Discover Cinque Terre with a food walking tour

Enjoy the beautiful five villages in Cinque Terre 

The splendid coastal area of ​​Cinque Terre in Liguria has been named after the five small villages located on a 15 km long stretch of the coastline. The landscape is just breathtaking with its green hills lined with terraced olive, lemon and vineyards. They also form a fantastic  backdrop to the pastel-coloured houses of the charming villages and the rocks that descend into the deep blue sea. Lord Byron called this part of the coast “The paradise on earth” and Cinque Terre was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1997. The area is a protected National Park and many come to walk on the beautiful hiking trails.

Hiking: The walking trails on the Cinque Terre were once the only way to get between the five villages Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore, located along an inaccessible but incredibly beautiful coastline. Nowadays there is a local train, and local boats during the warm season, that connect the villages. In the Cinque Terre National Park there are 120 km of hiking trails of different difficulty and the possibility of booking a hiking guide.
During peak season the hiking trails can be very crowded and a good idea is to choose alternative periods.

Food tour at Cinque Terre

Together with the guide we take the small train or the boat between the villages and instead of a stop for a classic lunch, we make a nice walking food tour.  We taste different local specialities in different places like: typical “focaccia” with ligurian pesto, “farinata” made of chickpeas flour, local wine, vegetable pie, ice cream.
The tour can end with a mini-cruise with an aperitif on board.

Excursion to Portofino

Excursion along the beautiful Tigullio bay in private minivan to the seaside resort of Santa Margherita. After a short walk we take the ferry to the famous small village of Portofino located on the edge of the beautiful Peninsula of Portofino. But first we go to the monastery of San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte, located in a small bay near Portofino surrounded by a protected land and marine area. The monastery was built by Greek monks in the mid-900s and later taken over by Benedictine monks before it was eventually donated to the state. At the bottom of the sea in the small bay there is a famous Jesus statue. It’s only possible to get to the monastery by boat (or by a quite tough hiking trail) so in case of rough sea the visit will be cancelled.