We are so excited to write our first travel review on our blog! This June we decided to visit Liguria, a region in the north of Italy full of beautiful villages and hidden paradises. It was an amazing adventure, with all its challenges and breathtaking landscapes.

Where is Liguria

Liguria is in the northern part of the Italian Peninsula, right between the Mediterranean Sea and the Alps. The Riviera Ligure is one of the most beautiful coasts in Italy and Europe, and is typically divided in Riviera di Ponente, north of Genova, and Riviera di Levante, south of Genova. We had the pleasure of visiting the breathtaking Riviera di Levante, which includes La Spezia, Porto Venere, Le Cinque Terre, Portofino, San Fruttuoso di Camogli and much much more.

La Spezia

Our adventure starts from La Spezia, the second Ligurian city in terms of population after Genova. This city is famous for its military and commercial harbours and because of its important port, but it is mainly known because of its connections with the Cinque Terre, which attract millions of tourists every year.

Porto Venere

Porto Venere is on the southern end of a peninsula on the Riviera di Levante. It can only be reached by car as there is no train station, and in the summer time it is packed with tourists. We were hoping to find a parking space next to the port, but we drove around 30 minutes until we gave up and decided to park right at the top of the hill and to walk down under boiling sun.

Our efforts were well rewarded as we walked into this beautiful port made of colourful houses falling right into the sea.

We couldn’t stand by too long unfortunately as we had booked a table at Le Tre Torri and we were already late due to the parking situation. We had heard great things about this restaurant and we weren’t disappointed.

We started with an antipasto misto di pesce, which included a variety of fresh fish caught on the day.

We then had some paccheri agli scampi and some gamberoni grigliati. Paccheri are a typical Italian pasta that blends amazingly with fish, while gamberoni are literally giant prawns. They were absolutely delicious!

After a refreshing lemon sorbet and a glass of Amaretto, we thanked the manager Alberto for the amazing fish meal, and we asked him for some suggestions on what to do. He told us that behind the restaurant there are some stairs that bring you at the highest point of Porto Venere, where the view is breathtaking. How could we say no to that? Getting there was a bit of a challenge due to the heat, but it was absolutely worth it.

After having taken photos from every possible angle, we decided to head back to our car as we were exhausted and headed back to our apartment.

Le 5 terre – History

The next day we decided that it was time to visit the famous Cinque Terre. These five villages are on the Ligurian Coast and feature Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The peculiarity of these villages is most certainly the colour of its houses. However, differently from common belief, these were only painted in the late 1970s and were not always like this. Still, they are absolutely amazing!

There are two ways of reaching these dreamy villages. You can either purchase the Cinque Terre Card, which gives you access to a number of services such as shuttle busses, train from La Spezia and tracking trails, or go by car. We are quite adventurous and decided to go by car, but we strongly advise to purchase the card as you can hop on and hop off the train anytime you want. Driving there was challenging but fun, and was very similar to driving through the Costiera Amalfitana, another amazing Italian coastline. The roads are very narrow and you can see the coast from up above. We were very disappointed to find out that the road after the second of the five villages was closed due to an avalanche, and were only able to visit Riomaggiore and Vernazza.

Vernazza

Even though the first of the Cinque Terre we passed by driving from La Spezia was Riomaggiore, we decided to spend the day in Vernazza, as we had heard so many beautiful things about this village. We arrived there by car after a long and difficult drive, and walked down to the village. The first thing we noticed were all the amazed tourists getting off the train and the little boutiques.

Sciacchetrà is a local sweet wine produced in the hills of Cinque Terre and is typically paired with desserts or cheese. Central to the identity of this region, families have been passing down this winemaking tradition for generations. We absolutely had to try some, and we really suggest you do the same as it was amazing.

After our brief stop, we walked down to the port and along the pier, where we admired the beautiful view and colourful houses!

Next stop was the Castello di Doria, as we really wanted to take some pictures from the top of the castle. This castle was built in the 15th century as a lookout tower to protect the village from pirates! It was quite challenging getting to the top, but again, very rewarding.

After having longly appreciated the beautiful view and refreshing wind, it was time to go back home unfortunately. So we headed back to our apartment for a well deserved rest.

Camogli – San Fruttuoso

After having spent the previous night in Versilia, a lively promenade where many tourists and locals spend their nights out, we decided to head for a new adventure. Our new destination was Camogli, where we wanted to do some trekking before arriving to San Fruttuoso, a hidden paradise on the Ligurian coast.

We took the train from La Spezia to Camogli, and that is where our adventure began. We walked 220 metres up to San Rocco, a small typical Italian town with a beautiful view over the coast.

After taking enough pictures for our Instagram and Snapchat accounts, we started descending towards San Fruttuoso. It took us around 2 hours to reach this paradise, but is was really worth it as the water was so refreshing and clean.

After relaxing for two hours on the beach and a lovely refreshing ice cream, we took the last available boat to Portofino.

Portofino – Santa Margherita Ligure

Portofino is a fishing village famous for its picturesque architecture and its association with celebrities and artists. The classiest villa in the village is probably Dolce & Gabbana’s, but Giorgio Armani’s is not far behind.

After a brief stop in Portofino, we hopped back on the boat and headed to Santa Margherita Ligure, where we stopped for yet another ice cream before heading back to La Spezia on the train.

Our view

This experience in Liguria was truly amazing for us. Even though we only stayed three days, we managed to see almost everything that we wanted to see. We rented an apartment in La Spezia which gave us easy access to the Cinque Terre and to Porto Venere. We also rented a car, but our suggestion would be to only travel by train as parking can be very challenging and the public transport works pretty well. The trekking from Camogli to San Fruttuoso was probably the most adventurous and accomplishing thing we did, but we would advise to properly figure out where to go and how to get there as it is very easy to get lost. And if you don’t feel so adventurous you can simply get the boat from Santa Margherita Ligure. Our only regret was not being able to visit all five of the Cinque Terre, but we are sure that the next time with the hop on hop off ticket it will be easier to do so.