I first visited the Cinque Terre in July 2017, and have been back twice more since the pandemic. The scenery never gets boring – beautiful villages with colourful buildings, a shimmering blue sea, and rolling hills. Alas, the vegan scene never really gets much better either. There is not a wealth of info online about vegan options in the Cinque Terre because they really are quite sparse. You’ll find people talking about overpriced pasta pomodoro and pizza marinara, so it’s possible to get by, with a bit of planning and relatively low expectations.

Crucially, we also always take our own hiking snacks from home with us, a good supply of jerky and Clif bars. Unless you know any reliable Italian snack bars and are going to a big supermarket, this plan may serve you well too.

Manarola

If you’re going for more than one night, I’d recommend finding accommodation with a kitchen, or at least taking your own breakfast provisions. We’ve stayed in a studio apartment in Manarola on our last two visits and ate our breakfasts and dinners at home, for the most part. La Spezia is your best bet for a good supermarket close to the Cinque Terre (it’s at one end of the train line through the villages, and also has quite a few vegan options at restaurants – we’re planning to explore it more thoroughly on our next trip). But in the local Coop in Manarola we managed to find vegan breakfast cereal and oat milk (behind the counter, not out on the shelves) as well as ingredients for a pasta, vegetables, and sauce dinner, so even without exiting the five villages you can scrape by. I’m not sure what the supermarket/grocery options are like in the other villages.

Manarola is a good option to stay in because it actually has a takeaway spot called Il Discovolo with some good vegan options – lasagna, meatballs, and potentially more. However, on our last visit it was closed without any notice on the building or on social media, so it’s not totally reliable. I would assume it’s consistently open during high season though. It’s not all vegan, but vegan options are clearly listed on the menu boards and the staff can comfortably explain everything in English.

With that disappointment, and feeling hungry and tired from a day of hiking, we decided to try a nearby spot in Manarola called Il Porticciolo. Their menu is one of the few we saw that lists allergens using the EU numbering system, making it easy to deduce the vegan items (marinara pizza, fries, and salad). Alas, I had to become one of those vegans who eats cheeseless pizza on holiday; I felt very sorry for myself. Actually though, it was better than I expected! There was plenty of garlic and oregano, so it did have flavour. It was a generous size as well. At €7.50, it was half the price of the other pizzas on the menu, so it felt like good value for money, for the Cinque Terre. I wouldn’t hurry back if there were other vegan options out there – but in hungry times, it served us well.

It was a very popular spot and was turning away potential customers as it was fully booked, so if you have your heart set on it, make sure to book a table or get there right at opening time.

Also in Manarola is a little crepe and gelato shop called 5 Terre which has vegan crepes! They claim to sell vegan gelato as well, but were out of stock when we visited. The crepes are vegan by default though, and there are a few different fillings available. Dr HH and I both went for the chocolate hazelnut spread as our filling, and it was tasty. However, the crepe itself felt a bit dry and cloying, and it was a bit of a chore to get through the whole thing, unfortunately. It’s a really nice option to have (and all gluten free as well, for any interested parties), but not quite as good as it sounds.

Corniglia

Outside of Manarola, we also always like to pay a visit to Pan e Vin in Corniglia, which we first frequented back in 2017, and always pop in on our return visits. The vegan option has stayed the same, though the price has increased massively, from €4.50 to €8.50. From here on, this post is very heavy on focaccia, and this is the best of the bunch. Lovely herby bread filled with pesto and roasted vegetables – what’s not to love?

The walk from Manarola to Corniglia is quite tough, so this is always a much-needed refueling spot. There is allegedly an easy path, but it has never been open on any of our three visits, so we take the high route from Manarola up to Volastra, then along to Corniglia. It takes 2-3 hours, and starts with an absolutely brutal climb, but gets easier after that. And the views are very much worth it.

Even in October, it’s always appropriate to have gelato! There are lots of vegan gelato options in Corniglia, but somehow we always end up at Gelateria Corniglia, which has a few more exciting versions of the standard dark chocolate and fruit vegan options that you find in Italy. The top picture is chocolate and forest fruits, which pair together well. The bottom one is basil lemon and strawberry, which was zesty and refreshing.

Vernazza

Again due to path closures, on our second day we found ourselves taking the high route, this time from Vernazza to Monterosso. They are absolutely not lying when they call it a high route – again, it’s a big tough climb at the start, and our calves were killing us the next day.

We weren’t sure where to eat in Vernazza. There is one place to get a vegan sandwich, which we tried in 2017, but we thought it a bit overpriced. So this time we just popped into one of the main bakeries along the main drag for another precious hit of oil, salt, and bread. We went into La Focacceria da Paolo 1996 and tried some farinata, which I believe is inherently vegan – it’s kind of a pancake made from chickpea flour. It’s a bit dry, and I wouldn’t make a habit of eating it, but it’s fun to try when you’re in this area.

We also got some olive and rosemary focaccia, which weren’t labelled vegan but we assumed they would be from the toppings. They were both flavoursome and filling, and kept us going.

Bonassola

One day of our trip was absolutely pouring down, so we decided to venture slightly out of the five main villages for an undercover walk taking us through Bonassola, which would not otherwise have been on our radar but did have a convenient Happy Cow listing.

We eyed up a spot to grab a bit of bread at Focacceria Cinzia in Bonassola. There was nothing labelled vegan, so we went for a plain slice and it was suitably salty, oily, and tasty. There were some stools at the bar so we could also have a little sit indoors, rather than risk our precious bread getting soggy in the outdoors.

The walk goes from Levanto through Bonassola and on to Framura – and we walked the return leg as well, though you would be able to get the train back. It is largely comprised of old train tunnels that have been repurposed into bike and footpaths (with clear bike lanes, so don’t worry about getting run down). We were happy to stretch our legs despite the rain, but we’d hoped that there would be more openings in the tunnels so we could see more of the stormy sea as we went. But still, it was better than nothing, and there are some small stretches between tunnels when you can enjoy the views. I would heartily recommend this route if it’s an unsuitable day to be up on the hills.

So, my general top tips for visiting Cinque Terre are to lower your expectations in order to enjoy cheeseless pizza, and book self-catering accommodation so you can cook food you do want to eat. Usually I wouldn’t spend a few days in a place without good vegan options, but the trails and views here are so spectacular I really don’t mind the inconvenience. Just look at that sea!