Cinque Terre

We stayed at the http://www.lacolonninacinqueterre.it/home.php in Monterosso in their apartment and loved it. They also have several rooms. They have a great terrace that overlooked the town.

Hi Joyce, I became very frustrated trying to locate a place in Cinque Terre using Kayak.com for our visit in June I ended up going to Tripadvisor.com and finding ratings on places, then locating a web site for that place by searching with Google. That led to several options. I settled on this place: http://www.eremosulmare.com/e/index.html Their are several places that act as middlemen for places in CT. They all had places for 120 to 130 euros, while the places I found using the above technique were in the 80 to 90 euro range. The middlemen have names like Cinque Terre Holidays. I have not yet been to CT, but I understand that Riomaggiore and Corniglia are popular (the later being on a hilltop as opposed to being on the sea) also Levanto is popular on some sites, I think because it is larger. Good Luck!

MOst places in Cinque Terre, whether true hotels or smaller places with rooms to rent, are not bookable through third-party booking agencies like kayak, venere, etc. Some are listed by local agents, as Ted suggests. You can read reviews on Tripadvisor and then e-mail them directly to book. In Vernazza, did you by any chance try La Marina rooms? As far as "next best" after Vernazza, we much preferred Manarola to Vernazza. It was lovely to stroll in the vineyards in the evening, and to swim in deep water from the rocks. There are 3 small hotesl in town: Ca' d'Andrean, La Toretta, and Marina Piccola. Each has its own website, but you do have to email your reservation enquiry; they are not bookable online.

We also had trouble finding a spot in Vernazza within our budget with what we wanted. We ended up booking in Manarola, at Arpaiu. Vernazza just seems like its very crowded and touristy; I'm actually happy we are going to be staying in one of the less crowded towns.

Try: www.elisabettacarro.it

Joyce, Which town to choose will depend to some extent on what type of accommodations you want, the price range and what type of "ambience" and tourist facilities in the village. You might have a look at the Italy Guidebook, as there are good suggestions there for each of the five villages. Vernazza tends to be very popular with tourists, so I suspect it will be more difficult to find a room there than in some of the other locations. You might have a look at Pensione Sorriso in Vernazza to see if that might work for you? I believe they have two properties? Have a look also at Mar-Mar Rooms in Riomaggiore. Finally, try contacting Hotel Villa Steno in Monterosso. There are choices in all of the towns, with the greatest amount of choice in Monterosso as it's the largest. Corniglia is probably the least popular, given it's location high on a bluff. I've just spent several days working on accommodations there for September and that was a bit of a challenge. As you're travelling in May, you'll probably have to be flexible and take whatever you can get. Good luck!

We're looking to spend 2 nights in SOMEPLACE in CT in September, in the middle of a month long road trip in Italy (we're trying to see places we missed on previous trips). Can we park our rental car at a train station and just head to whichever town we end up staying in? Most guide books assume one is traveling by train. period. It's a bit of a pain!

If you're driving, Monterosso is the best option. You can drive right down to the waterfront and there's a public parking lot there, I think it's about 10 euro a day. If you accidently end up on the other side of town (you'll know because there's a gate ), there's a small parking garage there, costs 15 euro a day.