Cinque Terre’s only natural harbour has breathtaking views out over the water, and provides the best open-air amusement in Vernazza. Here you can bask on a tiny beach, head off on a boat trip, or just linger over the day’s fresh catch and a glass of Italian’s finest at one of the al fresco restaurants facing the water’s edge.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
9.45 MILES
At the end of the quay, a Cinque Terre panorama unfolds from the rocky terraces of a cave formerly known as Grotta Arpaia. Lord Byron once swam across the…
22.7 MILES
Head up the mountain to this dusty, truck-busy cava de marmo (marble quarry), through a dramatic series of tunnels used by trains to transport marble from…
28.14 MILES
The hamlet's sensitively restored Benedictine abbey was built as a final resting place for Bishop St Fructuosus of Tarragona, martyred in Spain in AD 259…
9.56 MILES
This stunning wind- and wave-lashed church, built in 1198 in Gothic style, stands on the ruins of a 5th-century palaeo-Christian church, with its extant…
27.04 MILES
This exquisitely turned-out mansion and gardens, part of a 16th-century castle complex, overlooks the sea. In the lavish Italian gardens, you can take an…
4.32 MILES
One of the best beaches within easy reach of Cinque Terre, Levanto's seaside is long and wide, and flanked by green hills sloping down to the wave-kissed…
3.83 MILES
This small pebbly beach is immediately southeast of Riomaggiore marina. Take the short trail that leads just past the harbour to get here. The shore is…
2.86 MILES
Manarola's prized viewpoint is on a rocky promontory just above the village. A rest area, including a kids' playground, has been constructed here and…
Nearby Vernazza attractions
1. Chiesa di Santa Margherita d'Antiochia
0.03 MILES
The waterfront is framed by this small Ligurian-Gothic church, built on a small seafront promontory in 1318 on the site of an 11th-century Romanesque…
0.05 MILES
This castle, the oldest surviving fortification in the Cinque Terre, commands superb views. Dating to around 1000, it's now largely a ruin except for the…
1.23 MILES
This lovely, hard-to-reach beach was once a famous nudist spot from the 1960s to the 1990s, when it was accessed by walking through an abandoned railway…
4. Chiesa San Giovanni Battista
1.6 MILES
One of the oldest churches in Cinque Terre, San Giovanni Battista has a striped facade dating back to 1307. The Ligurian-Gothic design features white and…
1.61 MILES
Enjoy dazzling 180-degree sea views at this heart-stopping lookout in hilltop Corniglia. To find it, follow Via Fieschi through the village until you…
1.61 MILES
This was the seat for one of two confraternities (secular associations dedicated to doing charitable works) in Monterosso which was active from the 15th…
1.62 MILES
Monterosso's most interesting church and convent complex is set on the hill that divides the old town from the newer Fegina quarter. The striped church,…
1.65 MILES
This viewpoint overlooking a photogenic stretch of coastline (direction: Manarola) is reached by a stairway that leads up from the diminutive main square,…