Free Things to Do in the Cinque Terre

San Giovanni Battista, Monterosso

This is the oldest of the four, built between 1282 and 1307 in the Genoese style, with the black-and-white striped facade that Ligurian builders used to mark their work. It sits in the old town of Monterosso, the part of the village that took over two metres of water and mud in the October 2011 flood and was later restored. The church is a working parish, so walk in quietly.

Pair it with the short walk up to Fegina to see Il Gigante, and you have two free stops within a few minutes of each other. There is no stated entry fee and no stated hours, so a morning or midday visit is the safest bet.

Santa Margherita d'Antiochia, Vernazza

You cannot miss this one from the Vernazza harbour. It was begun in 1318, has three well-preserved naves inside, and an octagonal tower set on the apse with an ogival dome. The tower is what gives the village its most photographed silhouette, and you get it for nothing from the small beach and jetty in front of the church.

Combine the church with the Doria Castle viewpoint above the harbour and the whole of Vernazza's free top tier is done on foot in one visit. As with the others, entry is free and no hours are stated.

San Lorenzo, Manarola

San Lorenzo dates to 1338 and is built in the Gothic Genoese style. Its best detail is the rose window in Carrara marble, dated 1375. The church stands in the upper part of Manarola, which puts you in exactly the right place to continue on to Via Belvedere and the Montale square, then down to the Punta Bonfiglio walkway.

That chain of three free stops is probably the strongest free sequence in any one village. In the Christmas season, stay into the evening and look up at the hillside nativity, lit every year since 1961, also free to view from the village.

San Giovanni Battista, Riomaggiore

Construction of this church began in 1340, ordered by the Bishop of Luni, Antonio Fieschi. It sits in the upper part of the old town of Riomaggiore, close to the castle built from 1260 by the Turcotti marquises and later completed by the Genoese. The lanes climbing from the marina to the church and castle are free to walk and give you the vertical view over the coloured houses that the village is known for.

Note one thing honestly: this is the village end of the Via dell'Amore, and that path is not free. The church and castle are. No hours are stated for the church.

Punta Bonfiglio, Manarola

Punta Bonfiglio is the classic Manarola photo spot, and it costs nothing. A walkway opened in 1968 connects the Marina to Palaedo and climbs to the point above the village. At the top sits a small cemetery, and its facade carries verses from Vincenzo Cardarelli's poem Liguria, which is a strange and moving detail most visitors never read.

The view back down over the houses stacked above the water is the reason people queue here at sunset. The walk up from the marina is steep but short, and walking times are not stated in our sources. Do it in the late afternoon, then walk back down through the caruggi.

Il Gigante at Fegina, Monterosso

On the Fegina side of Monterosso, a 14-metre reinforced-concrete statue of Neptune leans into the hillside above the beach. It was made in 1910 by the architect Francesco Levacher and the sculptor Arrigo Minerbi, and it lost an arm and its trident to WWII bombing. It is free to view from the beach front, and it sits beside the widest sandy beach frontage of the five villages, which is also free.

That makes Fegina the best free beach-and-sight pairing on the coast. Bring a towel, not flip-flops for the trails, because the paid paths inland ban open footwear.

Terrazza di Santa Maria and the ruined tower, Corniglia

Corniglia is the village with the best free viewpoint density. The Terrazza di Santa Maria sits about 90m above sea level at the end of Via Fieschi past Largo Taragio, and it looks over the whole coast in both directions. A short walk away is the village's ruined 16th-century defensive tower, partially ruined and climbable, with a view over the sea toward Manarola.

Both are free and neither needs a ticket. Remember Corniglia has no ferry landing, so you arrive by train and climb the Lardarina stairs from the station or take the shuttle bus.

Monterosso to Vernazza to Manarola, on foot within each village

Start in Monterosso. Walk into the old town and visit the church of San Giovanni Battista with its striped facade, then cross to Fegina to see Il Gigante and stand on the free sandy beach. Take the train to Vernazza.

Visit Santa Margherita d'Antiochia by the harbour, then climb the lanes to the Doria Castle viewpoint, whose core is believed to date to the 11th century. Train onward to Manarola. Walk up through the village to San Lorenzo and its 1375 Carrara marble rose window, continue to the Montale square on Via Belvedere, then take the 1968 walkway up to Punta Bonfiglio for the view over the village.

Walking times between stops are not stated, so plan the day loosely rather than to a minute. If you want one paid moment that is worth the money, book the Vernazza pesto making class with wine and food tasting at $74.00, 1h 30m, in the village you are already visiting. Once the villages are covered, the pesto class already gives you a taste of what Cinque Terre tours can add, and browsing the full list helps you pick a guided option for another day.

Spend only on trains, know the trail rule

The free things to do in the Cinque Terre cover viewpoints, churches, beaches and every lane in all five villages, so your only real cost is moving between them. Single one-way regional tickets on the Levanto-Cinque Terre-La Spezia line run US$5.68 (€5) to US$11.37 (€10) per trip depending on the date-based fare band, with children paying half. Compare that against the Treno MS day card at US$25.00 (€22).

If you make three or more one-way trips in a day, the card wins. If you base yourself in one or two villages, single tickets win. The one budget warning that matters: the coastal trail network and the Via dell'Amore are not free, despite how they look in photos.

The trekking card is US$11.37 (€10) for one adult day. And if you stay overnight in Monterosso, the one confirmed tourist tax is US$3.41 (€3) per person per night. Rates for the other villages are not stated.

Full breakdowns on Cinque Terre costs.