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Cinque Terra Hotels

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Checking back in with you all to ask about Cinque Terra overnight accommodations, primarily in Monterosso when my wife and I will be there for 3 nights, as part of an Italy trip next Sept 2017.. I love planning the details and so, these questions.

Three years ago we did the normal Rome, Florence, Venice, etc trip and stayed in hotels and pensionnes that served a very nice breakfast. This carries us till dinner time with just a little carry along snacks for lunch.

However, from what I am seeing in the CT villages if they even provide breakfast it is pastries, biscuits, some cereal and fruit. Probably that's enough but the up-charge over a non-breakfast hotel is about $30-$40 each night. Seems a bit much assuming we could enjoy the local cafes for a good bit less, I suppose. One hotel even served breakfast, but it was a voucher to use at a neighborhood cafe. Not quite the "full English and Scottish breakfast" we had in GB on a recent trip.

Of course, it is what it is in the CT villages, but any thoughts or direction on looking for B&Bs in the CT villages, particularly Monterosso, and is the extra cost really worth it?

And secondly, I saw quite a few pensionne type B&Bs that were 3 miles, 6 miles, etc from Monterosso. With these out-lying villages how does one get back to the main 5 villages? Does the local CT train run through a lot of the out-lying villages? These accommodations were up to $50 less each night, but is the messing around with local travel more bother than it's worth

Thanks for any help! Ted

Posted by
16425 posts

Is the extra cost really worth it?

This is just a personal opinion but I'd say yes. Other than Levanto - just a few minutes train ride north of Monterosso (on the coast) - I would do my best to stay in one of the five. There are buses which run into some of the villages in the hills (they're not the train line) but I wouldn't want to be tied to their schedules.

There's a little bit about some of those villages here:
http://cinqueterre-travel.com/getting_there/bus/

Breakfast at our Monterosso hotel (La Spiaggia) and a midday snack held us just fine until an early dinner. The offerings were what you described: standard for a smaller, family-run accommodations...although based on recent reviews, they look to have expanded the spread a bit, and I'm seeing lots of positive comments on that. The location close to the water, train station and restaurants was well worth the price (cash only).

Editing to add: Levanto has often been the suggested 'next best' backup for visitors having difficulty finding openings during high season, and rates are reported to be lower there versus comparable CT accommodations. It is also the last stop for the 'tourist train' train line which runs from La Spezia north through the 5 villages so is included on a standard €4 single-ride train ticket and 1, 2 or 3-day Cinque Terra train//trail card (€ 16, € 29 and € 41 respectively).

Posted by
1625 posts

We Stayed in Monterosso at Hotel Margherita and our price included breakfast which had some protein in the morning (hard boiled eggs, meats, cheeses) along with the pastries and fruit. It was plenty to keep us going until lunch. I really liked this hotel, everyone was super friendly and the rooms were clean and we even had a balcony. The walk from the train was about 12-15 min and you are steps away from some great restaurants like Ciak, which we LOVED!

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