Cinque Terre with a car
 

Is it hard to find a hotel with parking in CT? Can anyone recommend one reasonably priced. Will be there for one night and was thing to stay in Levanto as it seems to be the most car friendly, but am still not sure.

Stayed in the Hotel Europa in Levanto, and they had a parking lot. it was very reasonable and we did half board, and the food was great. You can train to the cinque terra towns, and hike between them. We hiked from Levanto, to the upper cinque terra town, and loved it! A less crowded trail.

Just for the record, Levanto is NOT in the Cinque Terra.

We stayed at Manarola, one of the FIVE actual villages. We parked in a big public lot at the top of the hill after they let us through the gate to drive down near our hotel and unload our luggage. It was all part of the "quaintness" of the villages.

The Villa Steno, in Monterosso, the northern-most of the villages, has parking. It's a great hotel, too.

Just for the record, the correct spelling is Cinque TerrE.

Thank you.

Hotel Della Baia in Le Grazie (part of Portovenere )has a car park. We chose it because we wanted easy access to the CT and a day trip to Lucca. We are going to catch the ferry to Monterosso and walk back.

Dedode, as the other replies have stated, I think its virtually impossible to find a hotel in Cinque Terre with parking because until very recently there was no road at all, the only access my sea, hence the charm of the 5 lands - Cinque Terre, which I like to refer to as 5T for short.

As stated you can park your car in a communal parking lot above the town if you want to drive in. Myself I would leave my car in Levanto or La Spezia, (I think many threads deal with this issue if you run a search)and take the train or boat in, and expereince a little bit of the isolation that made 5T famous. Or take a hotel with parking in Levanto or Portovenere, on either side of 5T, and then boat in.

There is a large, safe, cheap municipal parking lot in Monterosso at the base of the town. You then walk to your hotel from there or take a train to your next town. I am not aware of a parking lot "above the town" but have used the one in the town and its quite easy.

There is a parking structure in Riomaggiore as well.

Villa Steno has a parking lot at their very nice hotel. It is popular so book as far in advance as possible.

So, its not impossible and I have done it twice with a care without any issues.

Thanks everyone for the replies, :) will most likely stay in Levanto and take the train fom there.

we stayed in Riomaggiore and there is a large car park at the bottom of the town. the walk into town (mildly uphill) where the hotels are was no problem, even with bags (would be an issue for mobility impaired, esp with luggage). i believe the cost was included in the room via a voucher system.

any thoughts about where to park if you want to stay in Vernazza?

Bat - you can either park in Monterosso or Riomaggiore. Then you can take the train to Vernazza. Have done it several times with no problem.

chicagolori:
thanks--Can you leave the car there for several days?

bat - yes you can with no problem.

I just returned from my first trip to Italy and we stayed near Levanto for two days in a wonderful B&B called L'Antico Borgo. It is located in the town of Dosso, which is in the hills above Levanto, about a 10 minute drive down to Levanto. There is a free parking lot just above the B&B, it's a very short walk from the lot to L'Antico Borgo. It's a perfect place to stay if you're looking for a little quiet outside of the towns. I loved it there!
For our 5T day we drove down to Levanto and left the car in one of the pay parking lots by the beach. We hiked the trail from Levanto to Monterroso, which was a great hike, about 2 hours, and not very crowded since it is not officially part of the 5T trails. From Monterroso we took a boat down to Riomaggiore, which took us past the rest of the towns so we got a great ocean view of them. We walked the Via dell'Amour to Manarola which I found to be a nice pleasant walk after our two hour hike earlier in the day. From Manarola we took the train to Corniglia, then the train again to Vernazza where we enjoyed pizza and a beautiful sunset. From there it was the train again to get back to Levanto. What a great day!

thanks chicagolori.
goingtoitalia-glad that you had a great trip-looking forward to your full report.

We stayed at the garden hotel in levanto and were very happy with it. you can click on my name and the trip report will come up from this summer.

We ate at Il Pirate in Vernazza. The restaurant is at the top of the town and there was a parking lot right beside the restaurant. I assumed you could drive to the village and park there, but maybe I'm wrong.

There was also a parking lot at the top of Manarola. We stayed in Manarola, but we took the train in from La Spezia.