Moneglia, Italy – Authentic, Small Town

If you travel one train stop past the towns of Cinque Terre you will end up in a beautiful small town called Moneglia.

This town was one of my favorite places in Italy.

Moneglia-getting-into-town

Getting into town

My friends and I got there on a Saturday afternoon after a 4 hour journey from Florence. Once we arrived, after a lot of confusion about bus ticket prices and how to get to where we were going (there was one person working at the train station and he didn’t speak a word of English, and could not understand our broken Italian), a tiny bus took us to our bed and breakfast – Cielo e Mare. We were greeted by a lovely woman named Rita who showed us to our rooms. The view from the b&b was spectacular.

Now, it didn’t take us long to realize that this town was small, I mean very small, in the way that everyone knew one another. We did not meet any other English-speaking tourists on our stay there. There were some people on holiday, but they were Italians from other towns (probably looking to escape the tourists!).

It was a long winding walk down to the city centre and beach – good exercise and absolutely gorgeous views:

moneglia-w-leisha-and-alexi

You can’t be unhappy with a view like this behind you

Moneglia-Hotel-View

Green and blue are all the colours you need

It was a chilly day but we stepped into the ocean and let the salt water wash over us. This is the type of beach experience you want to have in Italy. It was not crowded, there was no one targeting tourists trying to sell us something – all we felt was the ocean breeze and the calm of the mountains around us (a big contrast to the often, extremely busy beaches of

moneglia-us-in-water

Who doesn’t love swimming in the ocean

Cinque Terre which are only a short distance away).

We went into a little bar right by the beach to grab something to eat, and my goodness, what a welcome did we receive. The bar owner came up to us and gave us slices of his home-made pizza to try, all the workers wanted to chat about where we were from and what we were doing in Italy. It was such a warm and genuine welcome that I think about it to this very day!
Fun fact: you have stand up to use the bathroom in most places (like bars/cafes) – yeah it’s about as fun as it sounds. I mean whatever business you gotta do you gotta do it standing. There are two big footprints on the floor to guide you and then a sort of hole? You just gotta hope for the best when squatting and try not to fall!
Moneglia-palm-trees

This picture is pure nostalgia

There were a few small shops around town selling all sorts of souvenirs and little products that were honestly delightful, and very much unlike a lot of the products I have seen elsewhere. On the Sunday there was a big market by the beach which sold just about anything you can imagine – it wasn’t targeted at all towards tourists, but more so towards Italians (they were selling towels with American flags, celebrities, etc. on them).

I was SO sad to leave Moneglia, and can’t believe I spent only 2 days there! I could’ve easily spent a week!

My tip for you is: if you’re in the Cinque Terre region go that extra stop and visit Moneglia!

Bonus tip: staying in Moneglia is 5 times cheaper than staying in the main Cinque Terre towns and you could get a train pass for about €10-€15 to travel an unlimited amount of times between the towns.

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4 Comments on “Moneglia, Italy – Authentic, Small Town

  1. LOL about the toilets. That’s one of the biggest challenges for me in SO many places I travel to… At least there was footprints at this one! Gah, a clean bathroom is one of the nicest things about coming back home after a trip.

    • Yes! A clean bathroom is definitely one of the sweetest parts of being back home – even if you’re staying at pretty nice places, nothing beats your own bathroom.

  2. Pingback: Beaches of Tuscany: Viareggio, Italy | When In Doubt Travel

  3. Came across this page: I’m Canadian born and raised but my mum was from Moneglia and I’ve been back often….but not often enough! Glad you enjoyed the place, it is spectacular.

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