Manarola: The Cinque Terre Postcard Town

As I was planning our European trip, I had certain must-see locations and one of them was Cinque Terre. I’ve poured through travel blogs and they had all recommended a visit to this magical land by the sea. I’d also looked into the Amalfi coast, but I became obsessed with Cinque Terre due to the easy travel, walkability, and and colorful cliffside vistas. Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Northwest Italy, only a 3 hour train ride away from Milan, lies West of La Spezia and is composed of 5 villages connected by hiking trails or 5 minute train rides away from each other. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, we stayed in the middle town of Corniglia and we explored 4 towns in a long exhausting day, leaving one for last, Manarola. Many of those amazing bird’s eye view shots of Cinque Terre are actually taken in the village of Manarola. Although, all of the villages are extremely colorful, beautiful and picturesque, there’s something very special about this one that has everyone flocking to this specific spot for the ‘gram.

We loved all the towns; they each had different vibes, beauty and so much history. Something very magical had us stop in our tracks when we visited Manarola. Maybe it was the quiet, peacefulness in the morning as shops and cafes were setting up, or the waves gently rocking the boats on the dock as we made our way up, or the stillness before the town awakened to the hustle and bustle of the tourist as they made their way into the town. Whatever it was, we felt as if we were the only ones there that morning, as we said goodbye to that leg of our trip while we sipped our espresso and breathed the cool breeze of the Ligurian sea before we continued on to the next adventure.