kellyee21 - loved your photos and yes Cinque Terre is on my list!

we spent 2 weeks the end of aug in positano,Italy it was so wonderful, if you wanted to be with a bunch of tourists doing touristy things you went to the beach below or just hiked in the mountains above. the people who lived there were welcoming and there was so much to see and do ..we stayed in a villa and cooked the most wonderful seafood you can imagine. the restaurants were good and many picked you up in their van because the windy roads can be scary at night..we loved the experience of "living like the locals" shopping and cooking, meeting the neighbors,ill never forget it

Personally, I found it a beautiful place - we also went in October (which on the weather front can be risky).
I would be interested, Samurai-Kiwi, if you advise them to give it a miss where do you suggest they go instead?

We spent a week there in October 2006 and found the crowds were significantly bigger on the weekend than on weekdays. And there were lots of Italian tourists on the weekend.

Perhaps that partially accounts for the various experiences here: weekday or weekend?

We loved CT. I really think the ocean view, especially from the hike up from Riomaggiore where you can see the entire CT coastline, was one of the most fabulous I've ever seen. And the hike got us away from the rest of the tourists!

well, now I know that I can only go to English or French speaking countries, otherwise, I'm a tourist! And being a tourist is such an awful thing...the next time someone dares think of me as a tourist, I might challenge them to a duel! :)

christycruz - you must have fantastic eyesight. The Mediterranean is a sea.

On a more serious note - of course there are Italians visiting the CT but in Italy the CT is not considered a must see and I know many who have never been there. In 45 plus years I have been all over Italy and only once to the CT.

It occurs to me that samurai kiwi might not have wasted time and money going to le Cinque Terre and having a less rewarding experience of Italy if he had access to better information about the impact mass tourism has on many areas of Italy.

One of the reasons he (or she?) didn't have that information is that travel message boards discourage the idea that travel beyond the most-touristed destinations is worthwhile, and that complaints about over-tourism should be met with insults and derision.

Equally problematic is the preponderance of posters who genuinely can see no value in experiencing a different culture as the primary motive for going to a foreign country.

Many of these prolific posters not only don't speak Italian, they (accurately) describe themselves as not "foodies", ignorant of Italian wine, say they are not "museum-people", think you should "skip" ancient towns of history. They deny there is any difference in quality in visiting areas of Italy that play host to millions of tourists merry-go-rounding in 2 or 3-day stays, and all attempts to point out the sheer nonsense of their approach to foreign travel attracts a claque of like-minded people insisting that the tourist destinations have been rated tops by popular opinion -- so there.

It would be good if some people who so proudly wear the tourist baseball cap and certain they are on the right path for satisfaction, would step back a bit and realize that other people coming here will lose time and money if they cannot find information from the type of traveler who wants to experience truly Italian Italy as their reward for slogging all those miles, and spending all that money.

Some of you actually and truly don't realize that the experience you are having of Italy is an artifact created to please tourist expectations of how you like to be entertained. It is fine that you enjoy it and you needen't be defensive about it. But after awhile its like listening to blind people tell the sighted there is nothing to look for beyond that. It's not true. There is more to see and something different to see of great value, even if you can't see it. even if you can't or don't want to. You've no basis for discouraging this other type of travel in Italy or anywhere in Europe.

We went to Cinque Terre in May of 2005. Thought the towns were beautiful, enjoyed the hiking, had lots of delicious fish, didn't feel overwhelmed by the tourists and were very glad we had experienced it. But I have no burning desire to return as I have to see Rome, Sicily, Florence, the Tuscan countryside and Venice yet again. To those who continue to push the "true" Italy rather than the "touristic" Italy, in 8 trips, we have done both. And the places where all of the tourists flock are the places we want to return - to each his own. We'll leave the undiscovered places undiscovered.

"One of the reasons he (or she?) didn't have that information is that travel message boards discourage the idea that travel beyond the most-touristed destinations is worthwhile, and that complaints about over-tourism should be met with insults and derision."

Huh? What a lot of nonsense. Can anyone tell me about websites that actually discourage people from going beyond the "most-touristed" destinations? There is a big difference between travel boards giving more information about the most frequented sites and actually discouraging people from going to less touristed areas. I personally have never seen the latter.

But yet, Zeppole, through all your eloquent comments it seems you are suggesting that the original problem could have been avoided if the poster simply avoided the CT and went somewhere else. I think YOU miss the point even more. While you are right that there are many places off the beaten track worth discovering, you seem to be suggesting that anyone who isn't already well versed in every phase of Italian culture shouldn't be allowed to travel -- or else he should be held up to scorn (yes, I get your reference to anyone wearing a baseball cap as being something that should be frowned on). How silly. One must try to disguise his own personality or origins and try to pretend he's something he's not when being a tourist? I know many people do that, but how sad for people to be "ashamed" of being who they are in real life and not willing to be an outsider when visiting a foreign place.

