I have just returned from a trip to Europe that included a visit to the Cinque Terre. This was one of the things I was most looking forward to, but paradoxically I enjoyed it the least !

The hiking was reasonable and you could enjoy nice views. Also the towns themselves appear to have some charm to them. But I have to say, I've seen many comparable ocean views, and visited many towns in Italy that are as charming or more so, so the Cinque Terre was nothing spectacular in this regard.

The main thing that spoiled it, was that the villages and trails were completely overrun by a plague of tourists. Any character the place has is overwhelmed by a traffic jam of tourists sucking down Pizzas and Gelato.

I'm interested in whether many people share this opinion? Other places in Italy also have many tourists, but larger towns can absorb that many tourists to a greater or less degree. Unfortunately the Cinque Terre cannot.

I recommend people give the Cinque Terre a miss.

Two words - Rick Steves

I have never considered going there, just from the excessive discussion of it on all of the travel forums.

It's too bad you had a bad experience. I was there for 5 days in July and immensely enjoyed our trip. I didn't find it overrun by tourists in the slightest.

Go there during winter time like I did, and you'll have the place to yourselves. We went one mid January, perfect weather - 16 deg c, and counted about one dozen tourists sharing the whole place with us. Magic !!!

Thanks - friends of ours had the same experience so it's not on our Italy "must see" list - there are plenty of other charming Italian villages and sea views.

I am so glad we did the CT about 15 years ago. Once in a while we'd pass other tourists, but we were there in the height of summer and it was magical and not at all crowded. I would agree that Rick Steeves is to blame -- he made it a "must see" for thousands and thousands of tourists.

I loved it for the hiking and the views, but agree that it was very crowded. Plus as I live in Sydney we are very spoilt for beautiful beaches and coastline.

We loved it when we were there for 5 days at the end of May. Yes it was busy, but we did our best to avoid the crowds. We had a huge balcony overlooking the sea (in Manarola) that we retreated to every afternoon with wine and books. We hiked in the mornings and had a lovely dinner in Manarola each night. We would definitely go back, but ensure that we have a place to sit and enjoy in private.

Thank you for posting this. Already on my last visit to the Cinque Terre, about ten years ago, I had precisely the same impression that you had this year, and decided not to return there unless I had the possibility to go, as nz101 said, in deep winter.

We went for 5 days in June 2009 and didn't have a problem with tourists. Never had to wait for a place to eat for dinner, rarely passed hikers on the trails, and had a great view of the ocean from our balcony.

We chose to do there because the costs were so much lower for ocean view rooms than what I could find in the Amalfi Coast.

The homemade lemoncello on the trails and the pesto were excellent, we never once touched gelato or pizza while in the Cinque Terre.

"I recommend people give the Cinque Terre a miss. "

I agree. I visited in 2003 and wished I had gone MUCH sooner, before it became a theme park. We left after a few hours and would never return. It was full of tourists carrying Rick Steeves guide books and whatever charm is must have had has long been lost IMO.

We enjoyed the CT most from the sea while on a ferry and were delighted with our decision to base in Rapallo instead of the CT for this late September visit. There we were among mostly Italian tourists enjoying the last warm days of the season.

It was one of my biggest disappointments in 25 visits to Italy.

It is on my list of places to avoid

We were there in July 2008 and while it is certainly isn't off the beaten path, I wouldn't say it was overrun at all. There were no traffic jams of tourists on the trails, but it was pretty hot so maybe some were put off? We stayed in Manarola, had an apt with a nice view and especially enjoyed our dinners out in Manarola and Riomaggiore, we never had to wait either.

Our photos are here if anyone is interested:

http://kellyee21.smugmug.com/Italy-T...rre-July-2008/

I am so glad we were there in the 70's and again in the early 80's. Rick Steve sure did make it a "must see" as Patrick posted. A younger family member was there as an exchange student in the late 90's and he ended up being transferred to Turin as he told the exchange student organization he couldn't stand the flood of tourist and he would go home before staying in the village where he had been placed. He loved Turin! Anyway, although I wish I were younger I am so grateful that I did experience Italy before it became so flooded with visitors that one has to make reservations in most cases to even visit a lot of the famous sites. But everything in life has its pros and cons. There are still places in Italy that are not flooded with tourist as in Rick Steves hasn't written about them so do some research and you can still have a beautiful and relaxing time in Italy.

A beautiful place but, yes, over run with tourists. I'm glad I've seen it but will not return. Give me Santa Margherita Ligure or Camogli any day.

We went in the month of October so it wasn't too bad, but glad we went.

I went to the area on a north & central Italy trip about seven years ago. We were there for three nights, but we stayed in Levanto (which we liked very much) and took the train each day into the CT Park to visit the villages and the check out the hikes.

It was late May, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Yes, there were quite a few tourists (and yes, many of them w/ Rick Steves' book in tow), but we had a great visit. The food and wine were good (and it was my first introduction to limoncino, their version of limoncello), and Levanto proved to be a mellow and interesting town to base ourselves in - although I am sure in the height of summer it would be nuts.

I did not feel the need to return there on a subsequent trip, but am I glad I went? Definitely, yes. But I am glad we avoided the busiest months.

We just loved Cinque Terre.
We rented an apartment at Manarola and spent 8 Glorious days there.

My daughter still talk about CT and called it HEAVEN on Earth.

I always have to laugh when someone comes back from someplace and mentions all the "tourists" that were there, as if they weren't tourists also.

We did the same thing last year on our trip. In crowded areas we would always ask each other why all these "tourists" were there, as if weren't tourists also.

We did enjoy the CT, crowds weren't too bad last October, but I can't imagine going during the summer. Too many tourists then.