hi all I would like to take my girlfriend to the Cinque Terre region has anyone stayed or knows anything about "Hotel Jolly" or 'Villa Caterina' both in La Spezia???
Cheers

You do not want La Spezia--a rather dirty naval town. Go to www.cinqueterre.it and see more.

I agree with Bob, you definitely do NOT want to stay in La Spezia. The 5 towns of the Cinque Terre are: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

Well, last year we satyed in Deiva Marina, wich is not in "the" Cinque Terre, but close enough (20 min by train). The Hotel Clelia was a very good surprise: good room, clean bathroom, very friendly (and multilingual) staff, and a WONDERFUL restaurant with great both breakfest and dinner. In my opinio, the restaurant is a must even if you are not in the hotel. And the price is really fair, much besser than the ones in "the" Cinque Terre.

We booked the Clelia for our September holidays, on basis of some recommendations on Fodors. The location seems to be very convenient, in between Portofino and the C.T. And they have private parking, which is also important to us. I'm really looking forward to our stay.

We have also booked Clelia for three days in September.

Really Steve? We'll be there Sep 3-10. How about you?

how does one get to cinque terre? I looked at the raileurope site and it doens't have a train going there... and the trentalia site isn't working. We will be in Venice a few days so we were hoping to go there one night.

what you will need to do is go to www.trenitalia.com and enter Venize s. lucia to la spezia centrale. La Spezia is a town, a few minutes south of Cinqueterre. From there you can catch any local trains to the Cinqueterre ie. Riomaggiore, Vernazza, Corniglia..etc etc (about 8 min. train ride from La Spezia)

Use www.trenitalia.it and click the italian language flag. It always works where as the english version seems to have problems a lot.

Just enter "venezia" for partire and then whatever cinque terre town you are going to for arrivare.

Thanks for the info re: Cinque Terre - appreciate it. Now know where not to stay. Our plan is to stay for 3-4nights in the CT region and then head to the Lake District - Como, Maggiore or Garda? Anyone have any insight on any of these lakes and where to stay. Looking to spend 4 nights just relaxing and taking in the beauty of the area maybe do some hiking, etc. Is it easy to get to from the Genova? We are not driving. Thanks again

we have rented an apartment thru www.arbaspaa.com in Riomaggiore.

I live in Genova (Nervi to be exact)
Is where easy to get to and from Genova? I didn't understand...sorry.

Is it easy to get from Genova to the Lake District? We are not sure where is best to visit in the lake district or base ourselves yet...but will need to take a train from Genova to the lake district somehow or bus?
thanks

You can take a train from Genova to Como (the actual city) in a little less than 3 hours. There are 2 main stations in Genova:

Brignole - the one I find most convenient to the centre of genova and in a nicer neighborhood
Principe - the more "important" station in genova.

You can find trains to Como from both of these stations, most have a change of trains in Milano Centrale.

I disagree, La Spezia is not a dirty naval town. They have made remarkable improvements with the city and the Corso Cavour is quite a lovely pedestrian boulevard. There are numerous elegant shops lined along the boulevard (Burberry, Benetton, to name a few) as well as cafes and other stores. It is especially charming during the Christmas/New Year's season, with twinkling white lights strung along the lampposts and in the trees.
The harbor front has a nice pedestrian walkway with a park area for kids to play, etc.

Both of those hotels mentioned (Jolly and Villa Caterina) are ok; however, as the others have pointed out, you should just stay in one of the Cinque Terre towns. I recommend Riomaggiore and the 'Villa Argentina' for 70 euros a room, includes breakfast. Riomaggiore is a good base for exploring the other 4 towns and you can easily walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola on Via Dell'More, then try the more strenuous hikes from the other villages.

You can actually put the exact city pairs in on the trenitalia website (Italian version) i.e. Venezia to Monterosso and it will tell you the exact trains, passing through La Spezia, then arrival time in Monterosso. Print out your train schedules in advance and take them with you to the ticket office, you can show the ticket agent exactly what you want, makes it easier for all.

To Huitres: when I went to make a reservation at Villa Argentina I found they do not take credit cards. What did you do? I'm planning to be there the end of Sept and hate to "chance it."

Thanks
Naomi

hi baglady: Villa Argentina DOES take credit cards, they just don't like to say that because it is more trouble for them to use the machine, etc. If I were you, just email or fax them back and say that you will pay with a Visa. If they are insistent on not accepting it, then you will have to have your euros handy......btw, you might ask if you can get a seaview room (for that same rate) since the end of Sept isn't as busy as the heavier tourist season during the height of summer.

Cheers for your help Amy, after all this info we will now stay in Como and train it to Milan and fly out off there.