Traveling to Cinque Terre is no joke! Sure, the place itself looks like a quiet and serene haven where you can relax and slow down, but this doesn't mean don't have to prepare beforehand. On the contrary, you'll benefit more from taking a step back and planning your trip carefully so you can really enjoy the place at your own pace. As with everything else, you never know how things are gonna go, even when you go to the paradise-like Cinque Terre. So to help you out, here are important tips to follow when you go to Cinque Terre!
Get a Cinque Terre Card
Just like in any other city, Cinque Terre offers its own travel pass for the tourists' convenience: the
Cinque Terre Card. There are two types you can choose from when you
get here: the Trekking Card and the Train Card. The former, the Trekking Card, gives you access to the hiking trails in Cinque Terre, as well as payment to ride the bus service within the area. While the latter, the Train Card, has all those aforementioned benefits as well as access to the Cinque Terre Express, which travels throughout all
the towns in the area. As you can tell, the Train Card is the better option but it is comparatively pricier to that of the Trekking Card.
Schedule Your Trip Properly
One of the most important things when preparing for a trip to Cinque Terre is to schedule it properly. For one thing, you'd do well in going here around April to May and September. These months have mild weather and are the off-season for tourists. You'll face fewer crowds here than in other months of the year. Moreover, you have to note how long you'll stay in each town. Depending on the overall duration of your trip, a minimum of three days in each town would suffice. Don't try to fit two cities in one day! The travel time to get from one village to the next will already take up most of the day.
Put On Sunscreen
Remember that in a place like Cinque Terre, you'll spend most of your time outdoors. Even if you're not going to the beach, because of how Cinque Terre is laid out and perched atop the mountainous region of Liguria, you're still exposed to the sun. So to ensure tha you don't get fried along the way, put on some sunscreen. This may seem like a basic tip that should already be a given, but you'd be surprised at how many forget to put it on simply because they're not at the beach. The sun is just as scorching hot in the Cinque Terre towns as they are on the coastlines!
Pack Some Light Layers
On the flipside, Cinque Terre tends to get cold during the autumn and winter months as well. It doesn't go as far as to expect snow here, but it does get chilly during this time of the year. So despite Cinque Terre's reputation as a sunny paradise, make sure you still pack some light layers when you go here.
Italian summer staples are all well and good, especially if you have plans of flaunting it all on the beach, but at night, at the risk of shivering to death, you might want to keep a cotton cardigan or a thin sweater on hand!
Bring A Power Bank
Cinque Terre is the type of place where you'll spend most of your time outside. No matter how you spend your day here, rest assured, you'll be away from your accommodation for most of the day. There's a good chance you'll even rarely go indoors as well! And such instances, when will you find the time to charge your devices? Even if you charged them overnight and started the day with full batteries, with all the photos you'll take for Instagram and
transportation apps you'll use to help you get around, you'll still drain it all before the day is through. So in that case, pack a power bank so you can charge all your gadgets even while exploring Cinque Terre!
Expect A Lot of Seafood
As far as food in Cinque Terre is concerned, seafood reigns supreme here. From anchovies to scampi, you'll find that most of the towns in the area are all about seafood! And you ought to know this even before you got here so you can plan ahead. What if you're allergic to most seafood served in Cinque Terre? Or what if you simply don't like them? If you didn't prepare your own snacks beforehand, you risk starving to death here. And you wouldn't want that to happen, would you? Of course, not! In any case, shopping for ingredients and cooking for yourself would be a good alternative! But let's hope it doesn't have to come to that!
With a place as exotic and dream-like as Cinque Terre, you never know what's in store for you when you go here! To ensure you have the best time in this Italian paradise, follow these tips on traveling to Cinque Terre! They might benefit you more than you realize!
