We are overnighting in Livorno which gives us the perfect opportunity to visit Cinque Terre but the weather forecast is not favourable. We debate whether to go or not and the various options to get there; shore excursion USD159 each or wing it by ourselves.

We bit the bullet and set off with a rough plan. Livorno is a big port so we had to catch the €7 each bus shuttle into town from the pier. Then we found the Lam Blu bus to the Stazione (train station) and the ticket queues (tourists) were huge. So we found the train we wanted and booked online (€16.50 each) on the fast train to La Spezia which took about one hour 20 minutes.

Twenty minutes down the road at Pisa an Italian naval officer got on and sat next to us. He was returning home to La Spezia from duty in Buenos Ares. His English was a bit better than my Italian and we managed a conversation between us. I got a free one hour Italian lesson! I can read enough to get by and order chicken rather than fish. I can recognise spoken Italian vs German vs French but they speak too fast to listen into their conversations. He told us where to go, to miss out Corniglia if we needed to drop one and as we were passing through the Massa region explained this was where most of Italy’s marble comes from. You can see the big quarries from the train.

We transferred across to the regionale cinque terre train, a plush affair, and there were heaps of people. This might be the offseason but it was still busy. We were given a printed timetable, the trains don’t run as frequently as during peak and concluded we would only do four of the five towns.

We started with the furtherest village first Monterosso and work our way back. It had turned out to be a beautiful day, high teens, perfect for climbing hills. Walked to the right down and not much there. Walked back through the other way through the tunnel (which has cars and trucks hurtling at you) to discover the main part of town. We only had 40 minutes before the next train so it was a fleeting visit. Then we climbed up the stairs and around the cliff back to the train. Nice spot.

We had just over an hour in Veranazza which has to be my favourite. The medieval church has origins in the 13th century and was quite different from other churches we have seen. Lots of restaurants at the harbour but it was a bit early for a wine.

Next was Manarola which seemed a bit more upmarket and more residents. We spotted a GF Creperie and hadn’t yet had lunch. We took our hazelnut crepes down to the harbour to eat watching the sea crash in. We would have liked to do a boat trip to view from the sea but the sea is a bit rough. Next time.

The last town was Riomaggiore and I think everybody visiting the area had converged on the harbour for the sunset which was spectacular. This area would be so lovely on a warm, summer night when all the day trippers have left. Unfortunately the last train departs at 11.30pm, so would need to stay up quite late.

The trip back to port was pretty straightforward and we felt pretty competent. The maniacal bus driver from the Livorno train station got us in to town in half the time it took in the morning. I’m not sure how we didn’t hit something. The bus shuttle was round the block in the morning but everything was different at night. Another chance to try my best Italian – Scusi we are lost! In her excellent English, a most helpful young lady pointed us in the opposite direction one minute away. The shuttle turned up a minute later and we were back on board by 8pm.

We highly recommend Cinque Terre, the picturesque towns are all so different. We would like to come back and stay for a week or so. We would probably look at staying in La Spezia, a much larger city and only 10 minutes by train to Riomaggiore. End of October, early November would be a good time to visit with cooler temperatures and less crowds.