Cinque Terre

If you use the search feature, you'll find a wealth of information (and lots of varying opinions!) on Cinque Terre.

We enjoyed staying in Vernazza, at La Mala. It's a splurge, but it's an amazing place, hanging from the cliff overlooking the sea. Without advance planning, you might not be able to get a room (2 rooms, with the kids?) in advance anywhere in Cinque Terre, without just showing up. But, lots of people do it that way anyway, with success.

As for what to do, just soak up the atmosphere, hike between the towns, and enjoy the ones you make it to.

As for restaurants, we really enjoyed Il Capitano, right in the Vernazza Harbor. We also ate at Gianni Franzi, but we found it to be more expensive (but, they all are), also good, but not quite as much so as Il Capitano. We were there in the heat of the summer, so we always ate outside; not sure if that will be possible this time of year.

Have a great time!

This time of year, you should have no trouble getting off the train in Vernazza and finding a room for the family.

We were there on Oct. 26th, plus or minus a couple of days. People were at the train station trying to get tourists to stay in their rooms for rent. We looked at one that was a little too small for our family of five (myself, spouse, sons 16 and 12 and daughter 8) then went into town and told one of the hotels what we were looking for. After some conversation between several local ladies, they gave us a two bedroom apartment that worked well at a decent price.

We liked Vernazza. We hiked the trail between the towns, waded in the water at Monterosso, played with the cats on the trail and ate pizza while watching the sunset on the jetty.

The weather was very nice when we were there but they had had rain storms the previous week. Hopefully it will be nice when you visit.

I was there a week ago. The beach at Monterosso is a 2 minute walk from the train station, much of it was sandy at water's edge, as opposed to pebbles/stones in most places. I waded and found the water chilly, but there were several people in the water, including kids that looked to be 10-12 years old with fins and snorkels. I also enjoyed taking the ferry in the afternoon and getting a different view of the towns.

Re: Restaurants: Il Pirata up at the top of Vernazza is a must. The food is incredible and the brothers who own/run it are a riot. Best place for breakfast (pastries stuffed with sweetened Ricotta cheese) in Vernazza but very good dinners too. Can't wait to return. Salute!

We didn't make it to Il Pirata for dinner (it was too tempting to eat in the harbor both nights that we were there), but we did buy an assortment of pastries on our way out of town for our day of driving to Venice.

Yummy!

Our family, including son 18 and daughter 15 were in CT in early June. We stayed in Monterosso. The food atmosphere and service at Ristorante MIKI was outstanding. We also ate La Lampara which seemed to be a big hit with the locals.