Sentiero Azzurro: The Blue Trail
Sentiero Azzurro: The Blue Trail features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Cinque Terre. Give it roughly ~300 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type nature
- Suggested visit ~300 min
- Cinque Terre Cinque Terre guide
About Sentiero Azzurro: The Blue Trail
The Sentiero Azzurro, Blue Trail, is the UNESCO-protected coastal hiking path that links all five Cinque Terre villages, threading through eight centuries of terraced vineyards and passing some of the most breathtaking cliff scenery in the Mediterranean.
The Sentiero Azzurro, literally the Blue Path, is the main coastal hiking trail of the Cinque Terre, running approximately 12 kilometres along the cliff tops and connecting all five villages. It forms Trail No. 2 in the Cinque Terre National Park's network of hiking routes and passes through the UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape that encompasses both the five villages and the extraordinarily beautiful terraced agricultural landscape surrounding them. The trail's character varies significantly: the section between Riomaggiore and Manarola is the Via dell'Amore (flat and easy); the section between Vernazza and Corniglia is the most demanding, with significant elevation change; the section between Monterosso and Vernazza takes between two and three hours and offers the most dramatic cliff scenery. The terraced vineyards through which much of the trail passes represent eight centuries of uninterrupted agricultural activity, the drystone walls (muretti a secco) that retain the terraces are estimated to total roughly 6,700 kilometres if unrolled, more stone than the Great Wall of China.
Did you know? The terraced walls of the Cinque Terre, if unrolled and placed end to end, are estimated to stretch roughly 6,700 kilometres, a length greater than the Great Wall of China, representing eight centuries of continuous agricultural construction by hand.
How long is a visit to Sentiero Azzurro: The Blue Trail?
Set aside roughly ~300 min for Sentiero Azzurro: The Blue Trail. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Sentiero Azzurro: The Blue Trail worth your time?
Sentiero Azzurro: The Blue Trail is among the 12 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Cinque Terre, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Cinque Terre
Hear the story of Sentiero Azzurro: The Blue Trail
Preview the Cinque Terre tour free in the Gingerguide app.