7 Things to do in Manarola, my favorite town in the Cinque Terre 

Visiting the Cinque Terre soon? Lucky you! Here are 7 things to do in Manarola, my favorite village in Italy’s beautiful Cinque Terre!

Years ago, I fell in love with the colorful dream that is Manarola, my favorite seaside village in Cinque Terre. At the time, I was captivated 4,000 miles away by dramatic scenes in a coffee table book. I spent subsequent hours Googling dazzling photographs of pink, yellow and orange homes piled one above another – atop a sheer cliff overlooking the Ligurian Sea.

Professional photographs – taken undoubtedly at golden hour – do Manarola a decent amount of justice. But actually seeing this fairytale town in person? It’s like nothing I could’ve imagined.

We arrived on a rainy night, meaning I was in my dream destination … but couldn’t actually see it. Talk about painful. I went to bed immediately after dinner so I could wake up, sip coffee on our balcony and finally greet the place I’d been dreaming of for a lifetime.

What a wake-up call it was.

I sprung out of bed, ran to the top floor and didn’t just get my first look at the Cinque Terre – I was graced with a view of colorful Manarola shining brightly beneath a half rainbow. I didn’t need a leprechaun, and screw the pot of gold. In that moment, I knew I’d found one of my best travel treasures of all time: Manarola, Italy – my favorite town in the Cinque Terre.

OK, OK. You understand I’m semi (well, super) obsessed with this terre – but it’s more than just looks! Here are 7 things to do in Manarola to ensure your experience is as perfect as mine!

1. Wine at Nessun Dorma

Catch my darling town while devouring local wines by enjoying an epic sunset at Nessun Dorma, a scenic bar overlooking Manarola. The views are incredible, the food is top-notch (we even got free bread with pesto!) and the wine? Well, it’s Italian wine so obviously it’s good – but up here, the wine’s also photogenic. I couldn’t stop photographing…

2. Dinner at Il Porticciolo

When it comes to food, Cinque Terre is known for two (absolutely delicious) things: pesto and seafood. You can find pesto pasta at pretty much any restaurant in Manarola, but for the best seafood, make a stop at Il Porticciolo. We started with the seafood sampler platter (yes, I realize that oh-so-American “sampler platter” makes it sound less fancy, but bear with me). It had all sorts of seafood, including some I’d never tasted – such as raw shrimp.

Surprisingly, the anchovies both at Il Porticciolo and around Cinque Terre are prepared differently – less salty, and super fresh. They were actually my favorite part of this sampler, next of course to the fresh oysters … because fresh oysters.

For the main course, I added onto my seafood overload, ordering spaghetti with mussels in red sauce. Given I spent my entire Italy trip in “carbo-load mode,” I finished the entire meal. Oops.

If you have more days to fill up, give Trattoria dal Billy a try!

3. Early morning strolls

We visited in the offseason (late March), which meant we woke up and strolled through town alongside locals – and only locals. By waking up early, there were no tour buses and no hikers – we had Manarola and its amazing vantage points entirely to ourselves.

So, our mornings went a little something like this:

Wake up, try to figure out apartment’s hot water machine, opt not to shower because I can’t figure out hot water machine, stay grungy, throw on sweats, stroll down to the waterfront, climb on the rocks, nearly drop my camera in the ocean, photograph with said camera I saved, survive climbing back ashore, find foccaceria for pizza breakfast (more on that below), grab coffee, go back to apartment, give hot water machine another try, inevitably give up, face the world grungy yet again …

Long, uber-cool story short? Manarola is my favorite, but mornings in Manarola are my favorite favorite.

4. Sunset at Punta Bonfiglio

To get the iconic Cinque Terre shot – you know the one – take a stroll down to the waterfront in Manarola. Walk down the main street toward the waterfront (you’ll know you’re going the right way if you’re walking downhill). Once you reach the dead end, take a right and follow the trail up until you reach that perfect lookout spot (you’ll know it when you see it). This is right below Nessun Dorma, so if you already checked out the fabulous happy hour spot, just retrace your steps!

 

5. Focaccerias

Let me preface this by saying I ate pizza for breakfast every single day in Manarola. Said differently: I was living my best life. In Cinque Terre, focaccerias – cafés serving pastries and focaccia-style sandwiches like pizza – are a mainstay, meaning pizza for breakfast isn’t only acceptable. It’s cool.

So I ate it for breakfast, and in most cases for lunch. My favorite spots in Manarola are Pan & Pumate (on Via Antonio Discovolo) and Bar La Plancia, further down toward the water.

6. Hike into Manarola

All Cinque Terre visitors want to get the iconic shot of Manarola’s colorful cliff-side homes, but few actually walk into that part of the village. While it’s mostly residential, it’s an interesting way to see the other side of Manarola – and I always love overlooking your go-to overlook spots, in this case Punta Bonfiglio. (No? Just me? Well, moving on…)

7. Explore the rest of Cinque Terre

While I love Manarola with all my heart (to the point I get butterflies when I look back at photos), I would never condone just going to Manarola. You’re in Cinque Terre, you obviously have to visit all five terres! See here for my “wish I’d known that” guide to hiking through Cinque Terre.

Now, let me leave you on a rather boring note: Manarola logistics. {Yawn.} But seriously. Logistics are your lifeline!

• The Manarola train station is really close to town; if you’re walking toward the water, turn left after you pass the restaurant Scorza Cesare; it’s just a few minutes walking to reach the station. If it’s your first time taking the train, purchase a ticket from the train station cashier and don’t forget to validate it using the green machines before you board! (For tickets, you can do day or multi-day passes that include Trail 2 hiking fares and free WiFi in the stations – plus unlimited train rides. This is a good deal, so take them up on it!)
• There’s little to no parking in Manarola, so if you’re visiting via road trip, either leave your car at La Spezia train station garage, or find an apartment rental or hotel that has parking outside the main town. Our apartment had a free parking garage just outside town (about 10 minutes walking); this was the perfect way to keep our rental car safe and out of the way. If you’re road tripping to Manarola, let me know in the comments below and I can tell you where we stayed!
• Consider visiting in the off season. I know I mentioned this in my hiking guide to Cinque Terre, but I can’t stress it enough. When we visited, we’d end the nights and begin our mornings as some of the only travelers in town. From what I hear about the peak season (after Easter through summer) that changes drastically. Obviously, you can’t always control timing, but if you can, go off season! Weather can be iffy, but we ended up with three days of sun (only a few short rain showers).
• Restaurant staff and shopkeepers know English for the most part; just be ready to pick up on point-and-guess cues and try to speak Italian if you can!

And… that is all! Are you heading to Manarola or elsewhere in the Cinque Terre? Leave your questions below!