Camping in Cinque Terre, Italy.

A trip to Cinque Terre is a must if you are visiting northern Italy. The five towns that cling to the seaside cliffs look like they are ripped straight out of a guidebook and they are a lot of fun to wander around. There is a train that stops at each village, but if you’re able bodied and want a more in-depth look while visiting Cinque Terre, then you should try the hike that connects all the towns.

It is possible to do the trial in one day, but it would make for a busy hike with little time to meander and enjoy each spot. I recommend you spend at least two nights in the area so you can space out the time on your hike, check out each village and relax a little. You can buy a bottle of wine and a pizza to go and sit on the cliffs as the sun sets, or you can take the time to check out the little watering holes and spend some time swimming in the Mediterranean.

There are plenty of hotels and hostels in the five towns, but they are not necessarily budget. A hostel typically costs about 25 – 35 euro/night and with the two of us that adds up pretty fast. Our solution for staying on a budget in Europe was to camp and Cinque Terre was no exception.

Camping La Sfinge - The campground we stayed at.

There are a few campgrounds in the towns surrounding Cinque Terre (which is a National Park), but there are no campsites at all within the park. We did some research and settled on staying in Deiva Marina–a small town about 20 minutes north by train.

We decided to stay at Camping Valdeiva, which was 20 euro a night and had the added benefit of a van pickup at the train station. By the time we made it to Deiva Marina it was around 8 p.m. and getting dark. The campground told us to call them at a nearby payphone and they would come get us. We searched around for a payphone, and when we eventually found one, we couldn’t figure out how to use it because we couldn’t read the instructions. It didn’t have an obvious slot for change and it looked like you needed a card to use it. We didn’t have a phone card or a bank card with a ‘pin & chip’ so we were out of luck. (Not having a pin & chip card actually screwed us in a couple of spots in Europe, but they aren’t common in the United States, so we had no idea what they were until we needed one. We’ll write more on this at a later date.)

We went back to the train station and started walking down the long, dark (no streetlights) road to the campground. It was actually a little nerve wracking–we had no idea where we were, where we were going or how long it would take to get there. We only had a vague idea that the campground was down that road and while walking blindly in the dark, with heavy bags, it was a bit too much. I’ve watched too many zombie movies so after a half mile or so we decided to turn back. It was now about 10 p.m. and we were starting to get worried about where we would stay. The town had pretty much shut down and since we didn’t see much of it in the daylight, we had no idea if there were any other places that we could stay at.

The beach at Deiva Marina. This place was pretty nice!

Luckily, when we got back to the train station a shuttle for another campground had arrived. We jumped in it and ended up staying there, which ironically was right across the street from the one we had initially tried to camp at. The name of this campground was La Sfinge and the spot was great–everyone was nice, it was basic but clean and quiet. It was 18 euro a night, and they had WiFi but it barely worked and it wasn’t free. La Sfinge also had a small shop with basics (pasta, cheese, bread, etc.) as well as a laundry room. Because we were last minute, we ended up at the tippity top of the campground with about 120 stairs between us and the bathroom. It was great for exercise but a real pain the butt when you just came back from a day of hiking and realized you forgot your toothpaste in the tent. If you make a reservation there, you can probably stipulate which site you want (they had plenty of drive in sites too) so keep that in mind if you don’t want to run up and down a million steps a day.

The best part is the shuttle, which runs hourly (until 10 p.m.) to the train station–you don’t need to call. This campground was a bit cheaper than the one we originally planned on; though, they didn’t have as many amenities. However, if you wanted to grab a bite to eat you could just walk across the street to the Valdeiva campground, which has a restaurant (some of the best pizza I had in Italy) and WiFi. Because we weren’t guests at that campground we had to pay for WiFi, but if we were staying there we wouldn’t have been charged. Both campgrounds were great and both are good options if you want to to camp in Italy near Cinque Terre.

The building in the back left is where the train station is. The bridge to the right leads to the beachside campground.

Deiva Marina was actually a really cute town. It’s a seaside village with a beautiful beach and friendly people – a great place to chill. As it turned out there was actually one campground almost right next to the beach, but we didn’t see it the first night. We went over to check it out on the last day, I think it was about 20 euro per night but it didn’t have WiFi. If you don’t need the Internet, then it would probably be a great option.

Camping Fornaci - this is the campground right by the beach.

For two days we hiked around Cinque Terre and then trotted off to sleep in our tent at night. It was completely budget friendly and we had a great time. We planned to stay for 4 – 5 days but the third day we got rained out and literally woke up in a puddle of mud. We were exhausted and dirty, and decided we needed time to catch up on work and grab a little R&R. We still had a couple days before we were due in Tuscany for our WWOOFing in Italy adventure so we decided to blow our budget and  stay in a fantastic hotel that was right on the beach. Free, fast WiFi and breakfast were included, so for two nights (about $75/night) we sat in our cozy room at the Hotel Lido and watched the clouds pour down as the huge, stormy waves broke on the beach. I like camping, but I have to say the days in the hotel were a nice getaway and felt very relaxing.

The view out our room from Hotel Lido.

Apparently, I didn’t take any photos of the other campground. Sorry about that– it looked very nice though and like I said the pizza was great! If you’re headed to Cinque Terre on a budget be sure to check out Deiva Marina. This little seaside town is a perfect place to relax for a few days in between hikes. The hotels are cheaper and the campgrounds are perfect if you’re on a shoestring. You might also get lucky and meet these guys at the grocery store a couple blocks from the beach.

Italian boys love to have their photos taken!

*Please remember all photos on this website, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted and property of Beers and Beans Travel Website, Nariko’ s Nest Weddings & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!

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*Please remember all photos on this website, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted and property of Beers and Beans Travel Website, Nariko’ s Nest Weddings & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!

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