Italy · Europe · northern hemisphere
Cinque Terre & the Ligurian Riviera is at its best for hiking in April to May and September to October. Good but not prime in March, June and November. Crowds peak in June and bottom out in December.
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swimming | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 40 | 67 | 90 | 90 | 67 | 44 | 14 | 14 |
| Lakes & Coastline | 11 | 15 | 42 | 62 | 89 | 91 | 72 | 70 | 91 | 67 | 18 | 12 |
| Hiking | 4 | 42 | 62 | 88 | 90 | 75 | 25 | 23 | 92 | 90 | 59 | 6 |
| Crowds |
Swipe the table sideways for the rest of the year.
Five villages on a cliff — you arrive by train, and the walking between them is the reason to come. The coastal path needs a paid card and sections close after heavy rain, sometimes for months
Stepped cliff paths with sustained climbs, bar the flat Via dell’Amore. A Cinque Terre Card covers the ticketed Blue Trail sections.
Day-tripping in July or August. The villages take roughly four million visitors a year into space for a few thousand.
April to October, with the Via dell’Amore on timed slots in high season
Steps, cliffs and crowds, with narrow paths that have drops beside them. The train between villages takes minutes and solves most of it.
Sleeping in the villages is what turns this from a queue into a place — the day-trippers are gone by early evening. Levanto and La Spezia are cheaper and minutes away by rail if the villages are full.
The Via dell’Amore and the Manarola–Corniglia section have both been closed for years at a time after slides. Check which sections are open before planning a day around them.Jan · Feb · Mar · Oct · Nov · Dec
Kept out of the score on purpose. Averaging a rare catastrophe into a monthly number would tell you something false; the warning is the honest form.
Check which sections are open before you plan a day around them — the Via dell’Amore and the Manarola–Corniglia stretch have both been closed for long periods after landslides. The high sanctuary paths are always open and always quieter.
0 is this destination’s own quietest month and 100 its busiest. The scale never compares one destination to another. Source: Wikipedia — Monterosso al Mare