Parking in Vernazza

At least in Vernazza there is a parking lot, about 1/3 of a mile above town with shuttle service to get you and your baggage into town. But if you're going in the summer, you'll probably be happier if, before your departure, you contact your local B&B operator and discuss the overnight parking situation with them, what do they recommend, is there some reservation or something they can take care of? A couple of years ago it was $18 per night for overnight parking, if available, but it may be more now.

True, Kent. In fact, our B&B, La Mala', told us to call them that morning, so they could speak with the parking lot about "setting aside a spot". Not a reservation, and no guarantees .... It also depends upon what day of the week you show up. We'll be arriving on a Sunday afternoon, which might make it a bit easier.

As for the cost, it's 12 Euros, so it's still roughly the same price Kent mentions.

Leslie: Good for you, you're wise to have done what you've done--discussing overnight parking in Vernazza in advance with your local hotelier. In the CT it can be a big headache if your overnight parking falls through. The assumption that's always true in the US--hey, there's gotta be some overnight parking and I'll find it--doesn't always work out that way in the CT, and blindsides some newbies to the CT.

My wife will stick Foolish before Brave on my forehead.

The directions on google match michelin. Thanks for the tip on calling ahead, we'll do that. We're arriving May 26th so hopefully its still the calm before the tourist storm.

I hope so! Because, that's what we're doing. Seriously, though, we're using viamichelin.com for our directions.

I'm glad to hear that there's another brave (or foolish?) soul driving to Vernazza.

Ascension Day is listed by Rick as a national holiday in Italy, not just a religious holiday. In 2006 it was the Sunday which in 2008 would be Sunday May 25. Italians seem to take national holidays very seriously, big crowds. I mention this because in Italy I've been blind-sided by holidays that I didn't even think about until I'm seeing big crowds/lines/etc of locals on a 3-day weekend that I didn't anticipate. Just a heads up for those there then, sometimes the crowds, parking, etc can blindside you on those holidays.

Steve, We drove to the Vernazza parking lot on a chance in May 2007 and there were spaces available. That is no gurantee that there will be spaces available when you go but you could call ahead to make sure. As mentioned it was 12 Euro per night. They allowed me to drive my wife and luggage to the post office and drive back up to park the car. I walked back down.

For directions viamichelin should be accurate but I highly recommend you take a gps. Ours got us to the Vernazza parking lot as well as every other place we went last year. A gps is a great travel investment if you plan on doing a lot of driving.

Whether it's a weekend (Fri/Sat) or a holiday of some sort can make a big difference in whether there is overnight parking available in the CT.