Looking for romantic hotel for 25th anniversary in September 2016. Not sure which village to choose. Recommendations on village and hotels. 2 nights $200/$300 per night. Thanks for the help!!
Posted by
3 posts
We stayed in a small room in Vernazza (vernazzarooms.com) for just 100 Euro per night. It was perfectly acceptable, and the views on the Terrace were AMAZING, but if you have a little bigger budget you can probably find something larger and more romantic. I will say a couple of things. You probably won't find a hotel; people simply rent out rooms. But the Rick Steves section on Cinque Terre in the Italy book will give you some good ideas of places!
Here is what I will say about the different towns. If we were to go back (which I hope we do. It was a dream!!), we would either choose Vernazza again or we would choose Manarola.
Monterosso al Mare is much more of a resort style town. If you want to spend a lot of time on flat sandy beaches and have more activities, this might be the place for you, but it is the largest and least picturesque of the towns, so we were glad we didn't stay here. If we did, we would have chosen old town (instead of new town).
Vernazza is a great blend of everything great about Cinque Terre. It is touristy during the middle of the day, but it is easy to navigate, easy to get to the train from the center of town, beautifully picturesque, and filled with great restaurants and such. The harbor is a wonderful place to spend a morning or an evening with a cup of Espresso or a glass of local wine. Eat at Ristorante Belforte for the best dinner views!!
Manarola is SO beautiful. I fell in love with it. It is a little bit more hilly than Vernazza, and a little bit quieter. But it is simply stunning.
Corniglia is great to see, but I wouldn't stay here! It is over 300 steps up to town from the train station! It's like a hike every time you want to leave. We hiked the trail starting here and headed to Vernazza, and we loved seeing it, but we were glad we didn't stay there.
Riomaggiore is pretty as well! But we didn't like it as much as Manarola and Vernazza.
That's my two cents!
Posted by
Coquitlam
220 posts
It really does not matter which town you stay in, they are close together. We stayed in the southern most town, because we could get parking as part of our stay.
We hiked the trails over two days, on those days we used the train. Another day we took the ferry.
Enjoy the trip.