Manarola - Cinque Terre
Manarola is truly a jewel of Cinque Terre. It’s another lovely town in the string of the five villages. It lies between Riomaggiore and Corniglia and is the second town when counting from the south.
When you arrive by train, walk through the tunnel and you’ll find yourself right in the city center. Here you’ll have two choices. If you turn left, you will walk along the main street towards the harbor. If you turn right, you’ll walk into the elevated section of town where the main square- Piazza Papa Innocenzo IV is located. Despite the fact that there aren’t any major sites to see in Manarola, it’s worth taking a look at the church of San Lorenzo. It’s a cute medieval stone church with a beautiful rosary window. Detached from the church is a bell tower also located in the piazza.
While you can get some nice views of Manarola from here, for most dramatic views, I recommend heading back towards the harbor and climbing all the way to the Nessun Dorma bar. Once there, you will have picture perfect views of the pastel colored houses built into the rock.
Although there is no beach to speak of in Manarola, the rocks in the harbor serve as great diving boards for wonderful deep water swimming.
Manarola boasts a number of nice souvenir shops, many good places to eat, and pleasant narrow streets known as carrugi to stroll along. It has nicely restored and freshly painted buildings, which stand in contrast to those in Vernazza, still not fully recovered after the devastating floods of 2011.
Manarola is certainly one of the prettiest towns on the Liguri coast. Its lovely setting and the surrounding vineyards make Manarola an absolute jewel of Cinque Terre.
