Park at La Spezia or Monterosso?

Dawn,

Which hotel are you staying at in Monterosso? That will have a bearing on which of the two parking lots you use. If you don't mind the roads, going direct to Monterosso would be the easiest solution. There's a large parking lot on the beach in the "new town", and I've never seen it full. There's another multi-story car park in the "old town". Some hotels also provide limited parking on a "first come, first served" basis. Note that you won't be able to drive into the town just to drop your luggage off.

We stayed in Monterosso and easily parked there in the large lot.. I can't imagine why it would be an advantage to park so far away in another town/city and have to deal with luggage on crowded trains. The drive to Tuscany is not bad from Monterosso. We rent cars and drive so we don't have to deal with of hassel of trains.

If you stay in Monterosso why would you want to park in La Spezia? You are not saving any money, because the prices of the car parks are the same both in Monterosso and La Spezia. You are not saving time, because the drive might be 40-45 minutes shorter, but then you need to wait for the train, ride the train, get to the station to town. So you get there at the same time. You are also inconveniencing yourself trying to get on a train with luggage, especially if crowded.
I'd go to Monterosso. As a matter of fact I have never parked at La Spezia. Always parked at Riomaggiore or Monterosso.

Very helpful - thank you! Yes, our hotel has given us some parking information...but I was still trying to decide if the roads/added time to Tuscany drive would be more of a negative vs train logistics from La Spezia.

But I am now leaning towards Monterosso, and we have a full day on the way to our 5pm Montalcino check-in...so we should be able to absorb the extra driving!

Not to confuse things, BUT....
if there were an overnight parking option in Portvenere, I'd love to park there - see the town & take the ferry to Monterosso. I think it would be a pretty start of our CT stay. Especially because I can't figure out how to fit seeing Portvenere into our one full day in CT!! Didn't find parking info on a quick Google search - any thoughts on that option? Or should I wrap up this decision ; )

The difference in driving time to Tuscany is not materially significant if you start from Monterosso instead of La Spezia. It's a half hour difference at best, but sometimes I got stuck in pretty bad traffic in La Spezia, therefore it could be only 15 or 20 min shorter from La Spezia. Besides I like to have my car as close as possible to where I'm staying. I wouldn't want to leave it so far. There are two very convenient car parks at Monterosso, one at the beach on the Fegina side, and a two story one at Loreto, on the old town side.

I haven't been to Portovenere in a very long time, but when I used to go finding parking was a nightmare because there is none in town, you have to park before the town center, therefore I would go only by motorcycle. I don't know the situation now, but chances are a lot of parking will be reserved to residents.

Boats don't operate in rough waters, therefore if you run into a Libeccio day, you are out of luck.

Roberto - good point about boats from/to Portovenere. Not as reliable as having our car close in Monterosso!
I think the decision is Monterosso!

One last thought since our hotel's parking is fully reserved.
I believe we can't reserve a spot at either Loreto or Fegina lots in Monterosso. Is it possible those lots will be full if we arrive late afternoon on Tuesday, September 12? It sounds like September is still a busy tourist month.

I'd hate to have to back track to La Spezia to park...

Dawn,

I doubt that either car park would be full, even at that time of the year. The lot on the beach (Fegina) is huge and I've never seen it full in September. Which hotel are you in?

Try the lot closest to your hotel first and if that's full, try the other. There should be no reason to park in La Spezia.

We're staying at Albergo Marina in the Old Town, so we'll try Loreto first. If that is full, Fegina isn't far.

But --- if Fegina is full, then it's 45 minutes to La Spezia! yikes. I could deal with the added time back to La Spezia, but since I am planning for 5 other friends (1 who gets car sick), I am trying to find the best alternative for "the group".

I've never had problems parking lot at the beach (Fegina) not even in July. In September it would be zero chance. I've never parked at Loreto but there is also street parking along the road before arriving at the Loreto parking (that used to be free, but it's probably reserved to residents now).

Roberto - thank you. It is good to know that we should be able to at least find a space in the Fegina lot in September.

Sounds like I have my answer! Thank you!

Sorry to piggy-back on your query but we are going in May and plan to park at the Fegina lot. Is it manned or is it a pay-by-machine lot? Easy to use? Thanks.

Fegina is not manned. But it's not free, you must get the ticket from the dispenser when you enter (like many carparks) and before you get out you must pay at the automatic payment machine. The ticket, once you pay, is then used to exit (the barrier will open after you insert the paid ticket at the exit).
This is what it looks like in this photo

Thank you, Roberto, for explaining that! I assume the machine where you pay takes both cash and credit card?

Yes carpark pay machines take both cash and credit cards.

However, I don't know that one specifically, but most of those machines require a CHIP & PIN credit card, so the standard issue American CHIP & SIGNATURE may not work. So, if you don't have a chip and PIN CC, take some hard cash Euro bills with you or use your ATM/Debit card (which should have a PIN).

This is what the car park looks like from the approach road.....

https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.1451532,9.646649,3a,75y,187.74h,69.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spieXldm8jPsFbJYLlO4x2Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

This is the car park in the old town (the brick building with the white van on the roof......

https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.1496406,9.6547885,3a,79.3y,61.85h,99.54t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s6YVITRaRxPW20W4yikJwUA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D6YVITRaRxPW20W4yikJwUA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D126.380325%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The uncompleted building on the right is the new car park, which will probably never be finished.

Thanks to all for your great advice!