Portofino and Cinque Terre, Italy by train October 2024

[andygolfer]

I was in Italy in October to visit my daughter and family and then went to the north west coast by train to visit Portofino an the cinque Terre National Park (5 once small villages along the Ligurian coast). We mainly travelled up and down the coast on the railway, it's the easiest and quickest way and I've included a few railway photos at the end for the train buffs on here.

Portofino - the picture postcard port which is easiest reached by sea. Very crowded by the rich and famous in the summer months so October proved to be a good choice (for the Cinque Terre as well)...
portofino 23-10-2024 4508 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Portofino 23-10-2024 4535 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Portofino 23-10-2024 4548 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Portofino 23-10-2024 4582 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Santa Margherita Ligure is the port from where we caught the ferry to Portofino...
Santa Margherita Ligure 23-10-2024 4640 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

we stayed in Sestri Levante, a nice town on the coast between Portofino and the Cinque Terre so a logical mid point as a base
sestri levante south beach 21-10-2024 4068-T by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Now the Cinque Terre, I'd wanted to visit this for a long time, we visited 3 of the 5 villages and called at a fourth on the ferry which also runs along the coast so we saw the villages from sea and land
Monterosso is the most northerly of the villages on a rugged coast with 2 beaches
cinque terre - monterosso 22-10-2024 4091 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

cinque terre - monterosso 22-10-2024 4095 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

going south the next village is Vernazza,
cinque terre - Vernazza 22-10-2024 4151 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

cinque terre - Vernazza 22-10-2024 4156 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

from Vernazza we caught the ferry to Riomaggiore the most southerly of the villages, on the way it stooped at Manarola which is right on the side of amountain
cinque terre - manarola 22-10-2024 4235 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and this is Riomaggiore, I wouldn't fancy being a window cleaner there...
cinque terre - Riomaggiore 22-10-2024 4293 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

cinque terre - Riomaggiore 22-10-2024 4359m by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

this is Riomaggiore station, there is a cliff edge walk that you can follow to Manarola, unusually you can only go in one directino (northwards)
cinque terre - Riomaggiore 22-10-2024 4380 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and now as promised - some trains (I'm not an Italian train expert so can't tell you the types)..
the Giro D'Italia special scheme train passing through the southern end of Montrerossa, the line is in and out of tunnels all along the line
train cinque terre -monterosso 22-10-2024 4110 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

train cinque terre - monterosso 22-10-2024 4124 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

in and out of the mountains at Vernazza
train cinque terre - Vernazza 22-10-2024 4159 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

these were taken at Saint Margherita Ligure station
train Santa Margherita Ligure 23-10-2024 4652 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

train Santa Margherita Ligure 23-10-2024 4655 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

train Santa Margherita Ligure 23-10-2024 4661 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Thanks for looking, hope they were of interest
Andy