The Via dell’Amore

How the Via dell'Amore works in 2026

Access is capped. You buy a ticket and choose a time slot: entries are staggered in groups so the path never gets packed. At your time you show up at the gate on the Riomaggiore side, show your ticket and walk to Manarola. Time on the path is limited, but it is plenty for a walk that takes about twenty minutes at an easy pace.

Tickets are sold on the official Via dell’Amore website, where you can also see which slots are free, or at the National Park Info Points in the stations. Prices start at €10, and there are combinations with the Cinque Terre Card, so check on the site which option suits you depending on what you already have. Residents and second-home owners in the Cinque Terre municipalities walk it free, in both directions.

2026 opening hours

• 1 January to 28 March: 9am–7pm, last entry 6.30pm
• 29 March to 24 October: 9am–9pm, last entry 8.30pm
• From 26 October: 9am–6pm, last entry 5.30pm

The path closes during weather alerts. If the forecast looks uncertain on the day, check the website before heading to Riomaggiore.

Why one-way

For visitors the route only goes from Riomaggiore towards Manarola, so you can’t start in Manarola and walk there and back. Plan your day around it: arrive in Riomaggiore, walk the Via dell’Amore, then carry on exploring Manarola. To get back, take the train (one stop) or the old mule track.

The route

The entrance is by Riomaggiore station. The path runs about thirty metres above the sea, cut into the cliff, with stone paving and railings along the whole seaward side. There are no real climbs: it is the easiest walk in the Cinque Terre and fine for people who don’t normally hike.

The view changes at every bend: on one side the coast towards Portovenere, on the other, as you near the end, the houses of Manarola. The steel nets and barriers above your head are the result of the safety works; on the Manarola side a short tunnel section was completely rebuilt. At the exit you are steps from Manarola station and the village’s main street.

A bit of history

The Via dell’Amore was not built for lovers. In 1920, during works to double the Genoa–La Spezia railway, a passage was cut along the cliff to store explosives away from the villages. Once the works were done, locals started using it instead of the steep mule track. The name probably comes from an anonymous inscription, “Via dell’Amore”, written at both ends of the path: over the years it became the meeting place for young people from the two villages, and later the place for couples’ padlocks.

A landslide closed it in 2012. About 200 metres on the Manarola side reopened in 2015; between 2021 and 2024 came nets, anchors, rockfall barriers and new paving. The full reopening came in summer 2024; after another rockfall in October 2024 the path was reinforced again and has been open since 14 February 2025.

Practical tips

• Book ahead from May to September and at weekends: places per slot are limited.
• Go at sunset if you can: you reach Manarola in the best light and can carry on to Punta Bonfiglio for the classic photo.
• Arrive a few minutes early for your slot: the entrance is close to Riomaggiore station, but trains and crowds eat up time.
• With children it is ideal: short, flat and protected.
• Combine the day: morning in Riomaggiore, Via dell’Amore, afternoon and evening in Manarola.

If slots are sold out: the Via Beccara

There is also the old mule track between the two villages, the Via Beccara (trail 531): about a kilometre and a half with 200 metres of climbing, an hour’s walk on steps and dirt. It is harder work and has no direct sea view, but you can walk it in both directions and it is the only way to go on foot from Manarola to Riomaggiore. In December it is also the best spot to see the illuminated nativity: bring a torch, as the path is unlit.