hi,
my wife and i are travelling to italy and will be in cinque terre for four nights & five days. out of the 5 towns, which should i have as my base and if i can get recommendations on where i should stay? also, is renting an apartment best? how's the b&b's or hotels? my budget is around $600 for four night stay.
thanks in advance!
chris
Aria di Mare in Manarola was a great spot! Comfortable and reasonable with drop dead views. Manarola is in the middle of the 5 towns and a great spot for home base. The owner's are beautiful people and their brother owns a restaurant about 100 feet from your room with a cliff high water view. We had an unforgettable meal there. This is a place with incredible views you will treasure in your memories forever.
We stayed in Levanto in our last visit because the five towns are CROWDED and we thoroughly enjoyed the more laid back ambience plus good restaurants. We have stayed in Vernazza on a visit many years ago but, when we were there last September, we were disappointed how crowded the Cinque Terre has become. Access to the other towns is very easy from Levanto.
chris,
Each of us here has a favourite of the five towns, and I prefer Monterosso. It's the largest of the towns and therefore has the greatest number of hotels and other facilities, as well as the best beaches. At the end of September / early October the crowds should be starting to thin-out a bit so it should be quite pleasant there (providing the weather is good).
I don't use apartments for a couple of reasons. To begin with, usually travel solo and I prefer to use hotels so that I can get help from staff if I need touring directions or whatever. It's also nice to have other people around to chat with. I also like a place that provides a full breakfast. Apartments are not a good fit for me as that means I'd have to shop, cook and do dishes and that is NOT going to happen when I'm on holidays.
My favourite place to stay in Monterosso is Hotel Villa Steno and that's one I would definitely recommend. If you have the RS Italy guidebook, there are lots of other hotel listings there.
Last April I stayed in Monterosso at Hotel Villa Steno and highly recommend both!
We stayed in Monterosso and were so glad that we did, as it had a bit "more" to do there (the other towns were just a little too remote for us) and we also enjoyed the ability to go sit at the beach at the end of the day. We stayed at Hotel Colonnina, which we got from the RS book, and thought it was a nice place and would stay there again.
Here is another vote for Staying in Levanto. I was there on an RS tour and it was perfect - great town to walk around in, lots of restaurants and best of all a big sandy beach for swimming.
We bought all day train pass for 1 day and went to all the town in Cinque Terre - enjoyed lunch in Vernazza and walk a couple of the short trails. (also bought our Cinque Terre pass at the train station)
You can search this site for info on Levanto - several posters have stayed there.
You knew you were going to get different opinions, right?
I've been on 3 RS tours that stayed in the area. I stayed once in Levanto the 2nd week of October and many things were closed down on the weeknights we were there. I've also stayed twice in Monterosso, in May and September and far preferred this location to Levanto. I love walking along the seaside in Monterosso and felt it had more charm especially after the day-trippers left.
In Vernazza, try:
We just returned from 4 days/5 nights in CT. I highly recommend Hotel Pasquale in Monterosso. That time of year and if you are willing to pay cash might come close to your budget but worth a bit more. This includes a full breakfast. The family that runs it are wonderful people.
chris,
If you can get a booking at Hotel Pasquale (as suggested by the previous reply), that would be an excellent idea! It's run by the same family as Villa Steno (which I mentioned earlier), and it's a top-rated hotel.
