10 Things to Do in Cinque Terre at Night

One indisputable fact is that the best things to see and do in Cinque Terre tend to take place from morning until dusk. This has to do with the fact that these are small towns with few inhabitants that actually maintain a very quiet nightlife even during the summer. However, during the rest of the year they return to a very monotonous and quiet life that characterises rural towns all over the world.

However, there is the possibility that during your visit to Cinque Terre there will be evening activities to occupy the last hours of your days and many of these plans can be more entertaining than you might imagine. Therefore, I invite you to continue reading this post in which I have compiled a list of activities that may be interesting during a three or four day visit to this peculiar corner of the Ligurian coast.

The first alternative you have at your disposal when thinking of a night out in Cinque Terre is to enjoy a traditional dinner in one of the excellent restaurants in the five villages that make up this national park. The reality is that they all stand out for different reasons, as some offer quality food in a modest and authentic atmosphere, while others are more focused on a luxurious and exclusive experience with an author's stamp.

NessunDorma, Vertical Lounge Bar and Bar O'Netto are establishments that you have at your disposal in the two villages that are located in the southernmost part of this national park. You should also know that Riomaggiore and Manarola are recommended for dinner because of the fact that they tend to have a less significant number of visitors. Especially during the evenings, because their accommodation offer is limited.

Besides, you don't have to worry too much about how you will get home knowing that the trains connecting the five towns run until 23:00 h, at least during the high season from May to September.

Anyway, going out for dinner is always one of the best things to do in Cinque Terre during a two-day trip, as settling for the food in your accommodation is a bad idea. This is knowing that you miss out on the opportunity to explore these authentic villages in an evening out approach.

Another alternative for evening entertainment that involves the possibility of dining with a much more fun approach is to participate in a gastronomic tour that takes you to various restaurants throughout the different villages of Cinque Terre. This is to enjoy the flavours that characterise the culinary world of this region.

This type of experience is not complex because getting from one village to another is something that usually takes no more than 10 minutes by train and with the accompaniment of the guide every minute would be fun for all participants.

The biggest problem is to find an alternative that has vacancies for the time of your visit. Therefore, it is always advisable to book in advance for the best food tours in Cinque Terre. You also have to keep in mind that many of these culinary tours take place at night, but they usually start right at sunset. This means that it is an evening activity, but at the same time leaves many hours of this part of the day available.

Corniglia is a peculiar place in the Cinque Terre because it is the only town that is not directly connected to the Mediterranean Sea. This factor means that this town always has a smaller number of visitors than the rest of the four towns that make up this region that has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

These reasons have a direct influence on the fact that the accommodation options are always a little cheaper and that the nightlife alternatives are more limited, even though in the rest of the towns there is also a shortage of nightlife. Therefore, the best plan you could make in this place is to go to the footpaths on the outskirts of the village to enjoy a starry night if your visit coincides with a clear sky.

You should also know that you don't have to stray too far from the streets and houses of this small community, as the fact is that the viewpoint that during the day offers you privileged views of the coastline of the entire national park also becomes a good place to see the night sky reflected on the surface of the sea at night.

You should know that anyway visiting Corniglia to stay overnight in one of the town's hotels is one of the best things to do in Cinque Terre during the month of April, which has to do with the fact that the tourist season is just beginning and therefore all the services available in the town will still be cheap and not in demand.

Although the nightlife and party culture is not characteristic of Cinque Terre, many of the tourists who plan to stay 4 or 5 days here are looking for entertainment and, if they can't find it, they create it for themselves. For this reason, in the town of Vernazza it has become a late spring and summer tradition to gather around the marina to have a few drinks and enjoy the cooler evenings of the year.

Normally, the people who participate in these spontaneous gatherings are usually young locals and foreigners who come to enjoy the beauty that characterises this place. However, it is advisable not to get your hopes up too high because, if there is music, it is usually at a fairly moderate volume and you are not really occupying a commercial venue.

That means that all the participants are hanging out on the rocks on the beach waiting for it to be a bit later to go back to the hotel without feeling like they haven't done anything fun after dinner. However, the event is an excellent opportunity to meet people and to connect with other tourists who are staying at the same time as you both in this village and in any of the other Cinque Terre locations.

In fact, it is a good plan for those who plan to participate in one of the best day trips from Cinque Terre alone. This is because there is a good chance that some of the participants of these spontaneous street gatherings will also be joining the excursions and that means that you would already have companions to have fun with for that other tourist activity.

