Levanto or La spieza

We stayed in Levanto. Nice town, good food, easy to catch the train or boat to the Cinque Terre or other towns on the Riviera. You can also take the hiking trail to Monterosso although I believe it is not an easy hike. It is a charming town and the passegiata is fun.

Portovenere is lovely !

Depends on what you want. La Spezia has some nice museums, a greater variety of restaurants. Levanto has a beach, some old Italy charm. The access to the CT and Portovenere is about equal. You're going to have great time no matter the choice.

sally,

Of the two, Levanto would be a better choice (IMO). La Spezia is a large city and doesn't have the smaller town "charm" that's characteristic of the Cinque Terre villages. While Levanto is not "officially" in the C.T., it's only about five minutes by train from Monterosso and also has a great beach.

We stayed in Portovenere, Carla is right, it is lovely. Nice castle, pleasant culture and great harbor. Wonderful views of the Bay of Poets.

We accessed the 5 towns by boat. It was different, and very nice, to see the towns from the sea instead to the train.

We stayed in Levanto on an RS best of Italy trip. It was perfect and they have a nice sandy beach for swimming. (not many good swimming places in the CT ).
We took the local train on a day pass down to the CT and visited all the towns, had lunch in Vernazza, and got to see what we wanted. The train was kind of a hop-on-hop-off with our train passes.
We all loved Levanto it is a great little beach town and was wonderful for walking around, nice restaurants, little shops, etc.

While Porto Venere has its charms, I wouldn't choose that as a home base if you're planning on exploring in that area. as transportation options are more limited. The boats are not that frequent, and take some time to get to the five towns. There's no rail access so getting to trains involves a bus ride.

If you're just planning to relax and enjoy the ambiance and not travel too far, then you could consider Porto Venere.

My vote is also for Levanto and I highly recommend the Park Hotel Argento. Great location. Easy access to CT via ferry, train or hike. And the hike is a killer! Many steps. It makes my daily hikes in Phoenix's North Mountain area seem like a stroll in the mall

My vote is also for Levanto and I highly recommend the Park Hotel Argento. Great location. Easy access to CT via ferry, train or hike. And the hike is a killer! Many steps. It makes my daily hikes in Phoenix's North Mountain area seem like a stroll in the mall

Thank you for all your suggestions. We are considering Levanto now.