My family (wife and 14 year old daughter and I ) will be traveling to Italy in June. I would like to overnight in the Cinque Terre. I've read as many previous post as I could find, but I still have a few questions. First, where to stay. My other destinations in Italy will be in larger cities, so I thought it might be nice to be &quot;laid back&quot; for a night. My first thought was Monterosso, nice beach, presumably many shops and restaurants. Vernazza and Riomaggiore look fabulous in pictures. Does Riomaggiore have a beach? I'm really looking for a place with stunning views (all of them) and places where I can try the local cuisine (doesn't have to be fancy). Second, will I need to make advance reservations? I really want to stay only one night and its a Friday night in June. I've heard if you can show up at the train station early you can just find a room to rent, how early is early? I'm looking for a pretty basic triple room and hoping to spend less than EUR100. Thanks for any help.<BR><BR>

Visited Cinque Terre last June. We hired a private boat to take us to all five villages (presumably), but we only stopped and spent time in Vernazza. It was quaint and different, but hard to distinquish this during the day when all the day trippers are there. I think this would be a lovely village to stay in one night. Restaurants are authentic and fun. We stayed at the Grande Miramare in Santa Marguerita Ligure, (just outside Portofino) not a bad drive to Cinque Terre, if you would want to see both.

Since you are going with your daughter I would recommend staying in Monterosso because they do have a nice sandy beach there. I would probably not go there without reservations, when I was there everything was booked and people were wandering around asking if I knew of anyplace to stay. I was there for a Friday night and Saturday night and Friday is when it fills up from all the locals taking a weekend trip.<BR><BR>I stayed at Hotel Villa Steno which has balconies with a view and was a really cute hotel and inexpensive, don't know if they have triples. Too bad you are only planning on staying one night. The hike between towns is wonderful and if you wander each of the towns a bit and get some gelato or lunch as you wander you could easily spend 4-7 hours on that alone. Then there is the beach, kayaking etc to enjoy. Worth more than one night to me.

Thanks for the replys. Ikj, we won't have a car, and as time is limited I want to stay in the CT. Debbier, the beach is what first made me think of Monterosso. Of course in Riomaggiore we could take the quick hike to Maranola. I suppose I will have to make advance reservations though. Any other hotel recommendations?

Any town you stay in has a short hike to another town. The view when you hike from Monterosso is not to be missed. As for other hotels, these towns are very small so it is not like there are alot of choices. You should do a search on Cinque terre on this board and see what others have recommended.

I received my PBS schedule this week for<BR>March, and for those interested, Rick Steves repeat of Cinqu Terre will be aired on the 30th.

I would suggest sleep in Monterosso.They have a very nice beachHotel Villa Steno triple available. Tel# 0187-817-028 www.pasini.com.Taking the train north you could walk from Manarola to Riomaggiore.Its a great walk and fairly easy.chow

Beware, I tried to make reservations in Monterosso for Sept, and was advised by the places I checked that they would only accept reservations for 3 nights or more in high season.

Another option is Levanto, the next town after Monterosso. Levanto is more of a small Riviera beach town than the 5 CQ towns, but it's quite beautiful,with a very nice beach, and it's only a 10 minute train ride, (or 3 hour spectacular hike) to Monterosso. There are many hotels and a few b&amp;b's in Levanto, and lots of interesting places to eat.

Again thanks for the replys. I guess I'll try to see if I can get a place in Monterosso. Thanks again.