Cinque Terre (The Five Lands) is a group of small and quite lovely fishing villages (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore) clinging to improbably steep cliffs that tumble down into the Med on the west coast of Italy. Championed by legendary travel writer Rick Steves whose picture hangs in every bistro it’s a wonderful place to go for a few days and pretend that all is well with the world and that the motor car hasn’t been invented. There are no hotels in Cinque Terre so you stay in an apartment and ours was directly above a bakery in Riomaggiore. Getting up to go and buy coffees and pastries in the bakery and then sitting out on the balcony to enjoy breakfast, watching the village waking up, was a great start to the day.

Travel Tip You’ll need a car to get there but will have no use for it once you’ve arrived as you can walk between some of the villages, and the train journey to the others takes just a few minutes. Make sure you have good walking shoes.

Music “Freewheelin'” by Nigel Dick. You can license this piece of music here