Where to stay when places in 5 villages of Cinque Terre are booked

Levanto or La Spezia are the closest towns to north and south on the same train line.
Take a look at Google maps.

We have stayed in Levanto and enjoyed it very much. Lovely beach, nice shops, good places for meals and an easy train ride to the Cinque Terre towns.

One of my favorite Italian towns is Portovenere. It provides easy access to 5 Terre via boat, a great way to see the towns. You can get off at any one of them and back on to ride back to Portovenere.

there is not going to be a consensus here so don't take too much time deciding otherwise you are back to square one.

Thanks for the quick responses. I looked in Levanto, but I'm not finding many places. How long will it take to get from Portovenere to the villages and are the beaches in Portovenere good? I'll look there.

We stayed in Levanto on an RS trip and it has a nicer sandy beach for swimming than the CT. You can buy a full day train pass and a CT trail hiking permit at the train station. it is just a few short minutes to the northern most CT town.
There are a bunch of hotels in Levanto and a lovely place to wander , have a nice dinner, and shop.

Portovenere is pretty, or at least it was 30 years ago. But it has no train service, so you'd be dependent on the boat, a taxi or a rental car to get to the Cinque Terre. If the sea is too rough, the boats don't run, which would concern me if the point of my being in Portovenere was primarily to see the Cinque Terre. (I am not suggesting that Portovenere isn't worth visiting in its own right.)

Have a look at Rapallo. I found it and most of the other cities listed above better than any of the towns in the Cinque Terre. I spent over a week there riding the rails with no plans. Santa Margherita Ligure was my favorite. Rapallo next. Both have easy train connections to Cinque Terre and, in my humble opinion, better food and accommodation options. It's all pretty touristy but not to the extent CT was to me. I got the feeling Rapallo was a weekend vacation destination for the wealthy northern Italians, then I was told by one that this is the case.

It would help to know when your trip is taking place and where you've tried to find accommodations? Also what price range are you considering? It's often possible to find accommodations on short notice, but no guarantees.

I would not suggest staying in Porto Venere. As noted earlier it has no train service, so you'd have to take a Bus to La Spezia. As I recall, the bus stop is not close to the station so some walking might be required. While boat service is provided there, it's weather-dependent and stops running at about 17:00 so there's no way you'd be able to enjoy an evening in the five towns.

As the others have mentioned, Levanto or La Spezia are both close so make good choices. La Spezia is a larger city, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding something there.

If you are looking at hotels on a website such as booking.com, do not assume that the lack of rooms there means the hotel is necessarily full. It is worth checking the hotel's website if possible.

We're going the 2nd to last weekend of September. There are choices in Le Spezia, but we would like to see if there's anywhere else we can stay since I don't think we'll like it there. We might just have to stay there. If we can find a place that accomidates 5 people then we can pay up to $250, but if we have to get 2 rooms we would like to keep it around $150. I'll look at some of the other cities mentioned above. Thanks for everyone's help.

iamashortie, what are your EXACT dates?

Our exact dates are 9/22/17-9/25/17. Thanks I started looking up places that show booked on different websites. Hopefully I'll find something this way.

I recently stayed at Hotel Europa in Levanto and it looks like there are rooms available for your dates. Rooms were small but clean and comfortable. The staff was nice and it was in a good location-easy walk to the train station. The Levanto to Monterosso walk was my favorite walk. Seeing the view of all the villages in the distance at once was amazing.

Why do you think you won't like La Spezia? I was in La Spezia very briefly walking from the dock to the train station-I accidentally took a boat from Portovenere to La Spezia instead of to Levanto. But in my defense, Levanto was written in huge letters on the boat. While walking through La Spezia I thought," This is nice, I wish I would have spent more time here". It's a bigger city with a lot more shopping and restaurants. But it is still beautiful and has its own personality.

Someone else mentioned Santa Margherita Ligure which was my favorite town in the area. You can take a trail to Paraggi (which has a nice beach) and then on to Portofino or take a bus up to Ruta and go to San Fruttuoso (amazing town, great day). It would be about a 45 minute to and hour train ride to go to Monterosso, the northern most town of the Cinque Terre.

If you said everything is booked for August, I might believe that. But Sept? Not likely.
I think part of the problem is that you might be looking for "hotels"--and there are almost none in the area! (except maybe Monterosso). You want to look for "apartments (or rooms) for rent".
Also, you may need to give a town name, and not just "Cinque Terre".
Try AirBnB.com
www.vrbo.com
http://www.arbaspaa.com/
booking.com
searching Google maps using "rooms" "accommodations" "apartments", etc.

Thanks. Hotel Europa doesn't have a room available that accommodates 3 people in a room on those dates. Everything available is for 2 people. Since there are 5 of us, we'll need at least 1 room with 3 of us which I think that might be why it's hard finding a place. A lot of places are for 2. I'll change my search tonight for apartments. I do think there's something going on in the region that weekend because a lot of hotels are available on other dates in September. I wish we could change our dates.

I read Le Spezia is gritty and I think we would enjoy a city with the beach right there. However we might need to just look in Le Spezia.

