The Cinque Terre towns are five villages that sit along a jagged stretch of Ligurian coastline in northwest Italy. They’re small, vertical and dramatically positioned on cliffs, which is both their magic and, at times, their logistical headache. The towns line up along the Italian Riviera in Cinque Terre National Park, facing the Ligurian Sea.
They sit in La Spezia province, roughly an hour by train from Pisa and about two and a half hours from Milan. They’re only a few minutes apart by train, but the terrain between them is steep and rugged, which is why distances feel longer on foot than they look on the map.
