Cinque Terre -- several questions!

I have had really good luck with ArbaSpaa. All of the towns are great, although Corniglia lacks a waterside presence.

We also stayed at Due Fari aparments in Manarola. Ask the young man that runs it about renting both levels for more privacy. Great terrace!

Corniglia is indeed high on the hill but you can walk or take a shuttle bus to the train station and from there there is a path to the old unused tunnel, you walk through the tunnel and you get to the gorgeous Guvano beach. Clothing optional. Other beaches are in Monterosso. You can swim in other towns, too but those are not real beaches. I usually stayed in Vernazza. Plenty of apartments.

Thank you both!

I need to see how easily these are navigated without a car.

Also, does anyone have any info about the weather damage from last year?

Best,
Marie

Mdnatoli,

Monterosso Al Mare is the biggest of the 5 villages in Cinque Terre and the only one with a sandy beach.

You can easily get to the other villages by trains that run very frequently & it only takes about 5 minutes to ride from one to the next.

Check this website for accommodations in CT: http://www.rebuildmonterosso.com/p/visitors-information.html

We stayed at Hotel Baia, in Monterosso, a few years ago & it was comfortable, clean, reasonably priced and convenientlly located
near the train station.

When is your trip taking place?

Happy Planning!

Mdnatoli,

You will not need a car in Cinque Terre.

As I mentioned in my last post, it's very easy to travel by train between the villages.

You can also take ferry boats to the other villages except for Corniglia.

You can reach Corniglia by train but then you will have climb many stairs uphill to reach it.

There was a flood that caused damage to the CT in October of 2011, but as far as I know, there has not been any major recent damage to the CT.

Edit: This is the website for the ferry boat schedule in CT: http://www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it/orario.asp?lang=eng

This is the Cinque Terre tourism website which has much information: http://www.cinqueterre.it/info.php

Thanks, Priscilla!

We had a booking (we thought) at the Hotel Baia, confirmed by booking.com, only to learn from the hotel that the room would not accommodate us (not what booking.com said!) By the time I got the message, the quad room we need was already booked! So now we are scrambling.

Best,
Marie

p.s.
We are travelling late June, but things are pretty booked up already!

Marie,
Oh, no! Sorry to hear this... Did you contact Booking.com to ask why this happened?
I had trouble finding accommodations in a different Italian city (recent trip) but I contacted the B&B where I'd wanted to stay( which was fully booked) & asked for recommendations and finally was able to find another B&B in the area.

Have you tried this website to search for accommodations in Italy : http://www.venere.com/it/

Summer time is very busy in the CT. If all else fails, you could stay in Levanto which is only 5 minutes to Monterosso via train.

Best of luck to you Marie!

You may also want to try something like airbnb.com. You can find really nice apartment rentals there for cheaper than many hotels.

I had trouble booking rooms for 4 people as well on booking.com and expedia - for some reason even if the hotel had two rooms available, I would get a message that I exceeded the max adults. It worked when I booked each room separately. I've never been, so no advice on where to stay.

md,

As Monterosso is the largest of the five towns and has the greatest number of accommodations, you should be able to find something there. Few of the hotels there have pools but one exception is Villa Adriana which has both family rooms and an outdoor pool. Monterosso also has great beaches so that's another benefit. If you find a hotel with availability, I'd recommend booking directly with the hotel rather than through a booking engine.

You could also have a look at THIS List which shows most of the accommodations in Monterosso. AFAIK it's reasonably current. Note that some places in the C.T. may still be closed for the season so they may be slow in answering enquiries.

"I have read that several of the towns have yet to completely recover from the terrible weather of the past year (or is it two?)"

If you're referring to the devastating floods of 25 October 2011, I've been there since then and I can assure you that the towns have recovered. Keep in mind that only Vernazza and one part of Monterosso were affected, so the other towns didn't suffer much damage. The two towns affected most were substantially recovered within a few months, but some work is still ongoing.

Good luck!

I've used Arbaspaa twice as well - we stayed in Corniglia both visits...like the company - easy to deal with and they also offer tours and such - wine tours, boat tours, maybe even flight tours...their office is located in Vernazza. You can send them a request for the dates you want, and where you would like to stay and they'll send you a list of what's available...for us, it was a room rental (Corniglia Dreams), but they also do apts and such.

Look at the Buranco Agritourismo in Monterosso...they have 3 small cottages that they rent and you would have a little kitchen as well. I have stayed there twice as have two of my children & Daughters-in-law....everyone loved it there. It is a walk (up hill) from the town but not horrible. all towns are short train ride away and in the summer there is a wonderful ferry that goes from town to town...what a view from the sea! enjoy.

We stayed at La Spaggia in monterosso and were very happy, it's on the water. Not sure about quad rooms, but the owners were very nice and welcoming.

Marie,

'La Spaggia Hotel' is on the same street as 'Baia Hotel', just a few steps further (on the corner)-- you can see it on Google maps.

I remember seeing it when we were there a few years ago.

Hopefully they will have a room available for you & your family.