Try Manuel's Guesthouse in Monterosso manuelsguesthouse@libero.it. They only book via email.

I will be visiting later this month for the second time - basic but very clean B&B with an incredible view of the town and water, good prices (cash only), fantastic hospitality provided by Lorenzo and Giovanni who run the place. Definitely find a place in one of the five villages if you can - wonderful to be right in the middle of the action without having to take a train in every day.

I would also be very surprised if everything is fully booked at that time of year.

Could you clarify if your budget amount is US$250 or €250? US$ is about €220 at today's rates. Are you thinking about one suite for all five people?

You could try the places on this list - http://rebuildmonterosso.com/visitors-information/ . AFAIK it's reasonably current, but I haven't checked that.

I would start sending emails to hotels I want to stay in Cinque Terre. I would pick a few in each town and send them an email. I found they are very responsive. It does not hurt to try!!

This one may work for you.
In Vernazza, in your budget, sleeps 5 and has A/C which you may need if this year is anything like last.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/le-terrazze-vernazza.en-gb.html?label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggJCAlhYSDNiBW5vcmVmcgV1c19pbIgBApgBLrgBB8gBDdgBAegBAfgBC5ICAXmoAgM&sid=6fd3c30ae6399c21174f29e6d6a717c4&checkin=2017-09-22&checkout=2017-09-25&room1=A%2CA%2CA%2CA%2CA&dest_type=city&dest_id=-132084&ucfs=1&highlighted_blocks=130729301_93007008_6_0_0&srpvid=5a6c975e9b4e037f&srhp=1&activeTab=room_130729301_6

If Levanto is booked (which I find strange at the end of Sept, Try Bonassola, Framura, Deiva, Moneglia (in order of distance traveling toward Genoa. Moneglia is my favorite.

I just put your dates into Trip Advisor for Levanto and found three hotels with openings.

I just entered your dates on hotels.com and found rooms (two rooms-3 adults in one 2 in another) in Riomaggiore at Hotel villa Argentina for $197.00 a night, Il Borgo de Campi for $143.000 a night and tons in La Spezia.

I just did a search on airbnb for your dates in Cinque Terre, Italy for 5 & found 37 apartments. Good luck! I'm sure you'll find something with all these suggestions.

My husband and I arrived in Rapollo today if you wanna pick my brain while I'm here. We are here for three nights, plan to ferry to then stroll around Santa Margeurita Ligure and enjoy the beaches....then off to Venice :)

We booked a hotel in Bonassola. Hopefully that's close enough. Thanks for all the help!

We booked a hotel in Bonassola. Hopefully that's close enough. Thanks
for all the help!

It's not far from the CT by train but do be aware that there's no ferry service from there, and the one and two-day Cinque Terre park/train combo passes/cards don't include transport out that far (Levanto is the last station covered on the northern end). You could purchase passes to cover the area from Levanto to La Spezia and villages in between but you'll need to buy separate tickets to get to/from Bonassola.

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/page.php?id=158

(Edited to add link to info on the C.T. Treno MS card)

I must say, participants on this forum are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable when given a specific request for guidance. Kudos!

Also, inquire directly with the local hotels. Many do not take reservations directly online - you have to email them. Never rely on any online aggregator to give you the true scope of your opportunities. Also, I highly recommend Hotel Pasquale in Monterosso.

In the "New" part of Monterosso, try Hotel Villa Adriana. It's up the hill from the main street/beach area, so it's very quiet. (But still walking distance to everything.) Because it's not in the "Old Town" or on the Main Street, rooms are frequently available. To me, it looks like a former convent........The rooms are large, basic, and immaculately clean. The grounds are lush w/greenery, paths and a small pool. We spent 3 weeks in Europe last May/June, and enjoyed many great breakfasts. However, Hotel Villa Adriana had the best breakfast of all. Everything was fresh, homemade and there was a HUGE selection. We were traveling w/our 2 adult daughters, so we booked two rooms, each w/2 double beds. However, I believe that family units are also available. Best of luck! :)

In December, I booked rooms in an apartment in La Spezia for my wife and I and another couple through AirBnB. We are staying at the end of August-23 and 24-so we don't know exactly how it will work, but our communication with our host have been great, the reviews are good, so we are optimistic. We paid $150/night for 4 people ($250 total for 2 nights). We have done AirBnB before with great experiences so we will see how this goes. It might be another option to the standard hotel. According to our maps, our apartment is 5 minutes by car or 10 minute walk to train station. We then plan to take the train to Rome. Will let you know how it goes when we return home.

Roberto, what is it that makes Moneglia your favorite? Do you prefer it to the 5T?

This forum is wonderful. I was going to ask about other villages to take day trips to near Cinque Terre and there are so many great ideas here. My partner and I are visited Vernazza last year and decided to go back this year and stay for about two weeks in August to see more of the Ligurian Coast. Thanks everyone.

Portovenere is lovely but I would not choose to stay here. Have been to C.T. 4x and we always stay in Vernazza and have taken the boat to Portovenere for a daytrip.