Cinque Terre: Better to centralize hotel or different hotel each night?

One central location is just fine. It is literally minutes by train between the towns. You can even walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola in 25 minutes. Expect the trains to be crowded. Just jump on the trains and stand if you must. Its the way it works there. You can also get the 3-day Cinque Terre Treno card at any tourist information office. This card permits unlimited travel on the trains as well as access to the coastal trails. Yes, there are fare booths on the trails.

There's no reason to change towns each night. You'll just waste time packing and unpacking. And since they're about five minutes apart, you'll check out of one hotel just to spend your time with your luggage waiting to check in to the next.

Stay in one spot and "progress" during the day. You'll feel a lot more settled if you go to the same cafe each morning for your cappucino and if you come home to a familar location each night, rather than searching for the light switch because it's in a totally different spot.

check out times are not the same as check in times. If you stay in one place you can use the room all day long to change, get items, etc. If you change every day you have to leave your bags somewhere and lose that convenience. Plus you have 3x the amount of work to make reservations, and many places prefer travelers who stay more than 1 nite.

I'd recommend Vernazza as a home base, just like RS says he prefers. Lots of great restaurants, plus it's next to Monterosso, which many people prefer most of all the towns.
If the weather is nice, take a train all the way to Riomaggiore in the morning and hike all the way back. That leaves the toughest hike, to Monterosso, for its own day.

My wife and I loved our stay there, and plan to go back as many times as the pocket book allows! It truly is a special place.

Hi Pete,

It's really easy to travel in between each town.

I was just in CT in May and stayed in Riomaggiore and absolutely love it. We stayed at Edi's Rooms: www.wel.it/Vesignaedi which Rick Steves also recommends. Our room was the Case Mimi which had the most beautiful view of the sea and town. It had a huge balcony with a table and 3 chairs. Just breathtaking.

I liked Riomaggiore because it was less crowded than the other towns but still had plenty to choose from for restaurants.

It was wonderful being able to sit on the rocks each night to watch the sunset. The Via Dell Amore is also there which connects Riomaggiore and Manorola (only a 25 min walk). We did that one night to go to dinner in the next town.

We were there 3 nights. So we spent the first day just getting to know Riomaggiore. The 2nd doing the hike in between each town. And the 3rd day took the ferry to Monterosso and then made our way back by train as we stopped in each town and spent more time.

You'll have a great trip! Cinque Terre is my favorite place in Italy!