Italian Riviera - Part 1

We're just back from our holiday to the Cinque Terre so I thought I'd share a few things while it's still fresh in my mind. Cinque Terre is about a 5 hour drive from where we live in Switzerland and on the way down we stopped at the Serravalle Designer Outlet. My husband's colleague had warned us that we would spend the whole day there and we were there 5 hours and that wasn't even really doing proper shopping ... just wandering in and out of shops whilst trying to keep the children under control! There are a whole load of designer brands here. I thought the shops that had the best offerings were Prada and Burberry. There were discounts of up to 50% off and you could get a pair of sunglasses for around 100 euros. If I had more time I would have liked to have tried on a few things at Missoni. A cardigan was around 150 euros and dresses around 200. There are so many shops here including Petit Bateau and Frette, it is definitely worth a stop.

We then headed for Monterosso Al Mare which is the first Cinque Terre town that you hit as you're driving down. The road down is crazily steep and narrow! The owner of the hotel later told us that they recommend the best way to arrive is by train. We stayed at a really nice hotel called A Ca Du Gigante. The location of this hotel is amazing, right by the beach and restaurants so it was great to be able to just leave our car for a few days and get around by walking and the train.

Monterosso is the only Cinque Terre town that has a sandy beach which is why I chose there as thought it would be the most practical with the girls. Most of it was covered in sun loungers which you had to pay for with very small patches of public beach.

It's a great little seaside town with lots of restaurants to choose from and a little playground running alongside the beach. Our favourite place to eat was at Cantina di Miky. It was right on the waterfront serving up the most delicious food. Fritto Misto, a lemon, vodka and prosecco dessert drink and stuffed anchovies. 

Monterosso is also a great base to explore the rest of the towns. We took the train one day to Riomaggiore which was a quaint little town.

The trains were really busy and the little villages are heaving with people. It is Italy in August I guess! The area was full of Americans and then later we found out that a lot of people from Milan flock down for their summer holidays as well as it's only a few hours drive away. My tip for the train is to allow time to buy your tickets. We spent nearly half an hour waiting to buy tickets.

After a busy day exploring Riomaggiore we were happy to just spend the rest of the time relaxing at the beach and eating lots of gelato! 

Stay tuned for the next part of our trip! 

MP