterosso, last between 2.5 and 3 hours, include stops for swimming and snorkelling, a bilingual local guide, and tapas or an aperitivo on board. It’s one of the best ways to begin any visit to Cinque Terre.
2.Swim in the coves that can only be reached by boat
The beaches accessible on foot in Cinque Terre — Fegina in Monterosso, the small harbour in Vernazza — are wonderful, but in summer they’re also crowded. What most visitors don’t know is that along this coastline there are hidden coves, reachable only by sea, where the water is as clear as glass, the seabed is alive rock, and even in July and August you can swim in what feels like near-solitude.
These coves don’t have names on signposts, they don’t appear in official guides, and you can’t reach them by swimming from the shore. You find them only by sailing into them — and when you get there, you understand why those who know them guard the secret carefully. The water of the Cinque Terre Marine Protected Area is among the cleanest in the Mediterranean: the Marine Reserve restricts motorised navigation in many zones and limits human activity to preserve the ecosystem. The result is a sea that is rarely seen elsewhere.
During our tours we always include, when conditions allow, one or two swimming stops in locations we select based on the season, the light and the sea conditions. We provide full snorkelling equipment: all you need is a swimsuit.
3.Walk through the vineyards of Corniglia at dawn
Corniglia is the only one of the five villages that doesn’t face directly onto the sea — it sits perched on a headland nearly a hundred metres above the water, reached from the railway station by a staircase of 382 steps. Precisely because of this it’s also the least visited of the five, the one that has best preserved its daily dimension, the quietest of the group.
But what few people know is that the countryside around Corniglia contains some of the most spectacular vineyards in the whole National Park. The terraces surrounding the village are still cultivated in traditional ways, with ancient grape varieties including Bosco, Albarola and Vermentino. Walking through them at dawn, when the light comes in at a low angle and the landscape hasn’t yet lost its night-time stillness, is an experience that tends to stay with you.
The Cinque Terre National Park has mapped a network of paths through the vineyards that connect to the main trail system. No special equipment is needed — comfortable walking shoes are enough — but it does require an early start. It is absolutely worth it.
4. Taste hand-pounded pesto in Vernazza
Pesto alla genovese is probably the most famous Ligurian dish in the world. But what you find pre-packaged in supermarkets across the globe has very little to do with what you taste here, made by hand with freshly picked Genovese DOP basil, Vessalico garlic, Italian pine nuts, Parmigiano Reggiano and Sardinian Pecorino, everything brought together with Ligurian extra-virgin olive oil in a marble mortar.
In Vernazza, as in the other villages, there are a handful of trattorias and local kitchens that produce pesto following the traditional recipe. The difference from any industrial version is immediate: the colour is different, the fragrance is different, the texture is different. And the flavour — especially on freshly made trofie, the classic Ligurian pasta — is of an entirely different order.
If you want to go beyond simply tasting, pesto-making workshops are offered across Liguria and are open to visitors. Some accommodation in Levanto and the surrounding area organise cooking sessions that include this preparation as part of a broader gastronomic experience.
5. Discover Manarola outside peak photo hours
Manarola is perhaps the most photographed village in Italy — that night view with the lights of the houses reflected in the sea has become one of the most shared images in the world. And popularity has a price: during the day, especially in summer, the viewpoint from which that photograph is taken is as crowded as almost anywhere in Italy.
But Manarola outside those hours is an entirely different place. Early in the morning, when the first trains are beginning to bring visitors but the lanes are still almost empty, the village still has its original scale. Cats sleep on doorsteps, fishermen sort their nets, the bar on the harbour serves coffee to the same regulars it has served for decades.
And then there is Manarola seen from the sea — which is a completely different perspective from any view on land. From the gozzo, approaching slowly, you can see how the village was built vertically on the rock, understand why each house has a different colour, sense the logic of a settlement that defied gravity for centuries. It’s one of the most beautiful views of the entire tour.
6. Have an Aperitivo at Monterosso Harbour
Monterosso al Mare is the largest of the five villages and the only one with a proper sandy beach. It also has the most lively harbour, with an active fishing tradition still very much alive and a string of bars and restaurants facing directly onto the pier. An aperitivo in Monterosso, at sunset, with the fishing boats returning and the sun dropping behind the headland of Punta Mesco, is one of those simple rituals that justify a journey.
Local Vermentino — a dry, fragrant Ligurian white wine with a slight maritime note — is the perfect pairing. Alongside it, the anchovies of Monterosso are a PGI-certified product with a history stretching back centuries in this territory: preserved under salt or in oil, they are one of the gastronomic reasons to stop here that you’ll remember long after you’ve left.
