In July 2014, from Genoa we took a regional train from Piazza Principe station 26 stops all the way to Vernazza, where we stayed for two nights. In a fairly busy two days we managed to visit all of the villages and islands of this WHS, making use of the footpaths, railway and ferry service.

The first village, starting from the west, is Monterosso. We travelled there by train in the evening and relaxed for a while eating bruschetta and ice cream.

The next village along is Vernazza, where we stayed. People say it is possibly the prettiest village, along with Corniglia.

Unfortunately several of the inter-village footpaths were closed when we were there, which I understand is not uncommon because the steep hills are prone to landslides. The most famous (and easiest) of the footpaths is the Via dell’Amore between Manarola and Riomaggiore, but it was one of those closed off. We instead walked the path from Vernazza to Corniglia, which is 3.6km and not for the faint hearted. It goes up and down and up and up and down, but it rewards you with great views of the coast and the sea. Because the village of Corniglia is located high up on a promontory, it is the only one you cannot land at by ferry, so it was lucky that it was the one we managed to walk to.

The next day we set off bright and early on a ferry ride that would take us to the other two villages of the Cinque Terre and then on to Portovenere and the islands. There were just enough ferry services in the day for us to be able to get off and spend some time at each of the villages. First stop for us was Manarola, where we climbed up a hill in order to get the view above. The town was packed with tour groups so we didn’t hang around too long, plus we had to get back to the ferry in order to carry on with our planned itinerary!

Riomaggiore is possibly the largest of the five villages, and probably the easiest to photograph. We spent a while there at a bar, enjoying the view and cooling down.

From Riomaggiore it is 12km down the coast to Portovenere, formerly a Roman settlement known as Portus Veneris.

Included in the daily ferry ticket was the option of an island tour, which made the otherwise rather pricey €27 fare worth it (for me at least). It is not the most interesting boat tour you will ever go on, but it allowed me to the see the islands that I would not otherwise have been able to: Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto.