Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Activities
Hiking
Coming to Cinque Terre and not hiking is like sitting down for dinner in an Italian restaur-
ant and eschewing the wine. The blue-riband hike is the 12km
Sentiero Azzurro
(Blue Trail;
marked No 2 on maps), a one-time mule path that links all five oceanside villages by foot.
The trail dates back to the early days of the Republic of Genoa in the 12th and 13th centur-
ies and, until the opening of the railway line in 1874, it was the only practical means of get-
ting from village to village. To walk the Blue Trail you must first purchase a Cinque Terre
card for €5. Far from flat, the Azzurro is a narrow, precipitous hike, though people of all
shapes and sizes complete it every day. The most popular direction of traffic is east-west,
beginning in Riomaggiore and finishing in Monterosso, starting on the famed Via
