The Sentiero Azzurro, the Blue Path, connects the five villages of the Cinque Terre along twelve kilometers of cliff and vineyard. It is the great walk of the Italian Riviera, and three days is enough to do it properly — one village a day, with time for swimming, eating, and watching boats.

You can do it faster. People do it in a single day, racing from train to trail to train. They miss the point. The point of the Cinque Terre is the same as the point of most coastal Italian villages: you walk for a few hours, then you sit for a few hours, then you eat for a few hours, then the sun goes down.

Here is how to do it the unhurried way.

The five villages, west to east

Monterosso al Mare is the largest, with the only real beach and the only modern hotels. A good starting point because the trains arrive here from Genoa and Pisa.

Vernazza is the prettiest. A small harbor, a church on the rocks, pastel houses stacked up the hillside. You will recognize it from postcards.

Corniglia is the only one not on the water, perched on a 100-meter cliff. It is reached by a 365-step staircase from the train station. Fewer tourists make the climb. The view is better than the others.

Manarola has the best sunset. The walk from the village to the small headland on the western side, around 7 PM in summer, is the moment everyone takes photos of.

Riomaggiore is the working village, slightly more weathered, less curated than the others. The local wine is made here.

Day one: arrive in Monterosso, walk to Vernazza

Take a morning train into Monterosso. Leave your luggage at the hotel. Have an early lunch — anchovies, focaccia, a glass of white wine. The Ligurian coast is famous for anchovies and you will eat them in different forms all three days. Welcome it.

The path to Vernazza is the easier of the two main trail segments — about 3.5 km, ninety minutes at a slow pace, an elevation gain of around 200 meters. The trail starts at the eastern edge of Monterosso and climbs immediately. Within ten minutes you are above the village, looking down on red roofs and the ocean.

You walk through small terraced vineyards. The path is narrow in places, edged by drystone walls that have been there since the Middle Ages. You can see the next village for the last twenty minutes — Vernazza tucked into its small harbor, two hundred meters below you. The descent is steep. Take it slowly.

Arrive in Vernazza in the late afternoon. Find a small bar with a view of the harbor. Order a glass of Sciacchetrà, the local sweet wine. Watch the swimmers. Watch the boats. This is the rest of your afternoon.

For dinner, walk up the small main street and find any restaurant. The seafood is good everywhere. The pesto is sometimes excellent. Order what they tell you to order. They know.

Sleep in Vernazza. The B&Bs are small and family-run. Book three months in advance for summer.

Day two: Vernazza to Corniglia to Manarola

This is the harder day. The Vernazza-to-Corniglia segment is the steepest and the most beautiful — about 4 km, two hours, with a serious climb at the start. Bring water. Wear real shoes, not sandals.

The middle of this walk is the view you came for. About forty-five minutes from Vernazza, the trail flattens onto a long traverse with the cliffs falling away to your right and the entire Ligurian coast spread out behind you. There is a small wooden bench. Sit on it. Eat the focaccia you bought this morning. You will not regret the slowness.

Arrive in Corniglia for lunch. The village is small, almost entirely a single main street. The gelato shop at the top of the steps is famous — the basil flavor, in particular, is unusual and excellent. Eat one.

After lunch, the walk to Manarola. This segment, the Via dell’Amore, has been closed for landslide repair for years and has finally reopened in restored form. Check the official Park website before you go — sometimes a section is closed and you take the train through the tunnels for one short hop. This is not failure. This is normal.

Arrive in Manarola by late afternoon. Find your room. Walk down to the harbor before sunset. Swim if it is warm. Order an Aperol spritz at one of the harborside bars. Stay until the sun drops behind the headland and the lights come on in the village above.

This is the night you do not skip dinner — Trattoria dal Billy, a Manarola institution, requires reservations. The trofie al pesto and the seafood antipasto are the order. Save room for the panna cotta.

Day three: Manarola to Riomaggiore, and back to the train

The final segment is the shortest, about 1 km. It is also the easiest, mostly flat. You can do it in twenty-five minutes. Take an hour instead.

Riomaggiore is the last village. The harbor is small and working — fishing boats, drying nets, an old crane. The town is built up a steep ravine, with the streets terraced one above the other. You can walk up to the top in fifteen minutes and look back across all four villages you have walked through, the trail you took visible in places along the cliffs.

Have a final lunch. Buy a bottle of the local Sciacchetrà to take home. Visit the small church of San Giovanni Battista, which has fragments of frescoes from the 14th century.

The train to La Spezia is six minutes from Riomaggiore. From La Spezia you can connect to anywhere — Pisa, Genoa, Florence, Milan, Rome.

You have walked twelve kilometers in three days. You have eaten focaccia for breakfast on four occasions. You have watched the sun set on three coastlines that all looked subtly different. You will be back.

Practical notes

The trail pass. The Cinque Terre is a national park and the main trails require a daily pass, around 7 euros at the kiosks at each village’s trailhead. The pass also includes unlimited regional train travel between the villages — useful if a trail section is closed or if you want to skip ahead.

The trains. Trains between the five villages run every fifteen to thirty minutes. The journey from end to end takes about twenty minutes. Useful as a backup if you are tired, if the trail is closed, or if you want to start a walk from a different village.

The crowds. July and August are unbearable. Mid-September through October is the sweet spot — warm enough to swim, light enough to walk, half the tourists of August. April and May are also excellent, with wildflowers along the trails.

The boats. A ferry runs between Monterosso, Vernazza, Manarola, and Riomaggiore (it does not stop at Corniglia, because of the cliff). Worth doing one segment by boat for the view from the water. About 8 euros per stop.

The trick of the Cinque Terre, like the trick of most beautiful places, is to go at the pace it wants you to. Two trains, three villages a day, dinner at nine, gelato at eleven, sleep when you are tired. Three days is enough. Three days is also too short.

You will know what I mean.