Cinque Terre Yacht Charter: the Protected Area Rules and Portovenere

“The Cinque Terre are five villages built to be looked at from the sea: a UNESCO site, a marine protected area, and the one stretch of Italy where arriving by tender beats arriving by train.”

In short. The five villages run between Levanto and La Spezia on the Ligurian coast, 23 nautical miles from Portofino and 8 from Portovenere. The marine protected area is zoned, anchoring is prohibited in the strictest zones and larger yachts are limited in how close they may approach. A crewed week in Italy starts near €80,000.

Seeing them from the water is genuinely the better way to do it. The villages were built facing the sea, the land approach means crowded trains and steep steps, and a tender lets you arrive at the harbour front. For most guests it is the highlight of an Italian Riviera week.

The practical shape is a day on the coast and a night somewhere sheltered. Portovenere, at the southern end, is a fine stop in its own right and a far more comfortable overnight.

Must-dos in the Cinque Terre

A slow pass along the cliffs, which is how Manarola and Riomaggiore are meant to be seen
Tender into Vernazza, the small natural harbour with the church on the point
Monterosso, the only one with a real beach and the easiest tender landing
Walk a leg of the Sentiero Azzurro and be collected by tender at the far end
Portovenere for the night, with the church on the point and the Gulf of La Spezia behind

On this page: the five villages · the footpath · Portovenere and the gulf · the protected area rules · what it costs · distances · when to go

The five villages

Cinque Terra, Italy — The Cinque Terre villages built into the Ligurian cliffs.

Monterosso al Mare is the northernmost and the largest, the only one with a real beach, and the easiest place to land a tender.

Vernazza is the one everyone photographs: a small natural harbour with a church on the point and the most complete village square of the five.

Corniglia is the odd one out, sitting on a headland with no harbour at all and reached by a long stair from the shore, so it is usually skipped from a yacht.

Manarola and Riomaggiore are the southern pair, both dramatic, both essentially vertical, and both best appreciated from a slow pass along the cliffs rather than from inside.

The whole stretch is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the terraced vineyards above the villages are part of why.

The Sentiero Azzurro

The Sentiero Azzurro, the coastal footpath, links all five, and sections of it open and close depending on landslide repairs. It is worth checking which legs are open when the week is planned rather than on the morning.

If guests want to walk a leg and be collected by tender at the far end, that is easy to arrange and it is the way to see the terraced vineyards properly. Monterosso to Vernazza is the usual choice: about an hour and a half, steep in places, and spectacular throughout.

Portovenere and the Gulf of La Spezia

Portovenere sits at the southern end, outside the protected area proper, and it is the better overnight by some margin: a tall painted waterfront, the church of San Pietro out on the point where the Gulf of Poets opens, and the castle above.

Behind it the Gulf of La Spezia gives real shelter, which matters on this coast more than anywhere else in Italy. When the wind goes into the south-west the whole Cinque Terre stretch becomes untenable and the plan moves in here.

The islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto lie off the point, and the channel between Palmaria and the mainland is the usual approach.

The protected area rules and where yachts lie

The marine protected area is zoned and the restrictions are real and enforced.

Anchoring is prohibited in the most protected zones, buoy fields are used in others, and larger yachts are limited in where they may approach the shore at all.
In practice most charter yachts lie off Monterosso or further out and work the coast by tender.
Or berth at Portovenere or in the Gulf of La Spezia and run in from there, which is the more comfortable plan and the one we usually recommend.

The coast is exposed to the south-west with almost no natural shelter, so a day here needs a settled forecast. Our guide to marina and anchor nights in Italy covers the wider Ligurian pattern: this is a marina-to-marina coast rather than an anchorage one.

What a week on this coast costs

A crewed week in Italy starts around €80,000 for a motor yacht, with most weeks between €150,000 and €300,000 and the top of the market at €300,000 to €500,000 and above. On top come an advance provisioning allowance of roughly 25 to 35 per cent, Italian VAT at 22 per cent and a gratuity of usually 5 to 15 per cent. See our Italy charter cost guide, APA and VAT.

The Cinque Terre themselves cost nothing beyond the park rules and the fuel. The berths in the Gulf of La Spezia are a fraction of Portofino or Porto Cervo, which makes a Riviera week that is weighted towards this end noticeably cheaper than one that is not.

Fitting the Cinque Terre into the week

The Cinque Terre are a day on the coast within a Ligurian week, not a base.

From Vernazza	Distance	At 12 knots
La Spezia	7 nm	35 min
Portovenere	8 nm	40 min
Portofino	23 nm	1 h 55
Santa Margherita	24 nm	2 h
Elba	84 nm	7 h

Running south from here to Elba and the Tuscan Archipelago is 84 nautical miles, which is a full day or an overnight and the main decision in a week that wants both coasts. See how long the week should be.

When to go

June and September are the best weeks: settled weather, open footpaths and the villages busy rather than impossible.
July and August are crowded ashore, which matters less from a yacht than it does from a train, but the buoy fields and the berths in the gulf fill.
May and October are quiet and often beautiful, with a higher chance of a south-westerly that moves the whole plan into the Gulf of La Spezia.

Our month-by-month view is in the best time for an Italy charter.