Up from Manarola on stone steps between the vines, across the face of the terraces 400 metres above the sea, and down into Corniglia on its rock. The best walk in the Cinque Terre, the one place to understand how the landscape was built, and free.
The coast path shows you the villages. This one shows you why they exist: the terraces, built stone by stone over a thousand years so that families could grow vines on a cliff.
The route links three numbered paths. Trail 506 climbs straight up from Manarola through the vineyards to Volastra, a farming hamlet at about 335 metres with a 12th-century sanctuary, Nostra Signora della Salute. Trail 586 then runs north almost level across the hillside, through the heart of the Cinque Terre's wine country, past dry-stone walls, olive groves, tiny tool sheds and the single-rail monorails that haul the grapes up and down. Trail 587 finally drops into Corniglia.
It replaced the closed coastal stretch between Manarola and Corniglia, shut by landslide since 2012, and many walkers think it is the better walk. The views are wider, the crowds thinner, and from the middle section you can see all five villages at once. After repairs, it reopened in March 2026.
The first hour is a stiff climb of about 330 metres on stone steps, relentless but short. After Volastra the walking is easy, on narrow paths along the terraces with occasional steps. The descent into Corniglia is steep in places.
Follow the red-and-white CAI signs with the trail numbers. The route can also be walked in reverse, which makes the climb from Corniglia longer but gentler.
Approximate profile.
From the top of Manarola's main street, by the church of San Lorenzo, follow signs for trail 506 to Volastra. The path climbs immediately in stone steps between terraces of vines, with the village's roofs dropping away below and the sea opening out behind.
Close to the start the path passes near Groppo, the hamlet where the Cantina Cinque Terre cooperative has its cellar; it is a short detour along the road for a tasting before or after. Above, the climb continues through some of the steepest vineyards in Italy.
Volastra is a quiet village of farmers and holiday houses around the Romanesque sanctuary of Nostra Signora della Salute, one of the five sanctuaries. Fill your bottle at the fountain, sit in the square, and if it is open, taste at Cantina Capellini on a terrace looking down at Manarola.
The best stretch of the walk. The path runs north across the face of the hillside on narrow terraces, past vines trained low against the wind, monorail tracks, stone huts and the farms of Case Pianca, with the sea 400 metres below and Corniglia ahead on its promontory. In September and October you may meet the harvest, with grapes going down the monorails in crates.
Trail 587 drops steeply through terraces and olive groves into Corniglia. Take a gelato on Via Fieschi, then the 382 steps of the Lardarina, or the park shuttle bus, down to the station. Fit walkers can continue up to San Bernardino for the view over the northern villages.
From our Cinque Terre guide: the cellars on and near the route, for the dry white and the sweet Sciacchetrà.
The cooperative's cellar and shop, with two hundred growers behind it: the one place to taste the whole appellation without an appointment, Sciacchetrà included.
A family estate that tastes four wines, ending with the sweet one, on a terrace hanging over the village you just climbed out of. Book in season.
Wine poured from the spouted jug it is named for, and Ligurian classics upstairs. The natural end to the walk before the steps down.
More on Cinque Terre wine →
Manarola and Corniglia are both stations on the Levanto to La Spezia line, a few minutes apart. Start in Manarola and take the train back from Corniglia, whose station is at the bottom of 382 steps or a park shuttle-bus ride.
The path is free and needs no Cinque Terre Card. Paths close after orange or red weather alerts; check the park's status page. Stay on the trail: the terraces are private and fragile, and walls collapse when people climb them.
The coastal Blue Path from Monterosso to Vernazza and Corniglia.
The flat, paved Lovers' Way cut into the cliff between Riomaggiore and Manarola.
Five pilgrim paths, one up from each village, to churches with the coast at their feet.
The high ridge from Portovenere to Levanto, and the headland walk over Punta Mesco.
A three-hour walk round the island facing Portovenere, with a swim at Pozzale.
The old coastal railway through tunnels with windows on the sea.
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