Vernazza

In my experience $120-$175 would buy you property there...well not really. But we rented a HUGE apartment style place for 50 Euro a night (25 Euro per person). We stayed at Giuseppina's place, which is listed in Rick Steves. That apartment could have slept up to 6 people and had a kitchen...but we only needed the one bed. The landlord was sweet and gracious, wanting to know if we were comfortable and if the temp in the room was okay. We had to use a local young guy in the town to help us all communicate and translate - but it worked out just fine. The only sorta kinda "roughing it" moment is that fact that all your hot water in the bathroom is mounted in a box on the wall...it lasts about 2 minutes. And quite frankly it makes for good memories as we tried to beat the clock. I would stay there again. Moral of the story is that renting in Vernazza is WAY cheaper than the rest of your trip..you can lower your budget here.

We stayed for 4 nights at FrancaMariarooms for about $120/night. Everything the previous poster said was so very true-costwise. However, after looking at these rooms and the view from these rooms on the website, we fell in love with this place. It was small, one bed (some rooms have 2 and are larger), but frig. ample closet space, tv, dishes, utinsels, very modern bathroom. I do have to say, unlimited hot water! Our wall-high windows looked out over the piazza and part of the harbor. At night, the clocktower was lit up and we could literally roll over in bed and read the time! 3 of the nights we collected goodies from the markets/stores and had dinner next to our open windows!

give maria capellini rooms a try. good luck :):)