I am visiting the cinque terre for 3 nights in the middle of a 16 day trip to Italy in October. We are booking hotels/apts for the rest of our trip but I am reluctant to book for CT. I am worried that if it rains we will be stuck with nothing to do so my plan is to check the weather a few days before and just show up. It would be in the first week of October from Tuesday -Friday.

I live in Liguria and I think that is the right plan. Take a few e-mail addresses with you, phone numbers too, and you should have no problem finding perfectly good accommodations. Weather forecasts are notoriously unreliable for the area. Wait as long as you can before deciding to go, keep checking the forecasts. Hope it works out you get sunny skies!

I would book in advance, but pay attention to cancelation policies. First week of Oct. will be busy in Italy including ct. Do you want to spend several hours on the phone trying to book a place to stay,only to find that the only places that have rooms are the most expensive place in town or the biggest dump in town.

We arrived without reservations in October two years ago and had no problem at all. We stayed in Levanto and it was very convenient. Easy to drive in and out and no parking problem.
I wouldn't hesitate to do it.

Levanto is not part of the CT, but it is pretty close. I'm sure it won't be as busy as the ct. It's only a couple of minutes- train ride to the CT, but you have to pay attention to the schedules. You will probably have a lot more options in Levanto. If I was going back to the CT, I'd seriously consider Levanto. It is larger than the CT towns, But stil a small Walkable town with a lot more options for accomadation and dining. It may fit your needs.

Leuk2 I realize it is not ideal to arrive w/o reservations but I don't know what is worse- stuck in the rain for 3 days or spending a little extra time to get a room? We would really like to use these three days to get outdoors in some beautiful scenery, I think our best bet would be to go where the weather allows.