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Cinque Terre is not very easy to get to. Situated along Italy’s northwestern coastal bluffs, the region comprises five fishing villages a two-hour train ride from the airport in Genoa (or three hours from Florence and five hours from Rome). There’s no infrastructure for cars to reach the region, and certain areas can only be reached by boat.
That out-of-the-wayness might prove frustrating for tourists. But it means certain staples of the UNESCO World Heritage site remain constant. The sunset-hued piazzas and sanctuaries rise unchallenged by oceanside high-rises or glitzy hotels, while the food (fish, wine, olives, pesto, Focaccia) is sourced and made the old, provincial way.
The best way to experience a place that’s both can’t-miss and isolated? Let someone else do the work for you. Which is why we recommend visiting with an assist from adventure tour company Acanela Expeditions.
Acanela is a full-service travel outlet that’ll handle every aspect of your weeklong sojourn to Italy. Let them handle the planes, trains and boats necessary to get down the Italian Riviera, all you need to do is show up and pay, though the latter is easier for InsideHook readers: if you use the code INSIDEHOOK when booking, Acanela will take 50% off a trip.
Your partner in crime’s going for free, basically.
During your week’s stay, you’ll boat-cruise to all five fishing villages, make your own pesto (then wash it down with wine made from terrace-grown grapes), take a course with a Ligurian chef, tour the market in La Spezia, and, we imagine, share some toasts while looking out over the Meditteranean. Not too shabby.
For more information on booking the trip, head here. If you want to extend the trip by a couple days, you have the option of doing so in Milan or Rome here.
Main image via Unsplash, inline images via Acanela
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