10 Things to Do in Cinque Terre at Night

An indisputable reality is that the best things to see and do in Cinque Terre tend to happen from morning until sunset. 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. That while in the rest of the year they return to a very monotonous and quiet life that characterizes 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 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 an evening plan to do in Cinque Terre is to enjoy a traditional dinner in one of the excellent restaurants found 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 focused a little more 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 further south within this national park. You should also know that Riomaggiore and Manarola are recommended to enjoy a dinner because they tend to have a less significant number of visitors. Especially during the evenings, because their offer of accommodation is limited.

Also, you don't have to worry too much about how you will get home knowing that the trains connecting the five towns run until 11:00 pm, at least during the high season from May to September.

Anyway, going out for dinner is always part 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 under the spotlight that an evening out offers.

Another evening entertainment alternative 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 flavors that characterize 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. For this reason, it is always advisable to book in advance the best food tours in Cinque Terre. You also have to keep in mind that many of these culinary tours take place in the evening, but they usually start right at sunset. Which means that it is an evening activity, but at the same time it leaves many hours of this part of the day available.

Corniglia is a peculiar place within what Cinque Terre offers you because it is the only town that is not directly connected to the Mediterranean. This factor makes this town always has a smaller number of visitors than the rest of the four towns that complete this region that is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

These reasons directly influence the fact that the accommodation options are always a little cheaper and generates that the alternatives for nightlife entertainment are more limited even though in the rest of the towns are also scarce. Therefore, the best plan you could make in this place is to approach the trails on the outskirts of town to enjoy a starry night if your visit coincides with a clear sky.

You should also know that you do not need to go too far from the streets and houses of this small community, because the truth is that the viewpoint that during the day offers privileged views of the coast of the entire national park is also transformed at night into a good place to see the night sky reflected on the surface of the sea.

You have to 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 starting and therefore all the services available in the town will still be cheap and not in demand.

Although the night and party culture is not something characteristic of Cinque Terre, many of the tourists who plan to stay 4 or 5 days in this place 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 weather on the coolest nights of the year.

Normally, the people who participate in these spontaneous gatherings are usually the young locals and foreigners who come to enjoy the beauty that characterizes this place. However, it is advisable that you do not generate too many expectations about this type of meetings 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 little later to go back to the hotel without feeling like they haven't done anything fun after dinner. Mind you, 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 town and in any of the other Cinque Terre locations.

In fact, it is an advisable plan for those who plan to participate in some of the best day trips alone from Cinque Terre. This is because there is a good chance that some of the participants of these spontaneous street gatherings are also going to join 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 all of Cinque Terre and that is something that sets it apart. It also has the most sandy beaches in the entire national park. These reasons directly influenced the fact that along its streets you will find the greatest diversity of bars in the whole region and, despite being few, 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 who have their accommodation in some of the small hotels in the five villages.

Actually, this place is the one that keeps the most dynamic nightlife within the entire national park throughout the other months of the year that are not usually defined by the large number of tourists that come to these villages.

La Spezia is important for tourism within Cinque Terre due to the fact that it is the largest town within the communities near this site.In addition, it 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 and thousands of people annually.

For these reasons it is not surprising to know that La Spezia, despite being a small town, has a few bars and a couple of discotheques. These exist so that the merchants can offer the tourists of Cinque Terre the possibility to live a night of authentic Italian party without the necessity to wait for the visit to another region to be able to live that experience.

These establishments are located both in the vicinity of the sailboat 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 the Italian north.

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 11 p.m. 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 organizers. The most common is that it falls on a weekend, since the number of people is doubled and thus a greater reach is guaranteed.

You should also know that it is possible that many of these concerts are organized privately and, therefore, you would have to reserve 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 that you feel like partying on 2 different nights, then you need to know that heading north to get to Sestri Levante is also a recommended idea.

This place is a coastal town of a similar size to La Spezia, but the thing is that it takes a lot longer to get there by train. Therefore, you would have to wake up there before taking the train back.

Actually that is not a problem because there are several night establishments ranging from bars to discos that are open from early evening until dawn. Then you can have breakfast at some of the cafes along the promenade and then head 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 rides that are usually offered for tourists in Cinque Terre are usually designed to enjoy the sunset. However, these types of experiences end up becoming an excellent alternative for evening entertainment when they include the possibility of enjoying dinner under the stars while sailing from north to south or from south to north along the rocky Ligurian coasts.

One of the reasons why these types of evening plans are extremely recommendable is because it is an activity for the whole family. Moreover, it is a way to satisfy a need by adding a bit of entertainment to make the evening hours fun as well, which will greatly help you not to feel like you are wasting your time throughout your sightseeing tour.

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

One thing that many people dream of doing is the possibility of taking a swim in 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 some 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 because 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 swimming on the beach at night you do it with the accompaniment of people who also know how to swim and do not go too far from the coast, as there is no guarantee that the tide is safe for you.