After the Cinque Terre and before Genoa
 

We would greatly appreciate advice on which seaside town to stay in for 2 nights following 5 nights in the Cinque Terre and before 3 nights in Genoa ?

Santa Margherita, Rapallo, Camogli or somewhere different ?

Any advice on a hotel with view, style and atmosphere would be great. Open minded on price, but probably can't afford Hotel Splendido in Portofino. Thank you for your advice.

We stayed in Santa Margherita Ligure for a few nights and really liked it. It was quite a while ago so sorry I can't remember which hotel it was but the town was lovely. We did a day trip to Portofino which took us about 20 mins by public bus.

Kay

Did you realize that 5Terre - Genoa is only 1 hr by train?

Yes. We have visited the area around the Cinque Terre several times and enjoy staying at a wonderful 3 star in Deiva Marina known as Hotel Clelia. From there we have travelled on many high and low tracks as far as Portovenere and also covered the interior hinterland by car one year.

In the other direction we have taken the train to Camogli and walked through the National Park back to San Fruittoso and Portofino.

We have time during a rather long itinerary to take an extra stop on the coastline - that is a bit different to the Cinque Terre.

I took a look at Santa Margherita and a few of the hotels there in prominant positions, but thought maybe someone knows of something a bit different and memorable further along the coastline toward Genoa.

If you care for a return to the Camogli-Portofino-SML area (and like hiking, as it sounds like you do), then try this place above Camogli.
http://www.larosabiancadiportofino.com/home.html
It is mere steps from the park and has a million dollar view but a modest atmosphere. Loved it!

After seeing Above Italy on PBS many years ago, the sight of Camogli has always stayed with me. Yorkshire's suggestion sounds perfect. I'm bookmarking it!

We stayed in Portofino many years ago, and the small village atmosphere there has always inspired us to stay in smaller towns when traveling. Santa Margherita turned us off, though I know many have enjoyed staying there.

My cursor took me to the map and so I started to look at the location of the White Rose of Portofino and a few other Agriturismos / B&Bs up in the hills behind Camogli. Then I was taken to the comment about the small village of Portofino. I think I may just have a search to see if there is something in my price range there. Of course we may at least have a memorable lunch at the Splendido :-)

Good luck with that!
Another place I bookmarked (and admired the position of when in the area) that may be more to your taste and closer to Camogli is http://villarosmarino.com/en/
I was unfortunately very turned off by Portofino--crowded with day trippers and high end chain shops.

We have stayed in Santa Margherita twice and visited Camogli from there. We spent three nights in the Cinque Terre which was enough time to complete the whole hike between the five villages. I would take two days from the CT and add it to Santa Margherita Ligure or Camogli, a beautiful part of Italy.

We were in Portofino in 2000 and not aware of day trippers nor high end chain shops, which probably were not there then. Perhaps Camogli is still undiscovered and you can take the trails over to Portofino.

Since you've seen so much of the Italian Riviera south of Genoa maybe check out the towns beyond Genoa. I've heard good things about Finale Ligure. But that's about it. Maybe others are more familiar with that stretch of coast and can make recommendations.

We have previously walked from Camogli to San Fruittoso - quite a challenging walk along the edges of cliffs holding on to chains for part of the way but highly memorable with a wonderful arrival into the small bay with abbey.

The hotel offerings in Portofino do not impress me greatly other than the extremely highly priced Splendido.


I will do some further searching around Camogli and also review Final Ligure.

Thank you for all the advice.

Oh yes, gail, I am sure it has changed a good bit--as has le Cinque Terre. It is always magical to see a small town with less of a touch from tourism.
Good_Will--that trail was insane! I am still amazed I did it (once). The rest of our days were spent on the easier trails across the park, which are blissfully uncrowded.