Monterosso is also the departure point for some of our boat tours: if you want to have an aperitivo at the harbour and then join the Sunset Tour, the combination works perfectly.
7. Explore the high trails of the National Park
The Sentiero Azzurro is the most famous, but it isn’t the only one. The Cinque Terre National Park has an extensive and varied trail network that includes high-altitude routes passing through forests, vineyards and ridgelines with views over the gulf and the Ligurian hinterland. These higher trails — the Sentiero Rosso in particular, which runs the full length of the ridge from Levanto to Riomaggiore — are far less frequented than the coastal path and reveal views that few visitors ever see.
Walking on the heights of the park also means encountering a different Liguria: the one of holm oak and chestnut forests, of abandoned terraces where the Mediterranean scrub is slowly reclaiming the hillside, of sundials and stone crosses that have marked the ridgelines for centuries. It’s a more intimate, quieter landscape that requires a little more physical effort than the low trails but rewards that effort generously.
For those departing from Levanto, the trail to Punta Mesco — with its abandoned lighthouse and its 360-degree view over the gulf — is not to be missed. It takes about an hour and a half to reach on foot and gives back a perspective on the landscape that no other point in the territory can match.
8. Try the salt-cured anchovies of Monterosso
The anchovies of Monterosso al Mare have a history of at least five centuries. They hold a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) — a European certification that guarantees their origin and their traditional production method — and are considered among the finest salt-cured anchovies in Italy. The flesh is firmer, the flavour is more complex and less saline than standard anchovies, and the method of preservation in wooden barrels, alternating layers of fish and coarse sea salt, has remained essentially unchanged for generations.
In Monterosso there are still a few artisan workshops that produce and sell them directly to the public. Tasting one — perhaps on a slice of warm focaccia, with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a glass of Vermentino alongside — is one of those simple and precise gastronomic moments that define a place. You don’t forget it.
For those who want to go deeper, local festivals and market events in the area sometimes organise guided tastings of the anchovies with local producers. The Cinque Terre official portal is a good starting point for finding events in the period of your visit.
9. Levanto: the hidden gateway to Cinque Terre
Most visitors to Cinque Terre barely notice Levanto. They take the train, get off at Monterosso or Vernazza, walk the trail, take their photograph, get back on the train. Levanto passes by as a station that doesn’t count.
And yet Levanto is one of the most beautiful villages on the Riviera di Levante. It has a long sandy beach — rare on this coastline — a medieval historic centre with thirteenth-century arcaded loggias, and a seafront promenade that is among the finest in Liguria. It has the Thursday morning market, bars frequented by locals, trattorias where a plate of trofie al pesto still costs what it did twenty years ago. It has the space to breathe that the Cinque Terre villages, under the pressure of mass tourism, have partly lost.
Levanto is also the starting point for some of the finest experiences in the area: the trails toward Punta Mesco, the boat tours that carry you along the coast toward the five villages, kayak excursions, and cycling routes into the hinterland. For anyone with more than a single day, it is absolutely worth using as a base for the stay.
Discover boat tours departing from Levanto
10. Choose the right moment — and arrive before everyone else
This is perhaps the most valuable thing this guide can tell you: Cinque Terre has a secret, and the secret is timing. The difference between seven in the morning and eleven is the difference between a quiet and extraordinary place and a crowd that takes your breath away in the wrong sense. The difference between May and August is the difference between a village that still lives authentically and a theme park under open sky.
Arriving early — at first light, before the morning trains bring the organised groups — means having the villages almost to yourself. Hearing the sound of the sea instead of the noise of backpacks and selfie sticks. Finding café tables still free and the bread still warm.
Choosing the right period — spring, autumn, even weekdays in summer — means finding a territory that reveals itself as it really is. Cinque Terre out of season is beautiful in a quiet and personal way that summer simply cannot offer.
And if you are here in summer and still want to find that space of stillness and beauty that you came looking for, the answer is the sea. A boat, early in the morning or at sunset, with the coast unfolding alongside you and the villages seen from the water as the fishermen always saw them. That space still exists — you just need to know where to find it.
🚢 The Best Way to Begin: Come Aboard
If there is one thing from this list that stays with you, let it be the first: Cinque Terre makes sense from the sea. Everything else comes after.
👉 Book the Day Tour 👉 Book the Sunset Tour 👉 Discover the Private Tour