Travel to Cinque Terre, Italy

La Toretta b and b in Manarola has balconies and views and would be a lovely honeymoon hotel. There are rocks with swimming ladders but you should be a confident ocean swimmer--the beach at Monterosso is much gentler (but the town is busy and has cars, which makes it much less charming than the other CT towns).

There is actually a (clothing optional) beach you can hike to below Corniglia called Guvano Beach as well.
http://www.lecinqueterre.org/eng/bagni/bagnicorni.php

The beach sounds like a worth while hike. Other than the bed and breakfast, does the town have many dining options (with the understanding that this is a small town)?

Kent,

As Monterosso al Mare is the largest of the five villages, it has the best selection of "conventional" lodgings and dining facilities. There are some nice smaller restaurants in the older part of town, through the tunnel. It also has a larger sandy beach which is a drawing point for many people. If you don't mind a smaller beach, Vernazza has a tiny beach inside somewhat of a protected harbour.

You might check the Italy Guidebook and have a look at the description of lodgings in each of the villages. You could also check the official C.T. web site at www.cinqueterreonline.com/ or www.tripadvisor.com/ for listings. The previous post mentioned La Torretta in Manarola, which is a great suggestion for a honeymoon. It's a bit pricey, but has a great view. Check www.torrettas.com for the details. Manarola has a small boat launch area which could be used for swimming, but it wouldn't be difficult to take the local train to any of the towns to find a good beach.

Congratulations and happy travels!

We stayed in Vernazza. It had a ladder off the jetty. The only one who went in there was my youngest daughter.

We hiked to Monterosso and everyone waded in a little. Don't expect a great beach. It's the best in the area and you can wade, rather than jump, in but it's not a big sandy beach.

I'll second Torretta's in Manarola. This is definitely a good honeymoon hotel. Ask for a sea-view room with a balcony. The rooms are very private with unbelievable views. The village sits high on a hill, and it's a short walk down to the sea. Deep water swimming is available right there in the harbor. There's a great Italian/seafood restaurant in the middle of the village. I found few American tourists there. This is not a busy village...very relaxing.

http://www.torrettas.com/

Best view, but a lot of steps. Very romantic.

www.elisabettacarro.it/

Hi Kent,
I would suggest you stay in cornegla. It's amazing. Now it's a very little quiet town [very little eanglish understood if any but that's the fun of it] with not much in it if you like that as my husband and I did, but the views are amazing and you will get a sense of real culture in that little town plus, it is easy to get to the other villages.
My husband and I only went to two of the five, but what an adventure, you will defianatly enjoy yorself. I would strongly advise a b and b high up in the mountain, you will be awakened by a ''morning rooster'' tee hee which we thought was fun[tee hee] a word of caution howver, I would not advise going on the hikes way up high as they recommend you do, only because they are very dangerious[they won't tell you that and when we were there a tourist fell over the cliff as theyare very dangerious to walk on, they won't tell you that!] not to mention a wild boar that you can run into to! tee hee If you stay in corneglia[I can mail you a pic if you wish} you can easily get very good hikes within that little town just around and about without taking in any dangerious monutain terrain, but again remember this is a very little town with no much action but in my opinion is a greatplace to relax and have your honeymoon, and you can spend some time in the other little towns and easily take the tunnel trains back and forth through them which is fine. another word of caution,make sure you have cash on you as most of the time the ''one'' little bank machine is down!Good Luck!

catherine

Thank you all for the replies. At first, based on the responses, it sounded like Manarola was the hands down favorite. Now, it is apparent to me that all of the villages are lovely and that I will probably happy with any of them. I guess in the end I still have to make the final call!

Thanks