faraway fara

The five lands. These little, brightly colored towns are built on very steep hills close together. The towns are accessible by train, foot, and boat.

There are a ton of great articles and websites on these cities that include the differences between each city and help you choose which ones to visit. No matter which one you choose you should be ready to walk up a lot of stairs. They are steep, but the views are worth it. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you prefer to be off the grid) the cell service is not great and there is not much Wi-Fi available. Not to worry, you will have lots to explore to fill your days.

The cities are fun to visit if you are in the area. They are romantic and have an excess of gorgeous views. Luca thinks they are a great example of how cars ruin a city.

Visit 2015 with Luca

Walking In

Luca and I visited the Cinque Terre in 2015 and stayed for three days. We did a little road trip so we had a car that we parked on a road outside the cities and hiked our way in. The walk took somewhere between 30 and 60 mins (it’s been a while now!). The view of the ocean and the city was beautiful the whole walk in.

The Room

Once we got into the city we went to get the keys to our room. We met the host in a small shop on the main street of the first town. He took us on a steep walk up lots of stairs to our room. *note that if you stay here you will very likely have to hike your bags up a lot of stairs to your room*

Our room was tiny and cute with low ceilings and a little balcony. The perfect height for me, but Luca had to duck to avoid hitting his head in parts of the room.

Adventures

We swam, ate, and walked around the town. We did pretty much the same thing in three of the Cinque Terre towns using the train to get between each them. The train comes by often and is very cheep to ride between towns. You also get a great view of the water from the train.

I also had the best salmon pasta of my life in one of these towns. Luca and I both remember the restaurant that served the pasta, however, we remember different restaurants. Maybe one day we will go back and get to the bottom of our salmon past mystery. For now it is a delicious memory.

Visit 2022 with Maria and Fernie

Maria, Fernie, and I did a day trip when they visited in August. We took the train from our town of Rosignano to the Cinque Terre and saw two of the towns. The train had two transfers, but was an easy trip taking about 3 hours one way.

We had pasta, salad, gelato, and coffee. We walked all over and hiked up a bunch of stairs (always up). We also were able to squeeze in a quick swim before hopping back on the train to go home. The water is super clear and there are fish to look at right when you get in.