Quick guide: Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy

The colourful houses in Vernazza are built around the small bay and up the hillside, making it a very charming and beautiful village. On the hill is a small fortress – Castello Doria – that in the middle ages protected the village against plunderers. In the protected bay, colourful, little boats are bopping in the sea. Vernazza is the second most photographed village in Cinque Terre, only topped by Manarola, and it doesn’t take you long here to see why!

I love to sip a prosecco in the shade in the piazza or on the pier, watching the people swim in the bay and the boats come and go. Visit the castle on the hill, check out the church in the piazza and look into the many shops in the main street. Exploring some of the many side streets is also going to get you some great photographs of pretty stairs, walls, balconies and other architectural details.

Head over to the beach, located through a tunnel from the main street, and take a refreshing dip in the Mediterranean. Watch out for the waves, though! The beach was actually closed due to the rough sea when I was there last. A few people, me included, disregarded the closure and braved the waves. It was too rough for me, though, so after having some waves crash over me, I considered myself sufficiently cooled down and headed for lunch instead. After a delicious lunch of locally caught seafood I sipped a well-deserved prosecco in the shade in the piazza, admiring the views across the bay and the sea, before continuing my hike to Monterosso al Mare.

On this website you can see how badly Monterosso and Vernazza were damaged in the flash floods of 2011. They did an amazing job in rebuilding everything – when I first visited in 2013, everything looked perfect.

Yesterday’s post tells you all about Cinque Terre and Monterosso. Tomorrow it is Corniglia’s turn, the only village that is located in the hills.