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Questions on Portofino and Cinque Terre (Is Portofino overkill??)

Posted by (Wesley Chapel, NC, US) on

(Wow... this board is great! You guys are awesome!)

  1. If we spend two days doing the Cinque Terre (CT), with limited time, is it worth also going to Portofino? It appears to be some distance away. In other words, is CT "good enough?" Or is Portofino as good as it appears to be--a MUST SEE? We're hoping to return to Italy in two years... save Portofino for that trip???

  2. On a two day CT leg of the trip, where would you make your base the night in the middle? In one of the five towns or outside? If so, is it too late (5-6 weeks away) to get a reservation? I doubt there is a Marriot (j.k.) with lots of occupancies. Any tips on finding rooms for two adults in the CT towns? I'm not finding much on hotels.com. I want to experience the rusticness and old world (RS philosophy) of these little towns. High Speed internet not required :)

  3. I have RS's book on Tuscany and there's little mention of CT. Um, I just learned that CT is NOT in Tuscany... Oops... What is the best RS book (or other book/website) that covers CT?

Posted by
120 posts
  1. 2 days in Cinque Terre PLUS Portofino or 1 day in Cinque Terre & 1 day in Portofino? I was there in early May, and planned to spend 2-2.5 days in Cinque Terre & another on day trips to Portofino & another smaller town. We ended up liking Cinque Terre so much, we ended up spending all our time there & saving the day trip for next time.
  2. Any of the villages would be fine. We stayed in Riomaggiore, and were more than happy. Corniglia is the middle village, and may be less expensive, but I would have no problem staying there either. It doesn't have direct sea access though. There a number of websites that list rooms. I started with RS recommendations & sent e-mails to them all, then did a lot of Google searches, which led me to where I stayed: www.cinqueterre-camere.com
  3. RS's Italy book covers Cinque Terre, and I've heard rumors that he's releasing a specific Cinque Terre book in November, which will be too late for this trip, but maybe next trip...
Posted by
65 posts

We spent 4 nites in Monterosso and on the 3rd day decided to go to Portofino. My husband's mother used to watch this soap opera where Doug and Julie were always going to run away to Portofino. I guess he always thought it was an imaginary place. Many years ago when he learned it was a real place he decided if we were ever in the area we had to go and send her a postcard from Portofino. So, that was the main reason for the trip. We took the train to Santa Margherita and walked to Portofino. It's a long walk but the weather was nice and most of the walk is along the waterfront. We had lunch when we got to Portofino and then took the ferry back to Santa Margherita. It wasn't a wasted day by any means but I don't know that I would necessarily recommend doing this over spending a day in CT. And yes, RS Italy has more info on CT than any other book I've found and certainly wasn't lacking in any info we needed on our trip. I also sent out individual emails to hotels that were listed in the book and that's how we got our reservation.

Posted by
63 posts

Hello everybody, just want to invite you and your readers to our site about the 5 terre and to the blog where you can also vote the nicest of the cinque Terre.
Also online a section about Video of the Cinque Terre, a different point of view..

Posted by
4 posts

We just returned from spending 17 nights in Vernazza. We used that as a home base and made day trips and overnight trips throughout Italy so we didn't have to drag our luggage with us. Francamaria rented us an apartment for 100 Euros/night. I would recommend just the Cinque Terre for your 2 days, there is more than enough to see and even with 2 days, you won't be able to cover everything. As far as information on the Cinque Terre, buy Rick's book. Everyone there will have a copy but you will need your own. Enjoy your trip and say "Hi" to the brothers at Il Pirate in Vernazza - the best food we had in all of Italy!

Posted by
168 posts

Hi Peter - First if you only have 2 days to spare spend it all in Cinque Terre. There is plenty to do in that amount of time. I was just there in May and stayed 3 nights and wished I would have had more time. Do the hike one day (it was an adventure plus tons of great views). The next day take a boat to a couple of the towns you want to explore more.

In regards to where to stay, I was in Riomaggiore and LOVED IT! It was so beautiful there, but yet felt less crowded/touristy at night. Plus they had these great rocks to sit on at night and watch the sunset. And it was fun walking down the Via Dell Amore at night. We stayed at Edi's Rooms www.wel.it/Vesignaedi which I loved. For 80EUR a night we had a very nice clean room with a huge balcony and view of the sea & town. They had a few different rooms for rent so check them out. There was also a great bar in Riomaggiore called Bar Centrale which was fun to hang out at night.

Have a great time! And if you do have time...pick up the Italy 09 Rick Steves book. It'll tell you more about the great restaurants in CT. Il Pirate in Vernazza was great (had the best Canoli ever there). Manarola also had a great restaurant called Trattoria Il Porticciolo.

:-)

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