Monterosso al Mare Travel Forum

Leaving for Italy end of August. Booked hotel in Levanto. Would like to hike the Cinque Terre trail (azzuro/blue trail). Couple btw 46 & 54 in fair shape; bad knee. How varied is the blue trail terrain? thanks

The Blue Trail is the lower trail (#2) so there's not a tremendous amount of elevation gain. But there are a fair number of steps in various places. Hard to know what to tell you, except that I don't think any trail, except perfectly flat, is good for someone with a bad knee. You can always turn back if you don't like the looks of the route and take the train or local minibus.

Last time I was there, Trail 2 was closed between Manarola and Cornelia.

Between Manarola and Monterosso, #2 is completely flat, but perhaps the least scenic part of the route (unfortunately, lots of graffit).

The pass you buy to walk the trails also allows you to take the train or the small buses. But the train can be a long walk from the center of the town (Manarola), or many, many steps (Corneglia). But once you get up on the trails (the high trails are the most spectacular) you'll be gobsmacked by the beauty!

Manarola to Riomagarrio is an easy walk - someone said, "Even a wheel chair person could make it." Wasnt quite that easy but . . .

We did a little of the Manarola to Corneglia and that was rough - very uneven walkway but spectacular.

Sorry to disagree with previous poster, but the railway station at Manarola is almost in the centre of town (via a tunnel).

BTW we loved Manarola and stayed at the Marina Piccola -http://www.hotelmarinapiccola.com/index.htm