Regular ships connect to the villages of the Cinque Terre. In addition, in the Cinque Terre, you can use the local public connections between the locations. There are regular boat connections so that four of the five villages (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare) can be reached by sea. Corniglia is on a rock and has no port.
Some ships continue to connect the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. From Portovenere, ships sail to La Spezia and the offshore islands (Isola Palmaria, Isola del Tino and Isola del Tinetto).
We recommend that you keep yourself up to date on the wind and wave conditions, because not all boat docks (especially Manarola) can be approached when there are waves.
If you want to spend the whole day with it, we recommend the 5 Terre Battelli Card, which you can use to travel back and forth by boat.