Riomaggiore Travel Forum

HI I will be a on cruise (Venice-Greece-Turkey-Rome) that drop by Naples. By the end of the cruise trip i will be in Rome. In your opinion, do you think it's still worthwhile to check out the 5 towns in Cinque Terre? They look similar to me.

I heard it will take 5 hours train from Rome to Cinque Terre. Once i get there, do you think it will take over 1 whole day to tour the 5 towns (Very small?!) ?
Any special sourvneir i should purchase from Cinque Terre?

Thanks
Terence

Terence
I'm a little confused if you're asking if there's a difference between Naples area and cinque terre?? Or a difference between each of the 5 towns themselve...

I'll say there are some similarities with Amalfi coast (just south of Naples) and the cinque terre, with the towns hanging on the ciffs, and the views over the sea. But the experience is much different. Amalfi is composed of larger towns sperated by miles of road.

Cinque terre are small Isolated & more intimate towns with great footpaths for hikes between them. Also a convenient train line connecting them.
Is it worth it to go? That's a personal call.. it sure is a lot of time on the train from Rome.. and that's after you have just seen places in greece and turkey. You can visit 3-4 of the towns in a day for sure, but I would only do this if I had the time to stay a night (i.e. not up and back from ROme int he same day!)
OK, sourvnirs.. cinque terre is famous for it's pesto, and there's also an expensive sweet white wine only from this area.

to get a further feel for the towns, check out my liguria page with photos from a visit last month.

Jon

Naples and the Cinque Terre are nothing alike - maybe they're the antipodes of Italian life and culture. Naples is a teeming, vibrant, chaotic city, a bit scary in places, with the worst traffic I've ever seen, fabulous art, architecture and archeology, and great food. (Do watch you valuables here.)

Some people love it, other people hate it.

The Cinque Terre are five formerly hidden sleepy little towns (they are still little and sleepy, but now, they have lot of people traipsing through them). They cling to the rocky hills overlooking the Ligurian Sea. The views from the higher hiking paths are some of the most fantastic sea panoramas you'll ever see. (The lower hiking paths can get very crowded, too.) The beauty of the place from on high can leave you breathless.

Whether you find the Cinque Terre worth your while really depends on what you're looking for and what you're interested in. But I would not encourage you to go there for one day from Rome. Personally, I love the Cinque Terre - but 10 hours of traveling for a day doesn't seem to be a good investment of your time.

There are many other wonderful small or medium-sized towns much closer to Rome which you could do as a day trip, not to speak of Rome itself.

Unless you've been to Rome before (several times!), I would opt to stay there and let myself be amazed by all it has to offer.