Monterosso al Mare is the largest town in the Cinque Terre and that is something that sets it apart. It also has the most sandy beaches in the whole national park. These reasons have directly influenced the fact that along its streets you will find the greatest diversity of bars in the whole region and, despite being few in number, they can be a good alternative to enjoy a drink if that is the kind of entertainment you are looking for during your visit to this part of Liguria.

You should know that most of these establishments usually close at the latest at 1 or 2 am and this during the busiest nights of the high season. In fact, spending an afternoon among the beaches of Monterosso and then enjoying its restaurants and bars is one of the best things to do in Cinque Terre during the summer, as it is a good entertainment for those staying in some of the small hotels in the five villages.

In fact, this is the place with the most dynamic nightlife in the entire national park during the other months of the year which are not usually defined by the large number of tourists arriving in these villages.

La Spezia is important for tourism within the Cinque Terre as it is the largest town within the surrounding communities, has a central train station that connects the five towns to the rest of Europe and the country and has a cruise ship terminal that facilitates the arrival of thousands upon thousands of people annually.

For these reasons it is not surprising to learn that La Spezia, despite being a small town, has a few bars and a couple of discotheques. These exist so that traders can offer Cinque Terre tourists the chance to experience a night of authentic Italian partying without the need to wait for a visit to a different region to experience it.

These establishments are located both in the vicinity of the sailing and yacht marina, as well as around the Giardini Publicci and the promenade. Most of these establishments are more active and crowded in the warmer months, but they are also one of the best things to do in Cinque Terre during the winter. Even more so knowing that they are an escape from the cold temperatures of northern Italy.

The Cinque Terre International Music Festival is a series of classical music concerts held in different public spaces in the five towns of the region from late spring to early autumn.

To enjoy these evening concerts, which usually last until 11pm at the latest, you just need to make sure that your visit to the national park coincides with one of the dates proposed by the event organisers. It is most likely to fall on a weekend, as the number of people is doubled and therefore a wider reach is guaranteed.

You should also be aware that many of these concerts may be privately organised and therefore you will have to book a ticket privately. It is also very likely that the town you are staying in may not necessarily be the same town where the concert is being held for the weekend of your visit.

In any case, you should know that taking advantage of the last performances of this festival is one of the best things to do in Cinque Terre during September, as it is the end of the high tourist season.

If your trip to Cinque Terre is long enough to make you want to party on 2 different nights, then you should know that heading north to Sestri Levante is also a good idea.

Sestri Levante is a coastal town of a similar size to La Spezia, but the issue is that it takes a lot longer to get there by train. Therefore, you would have to spend the night there before taking the train back.

Actually that is not a problem because there are several nightlife establishments ranging from bars to discos that are open from early evening until dawn. You can then have breakfast in one of the cafés along the promenade and then make your way back to your hotel to rest and recharge your batteries. This will leave you ready to enjoy the rest of the day in one of the most beautiful national parks in Italy.

Most of the boat trips offered for tourists in Cinque Terre are usually designed to enjoy the sunset. However, this type of experience becomes an excellent alternative for evening entertainment when it includes the possibility of enjoying dinner under the stars while sailing from north to south or south to north along the rocky Ligurian coastline.

One of the reasons why this type of evening plan is highly recommended is because it is an activity for the whole family. Moreover, it is a way of satisfying a need by adding a little entertainment to make the evening hours fun as well, which will greatly help you not to feel that you are wasting your time during your sightseeing tour.

You should know that this kind of trips usually depart from Vernazza or Monterosso and that the duration depends on the number of participants as well as the type of boat.

One thing that many people dream of doing is the possibility of taking a swim on a beach in the middle of the night. Fortunately, the towns of Cinque Terre are an ideal place for this because the shores of each of these locations are perfectly lit and at the same time the waves are calm enough to make the experience safe at certain times of the year.

So as you can imagine this is a recommended plan for summer or late spring nights, but it is definitely not one of the things to do in Cinque Terre during December. This is due to the fact that between the last and first months of each year the Mediterranean Sea has much colder temperatures and at the same time the swell is more significant due to the constant rains that differentiate winter from autumn.

It is recommended that if you decide to participate in this activity of bathing on the beach at night you do it with the accompaniment of people who can also swim and do not go too far from the coast, as there is no guarantee that the tide is safe for you.