daba78

Hello again
I am planning a trip to Italy and currently having a hard time with a home base selection.
My wife and I will travel in May and have 3 days set aside for the cinque terre. We will arrive by train from Nice. After the cinque terre we will be picking up a car to travel north

does staying in portovenere not let me experience the cinque terre at night?

Is the cinque terra a must see late at night when it is quiet?

should i split nights between the two (extra time involved with changing hotels)

If you guys can help me. what are the pros and cons of staying in either the cinque terre or Portovenere?

Thanks for the help

progol

It's been 15 years, but we stayed in Portovenere and fell in love with it. We were there during July, so the C.T. was quite crowded but we found Portovenere to be a wonderful place to stay. It's beautifully sited, good restaurants, and you take take a ferry to the C. T. towns. We took the ferry to Monterosso and walked to Vernazza. We spent one full day in Portovenere, exploring the town. At the time we visited, Portovenere felt like a "secret" place - lots of Italian families and a generally western European tourist - and few Americans. Anyway, we loved it and thought it was a beautiful place.

In the short time you are there, it makes no sense to change locations.

bobthenavigator

We have stayed in Portovenere 4 times now and love it.
If I had one day to spend on that coast it would be there---more charming than any of the CT villages. But, you must access the CT by ferry from PV unless you have a car.

daba78

I have returned from my trip and this is what i felt. I stayed 2 nights in riomaggiore and one night in portovenere. riomaggiore is great to stay in (or any of the 5 towns for that matter) because at night and early morning the cinque terre is beautiful, the problem is later in the morning and early afternoon it is incredibly crowded and really looses its charm where as portovenere is pretty calm during the day at least in may it was.