Cinque Terre

We bought the train card at the La Spezia station and hopped on the train a few minutes later.

We liked Il Gambero Rosso in Vernazza. It is a small, family run place right by the harbor across the square from the cathedral. Try to get a table by the front window.

Bit of a hike up the hill (but away from the crowds) is a place called Magru something or other. You'll have to look it up but it is a casual place with great food. A bit down the hill is Dal Billy. Excellent.
Both in Manorola

Are you staying overnight in one of the towns?

Ciak in Monterosso had an excellent mussels dish in a garlic broth.

Trains are very crowded during the day but not so in the evening.

I'm going this fall and I'll jump on the thread. We will have a car with 3 kids, hitting it in the "middle" of a tuscany trip and going to have 2 nights in Cingue Terre. Any recommendations on somewhere with a car that will need parked and 3 kids on the best towns to stay? Leaning toward Riomaggorre due to it being the closest and least amount of driving. But not sure if more in the middle wouldn't make more sense

We were in Cinque Terre last April, it is an incredible area. We spent a few nights in Vernazza and then visited Monterosso for a day before our journey continued in northern Italy. We think about go back to Vernazza again almost daily.

We used the Omio & Trenitalia apps exclusively to purchase our train tickets. Both apps were straightforward and easy to purchase tickets. Schedules and platforms to board were always accurate.

As far as food, our favorites were:
1) Ristorante La Torre (Vernazza). Worth the short climb up for the most incredible views of the sea and overlooks the village below. Prices were fair, service was good, food and drinks were both great. You need to get reservations and make sure you are there for a sunset.

2) II Pirata del 5 Terre (Vernazza). This is a small breakfast and lunch bistro with limited seating. Super friendly owners, all their pastry & food was homemade and excellent. My wife and I went back for their pesto pasta and seafood pasta dishes. The seafood pasta varies slightly day to day based on the fresh catch and my mouth is watering thinking about it.

Have a great trip!

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You can park your car by the LaSpezia train station and take the train to your town.

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I think he might have to do this, right? I don’t think he can drive into the towns. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s my recollection.

We’ll be staying in an Airbnb/ apt and I’ll make sure we have parking set up. I have 3 kids so I don’t want to lug luggage around. Parking is not easy but some of the places do have parking available. Obviously we likely won’t be right by the water but further up the hill by the road.

I’m not going to drive between towns. Simply drive there the first day, park, ride the trains, and drive away when we depart. Or at least that’s the plan. We’ll be there in the off season so hopefully it’ll be easier.

I just wasn’t sure if one town is better than the others to do this, and also with a car if it didn’t make sense to stay somewhere specific.

Do the pesto class at Nessun Dorma

And Dal Billy for dinner also in Manarola