Where to stay in Cinque Terre

Expect lots of tourists. The train can be very crowded and full of pushy people.

Check with hotels to ask about hiking. Some major trails were wiped out in a landslide last year and may not have been restored.

Try TripAdvisor to find lodging, and you can read reviews from users to give you an idea what they like or don't like. You may even find some up to date comments on hiking.

All five cities offer views, restaurants and access to hiking. I'm sure that others on this forum will offer more details and more opinions.

Have fun.

w.huber,

I'd suggest staying in Monterosso, the most northerly of the five towns. It's the largest and therefore has the greatest number of hotels, restaurants and other tourist amenities, as well as the best beaches. For a stay at the beginning of September, I'd suggest getting a room booked as soon as possible!

There are lots of good hotels listed in the guidebook or you can check THIS list which I believe is reasonably current. One point to note is that many of the hotels and other tourist businesses will be closed for the season now, so it may take awhile to get a reply from them. My favourite hotel in Monterosso is Hotel Villa Steno, but you could also try Hotel Pasquale (which is owned by the same family).

All of the towns provide easy access to hiking, but if you're planning to hike the popular Sentiero Azzurro trails, you'll need to check the OFFICIAL PARK WEBSITE just prior to your trip to find out which ones are open. There are numerous trails in that area with varying levels of difficulty, so if you like hiking you'll be able to do as much as you want.

Buon Viaggio!

Monterosso, being a little bit bigger, offers more options in terms of accommodations and restaurants. However any village will do, as they are just minutes away from each other by the frequent regional trains that go back and forth between Genoa and La Spezia. The only village I would leave as last choice is Corniglia, as the town is not at sea level, but perched on the hill and the train station is down a super long series of stairs (hundreds probably). Also because of that, there is no boat service at Corniglia (in case you intend to try to travel between villages by boat).

Over the years the Cinque Terre have become very crowded with tourists. When I was a kid it was mostly Italians and Europeans, but now thanks to Rick Steves' "discovery", the place is full of North Americans as well.

If you have difficulty finding accommodations in any of the 5 villages (Cinque means 5 in Italian), you can stay in the next villages not part of the Cinque Terre, but nevertheless just a handful of minutes away by train. The next village after Monterosso (toward Genoa) is Levanto (4 min. by train). It's slightly larger than Monterosso. After Levanto, comes Bonassola, which is one of my favorites when I was younger. It's smaller and quaint and just a couple of minutes beyond Levanto. If you are interested in biking, there is a flat paved bike path running where an old rail line used to be, it's practically at sea level and partially underground. It runs from Levanto to Bonassola to Framura.

One of the fun things we do (at least to us it is fun) is eat in different villages every night. The trains make it feasible to hop from where we are staying (usually Manarola) to another of the towns just for dinner, then pop back. Cheaper by far than a taxi in Rome.

Specific restaurants we like: Trattoria da Billy in Manarola, Il Pirata in Vernazza is always fun, Cantina di Miky in Monterosso.

Be sure to explore hiking beyond Trail #2, the main one people take. There are far better trails up higher.