Parking - Sorrento and Cinque Terre

Driving in Sorrento isn't bad - no worse than any central or southern Italian town. It is the parking in Sorrento that is tough. Does your hotel have a spot? Or access to one?

I stayed just down the peninsula and left my car at my hotel. I wouldn't have wanted to just leave it on the street or in a supermarket car park.

Thank you Nigel.
I have messaged our Airbnb and there is parking available for us so we will give driving in a go. As we are there Monday to Wednesday we will hopefully not be in intense traffic.
Any thoughts on the Cinque Terre? Are any of the little towns easier to get to - we haven't booked accommodation there yet.
Thanks

I have never had a car in Cinque Terre so there may be better solutions. There is a parking garage at the La Spezia train station.

I haven't driven beyond just above La Spezia.

At the Cinque Terre there is parking in Monterosso. There is also a two story car park in Riomaggiore (not the cheapest though).

Vernazza, Manarola, Corniglia have virtually no parking (only residents and some short term parking for visitors, but very limited).

Just outside the Cinque Terre, La Spezia has a multistory car park at the station. Levanto has parking available.

Which one of the above makes sense for you depends on where you are driving from and in which town your accommodations are. If you haven't made arrangements yet, I would strongly suggest to stay in Monterosso, on the Fegina side (new part of town) in your case. You can drive there from Levanto (A12 freeway exit: Levanto).

Some of the hotels in Monterosso have limited parking for guests, usually on a first come, first served basis. The car park in the new town (Fegina) of Monterosso that Roberto mentioned is on the beach and it's quite large. I can't remember what the rates are. There's also a smaller multi-level car park in the old town of Monterosso. Note that you will not be allowed to drive through town, so you'll have to use a different road to get to the old town.

It's important to note that for driving in Italy, each driver listed on the rental form must have the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. (so you must carry both). These are valid for one year, and easily obtained at any CAA/AAA office (two Passport-sized photos required, which may be provided by the issuing office). You may never be asked for an IDP, but failure to produce one if requested can result in fines on the spot!

You may also want to have a look at some of the posts on the forum concerning the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato (limited traffic) areas that are becoming increasingly prevalent in many Italian towns & cities (especially Florence!). Some of these are enforced by automated cameras and some by local police. Each pass through one of the automated Cameras will result in a €100+ ticket and visitors often don’t know of these violations until several months after they’ve returned home. In addition to the actual fines, renters will also be charged by the rental agencies for providing information to the authorities. You may find this website helpful - http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/traffic_cameras_speeding.htm

Thank you everyone that is all very helpful. We had thought we'd like to stay in Monterosso so will look at that first which might solve our parking issue.

The parking rates at Monterosso are mentioned in the website below.
Between June and Oct it's 18 euro per day for the first day, and 15 euro a day from the second day and thereafter. The hourly rate is about 2euro/hr.
As Ken mentioned there is the parking lot at the beach on the Fegina district of town and the new 2 story car park before you arrive to the old town. The latter is called Loreto parking, from the name of that neighborhood. I suggested Fegina because there you are more likely to find hotels that may have parking on the premises. The old town, just past the Loreto parking, is off limits to cars.
Coming from Levanto toward Monterosso, you will see a cross roads. keep straigth for Fegina, turn left for Monterosso historical center (centro storico), or the old town. Go to either depending on where you find accommodations. The beach is in front of the train station, which is exactly in the middle between Fegina and the old town center. They are walking distance, so it doesn't matter much, your car will stay parked the whole time, you don't need it for Monterosso or to visit the other towns (just use the trains). Monterosso is where I used to go all the time, since it has the best beach. The other towns are cute, but very few restaurants and no decent beach (just rocks).