Good morning lovelies!
Today we’ll be stopping in Vernazza, the second village on our Cinque Terre tour! Let’s jump right in to it!
First off, the hike from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza…
So we hiked the #2 Trail – the Sentiero Azzurro (Blue Trail) from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza. The hike took us about an hour and a half with our packs on, and it was HARD!!! Seriously, the most difficult hike I have ever done in my entire life. You start off by going up freaking hundreds and hundreds of stairs. This consists of about the first 30 minutes of the hike. Just imagine going upstairs for 30 minutes straight with 30 pounds on your back, on a skinny ass trail with people behind you (with no packs) wanting to go faster, and people coming down the other way trying to squeeze past you. It was definitely a challenge, but so worth it when you get to the top and see these views!
If you want to stay in Vernazza, there are tons of rooms for rent. We stayed at the Affittacamere Tonino Basso. It was great! I would definitely recommend it! The only negative is that it is at the top of the village, so you are about a 5 minute walk from the center of town.
Ok, now on to the beach!
The beach in Vernazza is much different than the beach in Monterosso al Mare. There are actually 2, one is in the marina area and is sandy but packed with kids and kind of dirty. The second is a little bit north of the village. When you’re walking down the main street towards the marina, on your left hand side will be a cave with a blocked off gate in front of it that says “do not enter” that everyone is just ignoring and climbing over. If you go through that cave, you’ll get to the better beach area. It’s very rocky, but the views are amazing and it’s totally worth it.
The best part about Vernazza, in my opinion, is the food! Definitely the best food I had in the Cinque Terre was in Vernazza.
For lunch we ate at Pizzeria Basso. It was THE BEST pizza I had on the entire trip! You basically pay less than $5.00 for an entire half a pizza to yourself, and it’s delicious! I definitely the recommend the margarita pizza!
For dinner, definitely check out Da Piva Trattoria. The owner is actually Piva’s son, so it’s a nice little family restaurant! It’s kind of off the beaten path and up a side street. If you’re going to be hiking the Sentiero Azzurro from Vernazza to Corniglia, you’ll actually go up the same side street to get to the start of the trail. Definitely order the mussels as they’re to die for, as well as the pesto gnocchi and the octopus salad…soooo good! Also, order a bottle of house red wine to drink and a shot of limoncello for dessert!
Talk to you about Corniglia on Wednesday!!
xo,
B
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