Hiking Cinque Terre | Tourissimo

Stunning Portofino and Cinque Terre offer the best coastal hiking in the Mediterranean

The cluster of seaside villages known as Cinque Terre (Five Lands) burst onto the active travel scene no more than 20 years ago and has become one of the most visited destinations in Italy.

All villages were built on the same principle, with a castle erected on top of the mountain by the feudal families who originally ruled over the Cinque Terre and which served to defend the village against the Saracen invaders and pirates coming from the sea. Lack of open space created the characteristic tall, narrow houses. This is a perfect setting for a Magnifica hiking tour!

Cinque Terre has some of the best coastal hiking in all of Mediterranean and UNESCO recognized its beauty and uniqueness in 1997, listing it in the registry of World Heritage Sites. But don't expect it to be all large crowds and souvenir shops. Cinque Terre has managed to maintain its authenticity despite its popularity, and Tourissimo guides will take you behind the scenes and off the beaten path in many of the villages and places we visit. The tour also includes Portofino, which is not part of Cinque Terre but is worth the visit for its picturesque harbor and interesting history. Colorful, timeless fishing villages dot our hikes among olive trees, vineyards and fragrant flowers.

This tour was featured in this article in the Dallas Morning News. Read it to get the full picture.

Cinque Terre is also a great destination for lovers of food and wine, a place where farmers have been battling with the steep terrain for hundreds of years, creating small patches of cultivable land on terraces held up by dry stone walls. Down below, a deep blue sea and crashing waves will leave you in awe with each step.

Not sure if you can do it? Contact us to schedule a call about how demanding the hikes are.

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2025

USD 4,995

Private room (single supplement) USD 695

2026

USD 5,245

Private room (single supplement) USD 695

Duration:

7 days (6 nights)

Level:

Athletic

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I was really impressed with every aspect of the tour. Really loved it!

Michele Stapleton Cinque Terre Hiking Tour

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Day by Day

Day 1

Portofino - 1 hr - Flat

Our driver will meet you at the Malpensa Airport (Milan) for a transfer to Santa Margherita Ligure. After checking in at our hotel we will make our way to Portofino's picturesque waterfront, home of the rich and famous, where you can do some shopping or enjoy a gelato with a view. We will gather just before dinner for an overview of the tour while holding a glass of local white wine to welcome the week ahead. The dining room at our restaurant will afford a characteristic view of the harbor of Santa Margherita.

Day 2

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Day 5

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Day 7

Upon request and free of charge, you can use our Ferrino Mustang light aluminum alloy walking poles (highly recommended).

Ferrino walking poles

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Food and Wine

Cinque Terre boasts not only breathtaking views, but also quality food products that are linked to local land. Ligurian cuisine inherits a millenarian tradition which is tied to the history of the coastal life. In fact, today’s dishes preserve a certain authenticity than you can sense in their fragrance and flavor. Fish, as it is obvious, is very important: anchovies, bream, bass, cuttlefish, octopus and calamari are amongst the main ingredients in many dishes. Recipes are refined in a very healthy and simple way by adding aromatic herbs like oregano, thyme, and marjoram, which grow wild in the whole area, and by dressing with local olive oil (considered one of the best of Italy). Cinque Terre is famous for its salted anchovies. Anchovies are celebrated during two anchovy-centric festivals that are organized in June and September. And if you are not a fan, we dare you to try the Ligurian anchovies fixed raw with oil and lemon, flat-leaf with parsley and garlic, baked with potatoes, fried, or stuffed. Another iconic product is the lemon of Monterosso (Slow Food presidium), which is used on fish, but also to prepare sweets and cakes and for the local nectar called “limoncino”, a sweet digestive that will spoil your palate forever. Pesto (made with the local variety of small leaf basil) and focaccia (local flatbread served with olive oil and herbs or with cheese) can be found at any trattoria and deli and they are the street foods of Liguria. Once upon a time, winemaking in Cinque Terre was one of the distinct aspects of the area, but today there are only few people who work in this sector. The production is small and it is hardly exported outside of Liguria. Cinque Terre and Sciacchetrà are the two DOC wines. The first one is a delicate white wine of a pale yellow colour, ideal with seafood dishes, or with focaccia as an aperitif. The second wine is without doubt the most well known in the Cinque Terre. Sciacchetrà is a sweet, late-harvest wine, ideal with desserts. It has a limited production and is obtained from the fermentation of the same grapes as the white wine, though in this case they are left to dry for three months on trellis. The pressing of the grapes, which takes place at the end of November, could be the reason behind the origin of its name ("sciacàa", schiacciare).