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The Cinque Terre village of Manarola. (Photo courtesy of Valeriano Della Longa.)
Manarola is a near-vertical cluster of tall houses piggyback up the hillside. Because it has no harbor, just a landing, its main drag becomes a parking lot of boats that are hauled up each day after the morning fishing's done.
Alongside fishing—and some glorious sunbathing opportunities—Manarola's claim to fame is housing the Cinque Terre wine cooperative. This is where most of the area's 300 growers bring their grapes—laboriously collected from terraced vines up and down the coast, where they shuttle around on the world's tiniest elevated monorails—and have the turned into the light Cinque Terre DOC white wine...or, even better, dried, pressed, and turned into the powerful, sweet dessert wine sciacchetrà.
There's now a small museum in town devoted to sciacchetrà and to the winemaker's art in general (admission is included with the Cinque Terre Card). It's open Mar-Oct, daily 10:30am–5:30pm.
When the evening tide comes in, the long pebble beach to the north of town, below the trail as you approach Corniglia's train station, becomes a symphony of soft, wet clattering as the waves drag bowling ball-sized stones, worn spherical with age, over one another, then suck the water back out between the gaps.
«« The path to Riomaggiore |
The path to Corniglia »» |
Few people stay in sleepy, quiet little Manarola, a fact reflected by its whopping two whole hotels, neither of which is terribly friendly.
Contact Arpaiu (Via Belvedere 196, tel. +39-340-687-9732, www.arpaiu.com) for rental rooms (and a few apartments) with modern appointments and stunning coastal views starting at €85–€90.
Otherwise, check out the listings for rental rooms, apartments, and a B&B at www.parconazionale5terre.it.
For more info:
www.parconazionale5terre.it
Manarola is tiny—you could walk all the way up and back down the main street in less than 15 minutes—but pleasant. Most hikers just stop for a quick snack or refreshment and keep on going to Corniglia.
They now have the audacity to charge you to hike the old goat paths between the villages. This ticket is called the Cinque Terre Card, and you can get one valid for 1 day (€5), 2 days (€8), 3 days (€10), or 7 days (€20). It includes admission to the trails, use of the (frankly superfluous) tiny buses in some towns, the occasional elevator, and entry to a few tiny museums (local history in Riomaggiore, wine here in Manarola, and in Monterosso an aquarium and a museum of anchovy salting—no, seriously).
There are also versions of the Cinque Terre Card that include unlimited train rides or unlimited ferry rides. Unless you're planning to take more than two train rides during your visit, don't bother. A standard train ticket between any of the towns costs just €1.60 to €1.80, while the train version of the card costs roughly €3.50 to €16.50 more per day (meaning you'd have to ride the rails at least three times a day or more to make it worthwhile). And, while nifty, you're unlikely to ride the less-frequent ferry more than once as a sort of mini-cruise.
Manarola is on the regional Cinque Terre rail line, passing Riomaggiore (2–3 min.), Corniglia (3 min.), Vernazza (7–14 min.), and Monterosso al Mare (11–21 min.).
Manarola is also 10–17 min. by train from La Spezia, where you can change for trains throughout Italy (sometimes you change at nearby Sarzana), including Pisa (1:25–1:50 hr. total), Lucca (1:40–2:20 hr., sometimes with another change at Viareggio), Florence (2:25–4 hr., sometimes with another change at Pisa), and Rome (4:25–6 hr.).
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This article was written by Reid Bramblett and was last updated in April 2015.
All information was accurate at the time.
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