Santa Margherita Ligure -Good Home Base For Cinque Terra ?

We loved our stay in Santa Margherita and did stay at Hotel Continental with a sea view terrace
It’s a lovely little town, very few Americans
Great restaurants

Easy ferry to Portofino ( which did not impress us)
Did not visit Cinque Terra but could easily be done.

We stayed in Levanto and I can't imagine a more perfect location just outside of Cinque Terre. We stayed at the Hotel Carla which is so conveniently located to both the charming little town and the train station.

It depends on the entirety of your trip. For just the Cinque Terre, it's poor choice, for a variety of excursions it can be a good choice. The excursion from SML to Cinque Terre will be an all day affair, and while you'll get a goodly amount of time in the villages, you also have a fairly long boat ride each way. Look here: https://traghettiportofino.it/en/
Of course the Hotel Continental is good, it's remarkable in history as well as price.

For a Cinque Terre visit and sea view and nice hotel, you might also look at the Grand Hotel Portovenere right in the center of Portovenere: https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/grand-portovenere.en-us.html?aid=354603

The challenge here is the "car" ;-( Portovenere looks fab too. Too many choices,,,not enough time. Spending only 2 days on the coast--trying to maximize visit.

Santa Margherita Ligure is a wonderful town. As stated earlier, not very touristy.

The train from there to Monterrosso is about 1:20. The bus from SML to Portofino is under 20 minutes.

I have stayed in both SML and Levanto. For just exploring the CT, Levanto is better. For a nicer experience, SML.

Did you look up Camere Gianni Franze in Vernazza? We loved it there. https://www.giannifranzi.it/english/rooms.html

Darren-thanks for the tip for Camere Gianni Franze in Vernazza? Looks perfect...LOVE VERNAZZA! Question-do you know what to do about parking. Will have a car which truly is an issue in CT

Santa Margherita Ligure is a wonderful location. Good train access, take a short 5 min cab to get into town. We stayed 2 nights at the Grand Hotel Miramare. Incredible beach club (included) across the street, beautiful view and pool. It wasn't cheap but location is worth it. You can take the bus or hike a trail 3 miles to Portofino, wonderful restaurants, and a great escape from the craziness and crowds of the Cinque Terre.

Levanto as Jack says would make a great base and it's car-friendly. Santa Margherita Ligure is lovely but kind of far north to be a great base for visiting the Cinque Terre.

Santa Margherita Ligure is a lovely small city/ large town. We have gone there twice. We stayed at Hotel Continental last time and were the only non-Italians. And they all were beautifully dressed, stylish! We had a sea view room, great views, minimally furnished but would return.
Lawns in front of the hotel go down to the sea.
We loved the dinners in their dining room!
We had already stayed in Monterosso at Hotel Porto Roca so did not go there this trip. We spent time in nearby Camogli too.

Greatly appreciate all this great info. Two questions:
1.) Sea View accommodation recommendations in Levanto?
2.) Boat charter info --private tours of coast? Just in case we stay at Hotel Continental. Looks like the ferry doesn't run on Sundays when we are there ;-(

Grazie Mille!

Question-do you know what to do about parking. Will have a car which truly is an issue in CT

There is limited parking at the top of Vernazza, but I mean limited (like, 20 cars).

If you really want to keep your car, I would find a good long term parking spot in La Spezia or wherever you are taking the CT train in from.