The second stop on our September holiday in Italy and Germany took us to the beautiful Cinque Terre region of Italy. The Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage site, made up of five small villages along the coast.

We stayed in a lovely apartment in Manarola, the second of the five villages. Our room was way up at the top of the town – a grueling walk to up the hill with our bags, but totally worth it for the view.

On our second day in the Cinque Terre we hiked from Manarola to Corniglia. The coastal path between the two villages closed in 2010, so we had to hike along a harder route higher via a town called Volastra in the mountains. The views were spectacular as we hiked through the vinyards and made our way down to Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare.

The Cinque Terre is one of my favourite places in the world. The food is good, scenery is amazing, ocean is inviting, atmosphere is relaxing and this time the company was gorgeous.