It’s been a rather long time since I’ve been, so no specific reccos, but a few thoughts on CT
If you have the time, spend a late afternoon / early evening in La Spezia, an otherwise humdrum port town, but their early evening passeggiata is excellent with some perfectly suited pedestrianised central streets. There’s great vibrancy to it. We did find a good wine shop, which might still be there. Note that the area immediately outside La Spezia train station can be a little grubby/smelly, but the town itself is fine.
If the tourist crowds on the coastal paths get to you, then head up one of the paths leading inland. They’re steep for sure, but not overly long, and the contrast to the over-populated coastal paths is remarkable.
If you fancy a slightly longer boat trip, with an attractive coastal village at the end, take the boat from any of the CT villages to Portovenere.
Obviously Trofie al pesto is everywhere and delicious.
But the grand prize is Testaroli al Pesto. You’ll need to ask around or search the menus. There are two places in Manarola that make it. Lots of Italians don’t even know what it is. Can only get it Liguria.
We got to Vernazza very early in the morning, around 7am. It was a great way to see the town wake up before all the tourists arrive. We got to see the bread man making his rounds, and the town square smelled so delicious.
+1 on the coastal paths, but they aren’t always open. Check here for trail status:
We loved Cappun Magru in Manarola for lunch. I believe they sell wine by the bottle, all local. Cinque Terre whites are really interesting, highly mineral-driven wines that match the local seafood brilliantly. (I did not try any reds.) There is also a wine shop toward the bottom part of Manarola that also carries many local wines.
I’ll add that the 8.6 Km trek in 5 towns would constitute one of the most memorable treks in your life. I mean, why do CT if you don’t walk by the cliffs?
OK folks, this response is beyond anything I would have dreamed of. I am going to assemble all the suggestions and see which we can hit this time vs next. We stay in Nice FR at different times during the year, so we travel easily to Italy (a one to four hour “commute”). You all have really improved our upcoming trip. We WILL do some of these things this trip and follow with another trip. Thanks so so much. Great effort Berserkers! And if I can have any of you over in Nice to pull a bottle from our library, let me know. I have plenty of bottles from Italy and Burgundy (Antic Wine in Lyon - thank to Berserkers and Winetip in Italy, the same). We’re six stories up on the Promenade with a stone throw to the Med Sea.
Thanks for the wine ideas. For the fun of it, I went into CellarTracker and input Liguria in Search. I then sorted two ways. First was by points. Second was by quantity in cellars. I wanted to see what folks liked from a point perspective. Then I wanted to see what vintner had the most bottles represented. Neither result produced anything worth chasing. So, unless I hear otherwise here, I’ll settle for whatever is in front of me and concern myself more with the weather and lunch.
