The Cinque Terre on a Budget

The stunning profile stretched into the distance before me: miles of craggy coastline punctuated by five pastel villages, each nestled amid cliffs and sparkling sea. But on a pleasant afternoon in mid-October, only one other person was admiring this spectacular view of Cinque Terre, on the northwestern coast of Italy.

"It's lonely on the trail today," said Kerstin Bahrfeck-Wichitill, a speech pathologist from Dortmund, Germany, voicing a sentiment you'll never hear on the Cinque Terre's more famous hiking path, the Sentiero Azzurro.

On paper, the five villages that constitute the Cinque Terre seemingly have it all: Mediterranean beaches, beautiful hiking trails, fantastic fresh seafood and picturesque cobblestone lanes.