Cinque Terre and Porto Venere Boat Tour
Description
A comfortable daily cruise by sea and land to discover the famous Cinque Terre and Porto Venere, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Guide on board will accompany you during the navigation, describing the nature of the landscapes, the history of the villages and dispensing useful tips for your stay on land. Departures every day from La Spezia, Molo Italia at 10 : 00. Choose the itinerary : Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat PORTOVENERE, MONTEROSSO and VERNAZZA Tue-Thu-Sun RIOMAGGIORE, MONTEROSSO and VERNAZZA
Tour Options
Itinerary
The tour departs from La Spezia
If you choose the tour on Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat the first stop will be Porto Venere. In about 20 minutes of sailing in the Gulf of Poets, you reach Porto Venere, the fortified fishing village that has fascinated myriad visitors. You can walk along the famous “palisade” on the seafront, until you reach the medieval complex of the Church of San Pietro, one of the most romantic religious buildings in all of Italy. We then return to the boarding through the typical carugio.
If you choose the tour on Tue/Thu/Sun the first stop will be Riomaggiore. Sailing from Riomaggiore to Monterosso: during the crossing you will have the opportunity to admire from the sea the other spectacular villages of Manarola, Corniglia and Vernazza. Monterosso is the largest village in the Cinque Terre and the only one with equipped beaches. From the pier you will reach in a few steps the medieval old town, where you can admire the parish church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Dating back to 1308, it is the oldest building in the Cinque Terre and has a beautiful façade with alternating bands, on which stands a valuable rose window in white Carrara marble. You will then walk along the seafront to reach Torre Aurora with the magnificent view of Fegina beach. Free time before boarding for the last stop: Vernazza.
Sailing from Riomaggiore
Departing from La Spezia and sailing in the Gulf of the Poets from where you can see by the sea the hamlets of Cadimare, Fezzano, Le Grazie and the beautiful village of Porto Venere. The sailing continues through the Western Ligurian coast admiring its famous terraced vineyard landscape, the UNESCO heritage site. Once you arrived in the charming hamlet of Riomaggiore, you will cross the Marina until you reach the imposing church of San Giovanni Battista walking through the "carrugi", the typical narrow streets of this region. Free time for lunch or shopping.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Individual seats
- PET FRIENDLY
- Total duration includes navigation time
- You must arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of the tour
Reviews(110)
Visiting the Cinque Terre in summer is now a challenge, even by train. We therefore chose the boat to combine a change of scenery and comfortable transport for a reasonable price of 69 euros per person. For the first time on this type of excursion, I felt like I was being taken care of by a crew of professional sailors, attentive to safety, kind to the passengers, and concerned about their comfort. Each of us had a comfortable seat (especially inside) with a life jacket underneath, without the usual overcrowding massed on the railings. All sitting calmly, we were more attentive to the commentary in 3 languages, Italian then English, by a first speaker who mastered her subject, supported her anecdotes, and described with precision. A second speaker took over in French, sometimes with a more abbreviated or less precise speech. A drink service is offered at the bar. We chose the route passing through Portovenere which really charmed us (1h10 stopover) then Monterosso, less attractive unless you wander off the beaten path (from 12:00 PM to about 3:00 PM) then Vernazza (1h until 4:50 PM) which we ultimately did not visit: the call of the sea became too pressing due to the heatwave. We enjoyed this impromptu swim more. In retrospect, I regret not having been able to stroll through this last village, especially since the setting sun cast very beautiful light on the facades. Ultimately, the 2 villages of Portovenere and Vernazza would have been enough to enjoy it better. The ideal would have even been a stop at sea dedicated to swimming from the boat, as is sometimes done. We could have stayed an hour longer in Portovenere in the morning, which was not very crowded this Tuesday, July 29, and lingered to have lunch and swim in Vernazza. The stop in Monterosso is less pleasant: the village is quite far away, the beach is very crowded, and the reception corresponds primarily to mass tourism. With two stops from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., we could sail quietly close to the coast to see the other villages, including Riomaggiore, in more detail. That would be an idea to explore, even if we enjoyed the cruise itself. It could be improved.
This reservation was a disappointment. We scheduled it on a Friday because it was the day the tour stopped in Portovenere and they changed the route at the last minute without any warning, leaving to pass through that place. I don't recommend it. The boarding site is the one that is farthest away from everyone, being the other companies all together with the Marina.
Good morning. No one changed the tour itinerary. The route for your departure date had been published well in advance, which is why no other guest raised this issue. It is possible that you simply did not notice the itinerary that was scheduled for your specific travel date. In any case, we do not believe your review is particularly helpful to future guests, as it is based on not having checked the itinerary for the day you booked rather than on the quality of the service we actually provided. As for the boarding point, you are comparing our departure location with that of a different public ferry company whose service you did not even use. Our departure point is clearly indicated before booking, and every guest is free to choose the operator that best suits their preferences. We always operate the tour exactly as advertised, nothing less.
Wonderful ferry service that went to three places in Cinque Terre with about 2 hours per location. They were on time and communicated in 3 languages on our tour (Italian, English, French).
Great tour with extra frendly staff.
It was an incredible experience; we visited Riomaggiore, Monterosso, and Vernazza. The crew is the best, especially thanks to Rosa.
We traveled from La Spezia with the Cinque Terre Maritime Consortium. A Hop on Hop off system in which we were able to visit the 5 villages of Cinque Terre. The walk was beautiful and it was very practical to be able to get off and then take the next ferry.
I enjoyed the tour very much but the narration was completely lost because of the engine noise and the girls’ high voice. I would have liked to know about the places we were seeing on the way and some history of the villages we stopped at. The staff was very helpful when I got on and off the boat. It was a relaxing day in spite of the terrific heat and many people swam in the ocean to cool off.
A well-organized trip that allowed us to discover these beautiful places.
At the start of the day, I mistakenly got the appointment day wrong, so it started off very poorly lol 😂 but the organization said no worries, you can come, and the surprise in France is that we would have been turned away, so a big thank you 🙏 very helpful staff and we had time to swim and stroll through the streets, I recommend it one hundred percent
Nice beautiful trip . Riomaggiore difficult stairs and in hot weather in days , then happen lits if biat tours . Boat and all ship sailers did their job excellent
