Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Cinque Terre Summary

Visiting Cinque Terre at this point on our trip was perfect to help
recharge our batteries.

Staying in Levanto worked out very well and certainly better than
staying in Cinque Terre for our purpose. And this was really by fluke.
As we visted Cinque Terre we noticed that none (except Monterosse)
have a real beach so we really lucked out there. Levanto seems a lot
slower paced and not crowded at all. So you can get the best of both
worlds by staying here and visiting Cinque Terre during the day .
Our B&B was just 2 steps from the beach and it made us feel like we
were in a resort. The hosts were super and our room was actually a
bedroom and a livingroom attached; so very spacious.
If we were to do it again we would extend our stay and hike all of the
Cinque Terre over our stay. I love the fact that they promote
sustainable tourism by making efforts to conserve the National Park.
They even have ecologically friendly buses in some of the towns to get
you around.
It really is a truly beautiful part of Italy and someone could easily
stay the whole time here during a repeat trip.

The only caveat is that what makes Cinque Terre so quaint and
beautiful is what attracts so many people. The villages are really
just too small to support all those people. So if you aren't
interested in the beach then I would visit in low season.

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