Cinque Terre Restrctions
 

This is interesting http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...e_iOSApp_Other

I've never been because of reports of crowds of tourists. I suppose that there must be quiet times

I read an article about this in one of the Italian newspapers, which showed the crowds waiting to get on a commuter train. The article said that at times, there were so many people at the stations that they couldn't all fit on the station platform.

I'm sure it's very quiet there in mid-January. Also, since a lot of the visitors are day trippers, it can be quite peaceful in the evening or early morning. And I've read that the higher trails are not usually very crowded.

I was there once on a rainy day in October, and it was crowded to my taste. I really have no desire to go back. There are other stretches of beautiful coastline in Italy.

The article about the crowded platform is true. I was in Riomaggiore last September. The platform and the train were so crowded many people could not get into the train. It was like a big city subway station during the morning rush hour. Tranquility returned after the day trippers left town.

We went to Le Cinque terre in 2013 as a day trip from Pisa only to find wall to wall tourists in Vernazza and Monterossa. In fact, the train connection from La Spezia to Vernazza was so JAMMED we had to take a later train even though we had reserved seats. The entire train was just MOBBED. We took the next train to Vernazza and the little town was really crowded. The majority of tourists were Italian and American. Everything was quiet and orderly...just jammed.

By contrast, we were there in 1994 visiting three of the five towns and we were just about the only tourists, let alone Americans.

Buon viaggio,

Well, everyone can thank Rick Steeeeeves - for convincing every american seeing his show or buying his book for the mobs. Just as he turned the Rue Cler into the only market in Paris.

I'm only happy that he limits himself to so few places.