Cinque Terre Flood Follow-up
 

Hello,

We will be a few hours from the villages of Cinque Terre in about a week or two from now. With all of the horrible flooding a few weeks back we didn't know if any of the villages were accessible to tourists yet.

Does anyone know whether we would be able to reach them before we take the three hour trip to get there? Or are all five villages still too damaged to visit?

I had heard that two of them were extensively damaged but had not heard much about the other three.

Rick Steves has a report, updated a few days ago:
http://www.ricksteves.com/news/trave...rre-floods.htm
The message seems to be that Vernazza is closed to all but the military and emergency services. Monterosso has fewer restrictions, and other villages are more or less business as usual. But situation can change quickly and you should take local advice when you get there.

Always stay at www.metropole.it easy to get to all villages

from the ferry dock 1 block away... things are improving

currently so no worries insuremytrip.com always wise.

QuoVadis: Once again, do you even bother to read the original post? The OP did not ask for a hotel, and you have already recommended this one about a thousand times on this forum.

Enough already!

It's my understanding from reading several threads on this forum, as well as postings to other sites that 3 CT towns --- Riomaggiore, Manarola & Corniglia, were not impacted and are 'up & running' for business. That being said, this is time of year when can be rainy in the Cinque Terre .... which may dampen your plans.

A regular poster to this forum, Zeppole, lives in Italy and often provides great feedback from Ligurian region. Zep ????

I will defer to Zeppole on this question. However, I would be inclined not to visit Cinque Terre in any case at this time of the year. It will likely be chilly, could be rainy and won't be seen to its best advantage in late fall. The main thing to do in Cunque Terre is to hike between villages and the trails can be difficult and slippery if it has rained. There is so much to see and do in Italy; save Cinque Terre for another time when the weather is warmer and the days longer.

quovadis is just generating Spam

There has been another thread on this subject live only a few days ago, Zeppole was pretty confident that it will get fixed in 2012 (I hope I have that opinion correct) while I was being more negative. Have a search for it its title was something like "CT still open"

here it is http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...to-recover.cfm

Wow, thanks for all the feedback guys! We were originally planning to park our car in someplace like Genoa and taking a train into Monterosso or one of the other villages and walking between them. But if that village is washed out I was wondering if it's even possible to take the train through to the other villages.

It looks like whether we want to try it at all might depend on how the weather is when we're there. I've driven through the Alps and other parts of Europe in pretty inclement weather such as snow so I'm not too intimidated if it's just showers. We'll see. I appreciate the input!

It looks like that other thread has some pretty good info, I'll check that out as well.

Thanks!

For the past week, the weather along the Italian Riviera has been stupendously beautiful, and it is likely to stay that way for several more days. On Wednesday, people were sunbathing on the beach, and one hearty soul was swimming in the sea.

In complete contrast to what Mamalice has posted, the Italian Riviera is often at its most beautiful in fall, with clear skies, clean air, blue seas, silver olive trees, red chestnut trees, persimmons, bouganvilla and lots of green grass. Best of all, the hiking weather is perfect when the sun is out -- unlike the warm months, when it broils.

I have no idea what will be fixed at any point in le Cinque Terre. The two towns affected suffered tremendous inundations of mud.

As of today, trains are running north and south along the coastal train lines without delays. Which trains make stops at any of the le Cinque Terre towns is best determined by asking the conductor or ticket seller the day you are traveling.

If you have a car, you can drive as far south as Levanto and take the train or a boat to the le Cinque Terre towns that are not off limits to visitors.

RIght now, all hiking trails in le Cinque Terre are closed except the paved walkway between Riomaggiore and Manarola.

It is a good idea at ANY TIME OF YEAR to make your plans to visit le Cinque Terre based on on short-term weather reports, the shorter the better. If the forecast is for rain, don't go.

Here is an updated from ricksteves.com which I assume is accurate. Note Vernazza is closed to tourists for the foreseeable future and utilities in Monterosso are not back in all areas of the town.

http://www.ricksteves.com/news/trave...rre-floods.htm

People planning a trip to the region may want to follow this blog, which is updated daily from a person who has long lived in the area:

http://www.littleparadiso.com/


I also want to underscore, in case my description of the glorious weather we are enjoying in the Riviera misleads anybody, that the day before 20 inches of rain fell on le Cinque Terre is less than 12 hours, the forecasts had been for rain showers.

The natural terrain of le Cinque Terre is precarious. It has been made more precarious by the recent mudslides, deluges and floods. Please exercise an abundance of caution in visiting le Cinque Terre in the rainy season, which extends from November to June.