Hike the Coastal Trails of the Italian Riviera

Marta Marinelli, raised in Italy’s serene Prosecco Hills, dreamt of global adventures, inspired by her father's travel stories. Her passion evolved into a career, backed by a decade of studies including degrees in international tourism and destination management. She’s worked in the adventure travel sector since 2012, living in Italy, the UK, and now sunny Portugal.

Over twenty years, Marta has explored over 60 countries, visiting remote areas like Ghana, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Haiti and Nepal’s Upper Mustang region. As a Senior Adventure Expansion Manager at Much Better Adventures, she focuses on creating life-changing experiences, ranging from multi-activity adventures and challenging treks to ultimate adventures in iconic places. She loves the challenge of finding the best local adventure hosts around the world, collaborating on adventures that offer genuine immersion, pushing beyond the beaten path and working on exclusive itineraries that challenge your comfort zone.

What makes her tick? Enabling people to live adventure-rich lives while positively impacting and empowering local communities around the world, generating sustainable opportunities for both the host, guides, community and the environment.

Overtourism is a growing phenomenon and one of the places in Europe where this is problematic is in the Cinque Terre, on Italy’s Eastern Ligurian coast. More than 2.5 million people visit this coastal area of Italy every year, attracted by the five famous, colourful, tiny villages and sublime coastal views. The majority are day-trippers or visit as part of a cruise excursion. The impact on the local communities is huge, creating issues such as overcrowding in the narrow streets and on local transport. Even travelling in the lower season or along the hiking trails doesn't provide much of an escape.

To avoid contributing to the issue, we've decided not to include the Cinque Terre area in our trip. Instead, you'll be based in a lesser-known but equally stunning part of the Italian Riviera, in the west. Despite being considered one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, Finale Ligure remains relatively unknown to foreign tourists and feels far more authentic and less crowded than the neighbouring Cinque Terre (located on the Eastern Riviera). Whilst it's impossible to guarantee a completely crowd-free experience, it's less likely you'll encounter as many hikers and tourists than in the Cinque Terre area. You'll be visiting lesser-known charming small villages, and will enjoy a more authentic experience and immersion in Italian culture.

Overall, weather conditions should be pretty favourable in the months when this trip is scheduled to run, with plenty of sunshine and mild temperatures ranging from 16-28°C on average. However, as always, Mother Nature is unpredictable so the best you can do is to be prepared for anything and come equipped with sunscreen, a hat and waterproofs. Your host will be monitoring the weather conditions during the course of the trip and may suggest alternative, safer routes or activities should the weather get particularly bad, or change the order and timings of the hikes. During the months of March, April and November you should expect some cooler temperatures, especially in the evenings, so it's important to come prepared with layers.

The local tap water is safe to drink. Please bring along your own reusable water bottle to fill up at the hotels, public fountains and at restaurants to avoid buying single use plastic bottles.

Sure can! Over 70% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.

Our team of Adventure Hunters co-create exclusive adventures which are run by highly vetted, specialist hosts. The trip is run by our trusted host partner in the destination. We only work with independent, local, in-destination experts who know the very best places to explore and how to stay safe. Read more information about the local teams we partner with. You’ll be introduced to the host straight after making a booking via the Much Better Adventures platform.

Much Better Adventures refer to the UK Government’s official travel advice when designing trips and monitoring trip operations. We recommend that all customers are familiar with the practical information provided on the Government’s FCDO website, where current travel advice can be found by searching for the applicable destination(s).

For customers joining this trip from other international destinations – please also read the official travel advice applicable to your country of residence/origin, as this may differ.

We recommend checking out the country-specific information and also talking to a travel nurse.

We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.

If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.

All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. You must be over 18 to join one of our trips.

You're always in good company on one of our adventures.

Our trips are typically made up of a mixture of solo travellers and small groups of 2 or 3 friends, with most in their 30s-50s.

Our sociable adventures are solo-friendly by design and naturally attract outdoorsy people with a shared mindset; a love for adventure, a desire to push themselves and meet awesome, like-minded people along the way. Check out our Community Values – a shared code to make sure that everyone's experience is safe, inclusive and brilliantly unforgettable.

It’s this camaraderie that has so often turned a great adventure into a life-changing one.

Don't just take our word for it:

• 95% of people rate the group dynamics on our trips 5/5
• 90% of people recommend joining a trip to make new friends
• 75% of people have met people on our trips that they would now consider friends

See here for more info about the Much Better Adventures tribe.

The Italian Riviera is well known for its mild climate all year round, mainly due to the favourable location within the gulf stream and mountainous regions. With 300 sunny days per year it is one of the sunniest regions in Italy, making it a suitable hiking destination even in the shoulder season between March-April and October-November. The months between May and September have overall less chance of rain and much warmer temperatures. October can be equally as pleasant with people still swimming in the seas on a warm day. Of course adverse wind, sea or rain conditions can be unpredictable with some disruptions possible at any time of the year. The best you can do is to be prepared for anything and come equipped with layers of clothing, sunscreen and waterproofs.