Cinque Terre with Kids
Cinque Terre is an amazing family destination. We found that Cinque Terre with kids offered amazing adventures during our family’s trip around the world. Here’s the 5 our family did, all for €30 or less. You might first think about seeing the 5 towns, riding a train or a boat, and eating great food and gelato. None of that is wrong. However, there’s a lot more to Cinque Terre! We highly recommend staying in Monterosso, in part because of the easy access to everything on our list. Here are our top 5 activities for Cinque Terre with kids, inexpensive edition:
- Hike to Levanto, then rent bikes and ride to Framura Beach. Total cost: €30
The hike from Monterosso to Levanto is a great 3.6-mile trail. It starts with a climb that culminates with one of the best views in the area. Take the short detour at the top to the Punta Mesco look out and see all 5 towns of Cinque Terre! The hike took us about 2 hours with multiple stops to enjoy the views. Upon arriving in Levanto, you can easily find Sensafreni Bike Shop. We paid €30 to rent 4 bikes, helmets, and locks for 6 hours. This was not only the best deal we found, but the bikes were great, and everyone was very friendly and helpful.
Ride along the beach a short distance to find the start of the bike path. There is an amazing bike path that runs from Levanto through Bonassola to Framura. The path is an old railroad track that was reclaimed and paved, with no motorized vehicles allowed. This is amazing for our family: we love to bike but aren’t comfortable riding in traffic. Enjoy the combination of amazing tunnels alternating with spectacular views of the coast.
At the end of the path lock up your bikes, take the stairs down towards the marina, and follow the tunnel to the train station. There are several beach options. We climbed the stairs behind the train station to cross over the tracks and continued walking along the coast to the larger Framura Beach (labeled on Google maps as Spiaggia di Framua). After playing and snorkeling at the beach for a few hours, enjoy the 25-minute leisurely ride back. 6 hours is plenty of time for the bike rental.
Pro tip: bring your snorkel gear for the beach. The water around the rock break was crystal clear and teeming with fish.
- Rent beach chairs for the day in Monterosso. Total cost: €25
The beach is a primary reason to stay in Monterosso while visiting Cinque Terre. Monterosso has BY FAR the best beach. The closest beach chair rental to our Airbnb was Stella Marina. We rented 2 chairs and an umbrella for €25 for the entire day. The beach itself is rocky in parts, but the sand was amazing along the Stella Marina private stretch. The water is calm and the clarity incredible: the snorkel adventure starts as soon as you start swimming from shore. The lounge chairs were perfect for relaxing while the kids played in the sand and water.
Pro tip: Alternate your longer hiking days with relaxing beach days. For the kids, of course.
- Hike to Corniglia and back. Total cost: €19,50
The cost was for the Cinque Terre trail card. The family card (2 adults and 2 kids) gives a small break compared to individual pricing. The card is only required for 2 hiking trails: Monterosso-Vernazza and Vernazza-Corniglia. The other 46 hiking trails are always free. Because we only planned to purchase the card for a single day, we wanted to maximize it and decided to hike the full distance of the paid trails: to Corniglia AND back. This lets us see the trail both ways and saved us the cost of a train back to Monterosso.
It was a lot of hiking. Our total hiking distance ended up just shy of 10 miles, plus walking around the towns. Jon racked up 36,800 steps and has the longest legs! The total time spent hiking was just over 5 hours, we averaged 32-minute miles on the trails. Parts do include strenuous climbs and steep descents, do some family hiking before your trip to get ready.
Pro tip: Start early on the hike! We were on the trails by 8:30 AM and were usually the first ones out. Later, barter using scoops of gelato to encourage kids to persevere through fatigue with good attitudes.
- Jump off a cliff in Riomaggiore. Total cost: €26 for 2 train rides.
Jumping off the cliff is free, but you’ll need the train twice. We took a train from Monterosso to Corniglia to get started. The ocean paths connecting Corniglia to Manarola and Manarola to Riomaggiore were both closed due to landslides. However, there is an alternate “mountain path” that fills in both connections. We hiked both, stopping in Manarola for a short break and lunch in Riomaggiore.
Both towns have protected coves where people jump into the water from big rocks. We passed through Manarola still earlier in the day, so continued hiking and made our jumps in Riomaggiore. Safety first, and always check the water depth before jumping, but we made some great memories launching into the crystal water.
- Rent kayaks for a DIY snorkel tour. Total cost: €26
Rent 2 double kayaks from the Monterosso beach for €13 each and head out to sea! Choose to head towards Vernazza or Punta Mesco. Bring your snorkel gear with you and take a break from the paddling to swim with the fish. In our case, we had bad luck with the ocean, going out during the roughest conditions of the week. This limited snorkeling, in addition to finding a school of jellyfish. Our family tries to always make the most of our adventures. Rather than a family snorkel, we pivoted and worked together to catch a jellyfish. The kids kept it in their plastic bucket as a pet before releasing it later.
There you have it: our top 5 activities in Cinque Terre with kids, each activity €30 or less. Read more about our favorite tips to save money in Cinque Terre, how it was to visit Italy during COVID-19, and why we recommend staying in Monterosso. We also detail exactly how expensive a week in Cinque Terre is here.
Cinque Terre was one of our stops during a year-long trip around the world! To see all our travel adventures, head over to our Instagram page.
If you have questions or tips for traveling to Cinque Terre with kids, let us know!