As beautiful as it is, I must say I could not wait to leave "touristy" Eze.
Spending a couple of days in small seaside town Arma di Taggia ( east of San Remo) was much more enjoyable.
One does not have to be "ashamed" of being a tourist and wanting to see Vatican, but after a several visits to a city , it might be an interesting experience to be away from the groups of tourists.
We stayed in an apt. in residential ( near Villa Ada) Rome and loved it. Did the same in Barcelona and Prague..
Of course, it helps to speak the language which is not the case for majority of travelers.

I loved the CT and was not so crazy about the Amalfi Coast. The reason?? Less crowded. I visited both the same time of year (September) - CT in 2005, AC in 2008. During my AC visit I found myself longing for the CT. No crowds and gorgeous scenery. So you see, it's all about timing.

I would never not go to a place based on someone else's opinion. If it has been on your "to see" list, then go see for yourself.

Welcome Zeppole!

Sorry hit submit too early. Welcome back Zeppole, nice to see you posting again!

As much as some posters genuinely can see no value in experiencing a different culture as the primary motive for going to a foreign country, it always makes me laugh how some posters are just as judgemental and come across as saying there is no value in experiencing the beauty of some well known popular tourist places in Italy.

Everyone enjoys different things, and everyone should be able to add their points of view without judgement - whether it be against the typical tourist places or for it. Travel how you want and feel free to discuss as you want to. Enough with the judgement either way.

I think that it was my first trip to CT and getting off the train i Vernazza.Out of maybe 21 persons getting off the train I saw over 18 Rick Steve's books. As we walked down to the town of Vernazza,all I heard were people saying that"Rick says we have to eat here.etc." So sad!

I went this past May and preferred it to Lake Como, which I also went to on the same trip.

Only regret was that some of the trails were closed because of mud slide fears and while sunny, it was hazy still, so the pictures I took aren't as crystal clear as I would have liked.

Nearby Portovenere is great too, as is the Portofino promontory.

Thanks for the comments I enjoyed reading everyone's responses. I'm pleased some people still managed to enjoy the Cinque Terre despite the crowds !

This was my first trip to Italy and I visited the following locations Venice, Florence, Siena, Verona, Lucca, San Gimignano, Pisa, Milan and the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre was the only one that I wished I had spent the time doing something else instead.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being a tourist, and I agree that as a tourist I'm contributing to the overcrowding, but I think the point I was making is that the nature of some towns is that they can absorb lots of tourists, whereas others can't. Also there is probably a certain tourist density per square km beyond which any place is just not going to be enjoyable. Unfortunately for me personally the Cinque Terre has exceed that tourist density by a significant margin.

Take Venice for example, there were huge numbers of tourists there, but I found once you got a few streets away from the main attractions, or took a boat out to Burano, Murano, or anywhere other than the main islands the tourist density was acceptable. Even in St Marks square I still enjoyed walking around simply because the square was designed for a large number of people ! At the cinque terre it literally took 15-20 minutes to get out of the station and I could barely walk down the main street of some towns, and this was at the beginning of October. At the office where they were selling the Cinque Terre cards, there were tour leaders ahead of me buying 30-40 cards at a time ! Also there was a chronic shortage of public WCs !

I think the advice of other posters to visit in the Winter is a good idea.

Regarding the makeup of tourists my observation is that there were definitely plenty of American tourists, but also a lot of Italian Tourists. Another large group was Germans. Also there seemed to be a greater percentage of Australians and New Zealanders than elsewhere in Italy.

The places in Italy I enjoyed the most were the somewhat smaller towns which while still touristy weren't necessarily on the first time visitor to Italy's must see list. For example San Gimignano and Lucca. I found it very enjoyable strolling around those towns and doing some cycling in the surrounding area.

A good idea might be to have a contingency plan, so that if you get to the Cinque Terre and don't like it, you already have a nearby backup destination in mind !

I knew this post would bring Zeppole back!

Overall I thought it was too much effort gettign there for the two days we planned. We stayed in Vernazza in June and loved it before 9:00AM and after 5:00PM. We absolutely HATED it around 4:00PM and had to wrestle our way to our hotel. It is not anywhere near my go-back-to list.

My SIL -whose taste I trust- went for 7 days in late September, stayed in Monterosso and absolutely loved it.

I have been visiting Manarola on the CT since 2001, 4 visits so far for a week each time. The villages are charming but as word gets out the tourists arrive. Did you stay in a village or just visit for the day?
Like all places, early evening and night the day trippers leave and the towns become tolerable.