Can anyone tell me how late the trains run between the 5 towns. I'd like to stay in Manarola but if we want a little more night life could we train between the towns late at night?

I could be remembering incorrectly, but I believe they stop right around midnight and don't restart until 4:30am to 5am. You could possibly get a taxi from Monterosso (the largest town) back to Manarola...

La_t - You can find timetables on:

www.trenitalia.com

Hope this helps ...

Steve

it's been several years since i spent a long weekend in the cinque terre. but i don't remember too much "night life" there. you kinda have to make your own

I don't think the Cinque Terre villages are famous for night life, which is a good thing so far as I'm concerned. Perhaps you could get the train to La Spezia which is a naval base, so has some very interesting night life in its back streets.

There are a couple of clubs in the new part of Monterosso. I don't think there are any in the old portion of the town.

Trains appear to run hourly from around 4:30am to 10 or 10:30pm according to Trenitalia.com site.

I guess I wasn't referring to clubs per se...just stuff going on. People out and about etc.

Thanks for all the advice though.

You can and should walk to Rio in the evening when Man goes quiet. The crowds and toll collectors are gone, and it's only the equivilent of about 4 blocks of a scenic walk. In fact, walk there for better ferry and train connections or whatever any time of day. Man is like a delightful suburb of Rio.

The walk that viking is referring to is the Via del Amore stroll between Riomaggiore and Manarola. It is level and fairly short, beautiful views. The "toll" is covered by the Cinque Terre card.