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Levanto to Portovenere
This is the map from the wonderful Sunflower Books guide of a section of Mediterranean coast below Genoa (click for a larger version). We went in early April 2024 to get lovely sun and coastline. We got the sun except for one day, but the attraction of the Cinque Terre is its charming painted villages nestling in narrow valleys between steep rocky slabs, so much of the walking is some way up from the sea. There are lots of tourist facilities (and tourists), but there is no network of paths around, and there are always rocky places. There are a few horizontal sections, but not many; we had an interesting week!
You can get to Levanto directly by stopping train from Genoa Sestri Ponente airport station (take the shuttle bus or walk for 15 minutes), and back from La Spezia (faster either way if you change at Genoa Brignole station). The walks we did are all in the Sunflower guide, and I used www.mapy.cz for navigation, for which you can download the area map for free.
The train system is wonderful, they have bored tunnels through the mountains; and there is a good ferry boat system too, so you can easily go up and down the area. What follows is just what happened to us.
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Day 1: Levanto to Madonna di Soviore We walked from Levanto (photo 1) over the hill (walk 2 in the Sunflower guide) to get our first glimpse of the Five Towns (photo 2) and down to Monterosso (photo 3), and discovered how tough it was! We took a late lunch at the first pizza place we saw (wonderful) and then, because we couldn't find a room in Monterosso, walked 450 metres uphill for two hours to Madonna di Soviore (walk 3, beginning, photo 4) which was lovely, with a little café/bar that was open on a Tuesday in spite of what the guidebook said. Day 2: Madonna di Soviore to Vernazza We finished walk 3, looking back to Monterosso (photo 5), taking much longer than the 'official' time carefully negotiating rock outcrops (photo 6). The views coming down to Vernazza were lovely (photo 7), but otherwise you might be better off on the lower walk into town (photo 8), even though you have to pay for it (you can buy tickets at the stations or at the start of the walk). Day 3: Vernazza to Corniglia Here we walked the path - again you have to pay - and very nice it was too! (Photo 9.) |
Day 4: Corniglia to Riomaggiore Photo 10 was the smallest cafe we had breakfast in, lovely. We knew that the last part of this path, beyond Manarola, was closed due to landslide, but we didn't know that the whole section was closed. So we walked down several hundred steps to the train station and took a train to Riomaggiore. We then took a boat (photo 11) back to Manarola (photo 12) for lunch. We found the other end of the closed path (photo 13). We could see an onward path over the mountain and it was steps, so doing walk 4 and then that would be a big day. We took the boat back to Riomaggiore. Day 5: Riomaggiore to Portovenere This walk (number 5 in the guide) is rated moderate-strenuous; Diana went by boat and I was nervous! But it was lovely; after a climb there were vineyards (photo 14) and a delightful, wooded section (photo 20), then as the descent began there were views of La Spezia on the left (photo 16) and the coast (sometimes quite exposed) on the right (photo 17). The final descent is steep (photo 18) but the steps are good. However I noticed I had to be more careful of my balance than when I was younger. |
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