We are late in reserving accommodations and need guidance. We will stay in cinque terre for 3 nights from September 17-20. I know I DO NOT want to stay in Monterosso or Corniglia. That said I would love to be walking distance to village but not right in the noisy area. I would love a beautiful terrace view. Which village and any accommodation recommendations? Thanks so much.
Also where do you recommend we park leave our car rental for the 3 days that isn’t too expensive?
I was going to suggest La Torretta in Manarola, which we loved, but see they are fully booked for that time. This will be a problem with most of the popular places that people here will recommend.
To avoid frustration of looking at a lot of places that are already booked, I suggest you use booking.com to filter for places that are still available. After deciding on one, you can still book directly on their own website, (unless they are one of the places that uses booking.com as their booking website).
Note that parking in the lots above the villages can be a real problem. I recently read a trip report by someone who spent their Cinque Terry daytrip looking for a parking space anywhere near the villages, and failing. It might be best to park in La Spezia and take the train in.
You don’t want to stay in Monterosso but we stayed in Monterosso due to the large easy to access parking lot, a sandy beach and multiple choices of hotels and restaurants. Hotel Porto Roca is up on a hill , walkable, from the town center with the railroad behind it in a mountain tunnel so you don’t hear it unlike many hotels in the five villages. This hotel has wide, expansive water views from many rooms and their restaurant as well.
We look for quiet places to stay and this fit the bill. When we were walking in the five villages we could always hear the loud trains go by.
This will be a problem with most of the popular places that people
here will recommend.
Right. You've waited very late to make bookings so you may have to settle for whatever is available, in whatever town, for your dates. Not sure why you don't want Monterosso as we had a great stay there, and it probably has the most available parking if you don't choose to leave the car in La Spezia or somewhere outside of the 5. Anyway, I'd do as Lola suggests and get onto booking.com to see what the pickin's are in all but Corniglia at this point.
Rather than park your car for three days, consider returning it in La Spezia and taking the trains. The report Lola referenced also mentioned they had trouble finding space to park in La Spezia. If you need a car after you leave the Cinque Terre, then rent one again. You'll probably save enough on parking to pay for a day of rental.
It's unfortunate that you don't want to stay in Monterosso, as that has the best parking of the five towns, with lots both in the new town and old town. Some hotels there also have complimentary parking for guests (often on a first come, first served basis). Monterosso also has the greatest number of accommodations, which means a greater chance of finding something on short notice.
You may be lucky and find parking in one of the other towns, but the large car park near the station in La Spezia is probably your best option. Vernazza may be the most difficult to find parking.
If you have access to a Library or large book store, you may want to check the RS Italy guidebook as there are accommodations listed there for all the towns.
I can't say enough about the Locanda IL Maestrale, in old town Monterosso.
It's a little late to try to find lodging for this September. Many places book up months in advance. You usually will find something, even if it's a room in a locals house, but you may have to take what you can get.
Try Levanto: a nice town that is part of the Cinque Terre park region (one town north of Monterosso), covered by the trains pass and hiking pass (if you want to hike between Levanto and Monterosso - I've never done it, sounds like a rewarding but semi-difficult hike). Park the car in Levanto and take the train to the villages.
I've stayed in Levanto twice. It's a nice beach town, even if not quite as the dramatic "built into the side of the hill" feeling of the five main villages.
Use Booking.com to find places - use their map feature. Try to find a place within walking distance of the train station. The trains are frequent and easy between villages. (There are boats, too, but assume the trains have much more frequent schedules.)
If you can't find anything in Levanto, try going further north. Sestri Levante is a nice little town (once you get away from the train station area). Not as nice as Levanto and further north by train (and not part of the park region) - but you can park here too and leave the car in town.
You are very late so personal recommendations of nice places are going to be close to useless.
Booking .com is one place to look but for the Cinque Terre I actually believe airbnb is best.
Since most lodgings are not really hotels ; they all seem to list on Airbnb. A couple of the actual hotels in Monterosso did not but otherwise everything you can find on booking is on Airbnb for CT in my experience plus more options.
Since you list is down to 3 towns.
If you insist on having and parking your car, from La Spieza the drive to Manarola was fairly easy and when stayed in Sept also the overnight parking area in Manarola never filled up. It was not cheap to park overnight.
Forget about cheap if you wanted cheap you would stay outside of the 5 towns.
If you want a beautiful terrace view it won't be cheap either and there will be plenty of steps to climb so pack light. Only lodging in your remaining towns without tons of steps don't have views.
Riomaggiore is also easy to drive to from La Spieza but not sure about parking there,
Vernazza I have heard is difficult to drive to and also park at.
