Is La Spezia a good place to stay for 2 nights while visiting Cinque Terre?

Hello mscaife, and welcome to the boards,

If you want to experience CT then I would strongly suggest you stay in one of the towns. I feel this gives you a much clearer sense of the area and let's you experience it in morning and evening before and after the day trippers come through. If you stay in CT you can use the ferry to travel between cities and see them from the ocean.

La Spezia is "work a day" Italy and while there's nothing wrong with it, it's not the Italy people travel across the world to experience.

Alternatively you could stay in someplace like Porto Venere at the very edge of the Bay of La Spezia (also known as the Bay of Poets). The ferry to and from CT stops in this little town. Several companies also offer boat tours of the bay and the islands as well as ferries across the Bay to Lerici. You would need to us a bus or (over-priced) taxi to get from La Spezia to Porto Venere but it is really pretty straightforward.

Be aware that the ferry dock is across La Spezia from the train station so if you plan on coming into or out of La Spezia by ferry you'll need to get from the train station to the docks. It's probably about a mile but with luggage this is a consideration.

There are many places to stay in La Spezia - some even right by the train station - but it seems a waste to come so close to CT and then just visit it by day for convenience sake.

My $.02, have a great trip!
=Tod

Since you are interested in Visiting the Cinque Terre... well, stay in the Cinque Terre. Or, at least, tell us why you are not interested in sleeping in one of the 5 villages.

If your aim is to explore the CT, then stay in the CT; all the villages are on the same train line. We like Vernazza, but many prefer Monterosso. Pisa is an hour away from La Spezia by train; even further from the CT villages.

mscaife, I've visited the Cinque Terre several times, and I've stayed in the town of Levanto every time. It's just one town (one train stop) north of Monterosso. You can even hike back to Monterosso from Levanto (I have). Some of the boats serving the Cinque Terre stop in Levanto, too.

I guess the main reason I've stayed in Levanto is that it seems cheaper for last-minute accommodations in my experience. (I tend to plan trips at the last minute.) I've stayed in the same place the last two visits. But to be honest, it's a really nice town. It's surely doesn't have the same "postcard picture" appeal as the five villages have, and from the water Levanto looks like nothing special. On the other hand, it feels a tad less busy than the other towns, which are lovely but just so overrun with tourists anymore.

I have not actually spent any time in La Spezia. I have heard it's not as nice as Levanto. Both Levanto and Monterosso tend to get fast trains stopping there (they don't stop in some of the Cinque Terre villages), but La Spezia is a more common train connection so staying there could avoid one train connection, I guess, but I don't see that as a big reason to stay there.

Two nights only gives you one full day to explore. I would stay in one of the villages, but choose your village carefully. If you don’t like walking up big hills, don’t choose Manarola. If you want to spend time on the beach, look at Monterosso.

You might consider using the ferry to travel between the villages, instead of taking a boat tour from La Spezia. https://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/boat-excursions

No. Choose anywhere but La Spezia. It’s a not so pretty industrial and Navy port town. If all accommodations in the five villages are booked already, try Levanto or any town past Levanto on the way to Genoa.

If you are looking for a town that is outside of the Cinque Terre, I'd suggest Levanto. It has quick and easy access to Monterosso, is mostly flat and easily walkable, allows car parking at most hotels and has a nice beach area to hang out on. Plus, there is a beautiful trail to hike connecting it to the Cinque Terre. In my opinion, La Spezia is a little too gritty to serve as a home base. Levanto is much prettier and easier to navigate in the evenings. I only use La Spezia as a place to switch trains.
Good luck!

Thank you ALL. We r going to try and find a place in Cinque Terre (slim pickings for Sept) or Levanto.

Porto Venere is nice. but to experience CT, stay in one of the towns. you will love it.

You might consider staying in Monterosso. It's the largest of the five towns and therefore has the greatest number of accommodations and other tourist facilities. There's also easy access to the ferries that travel between the five towns. The ferry dock is in the "old town" and the ticket office is at the end of the dock.