Just returned from Cinque Terre. Of the 5 towns, I suggest using Monterosso as a homebase instead of Vernazza. Vernazza is much cuter and more charming than Monterosso, which is darling in its own right. However, Monterosso is slightly larger and provides more options of hotels, room rentals, restaurants, and bars. Also, many of the trains stop only Monterosso and Riomaggiore and skip the middle 3 towns. So if you stay in Vernazza (which Rick Steves firmly suggests), you may have to take an additional train ride to get where you're going. We loved visiting Vernazza but each day were pleased to return to Monterosso.

I've stayed in Vernazza before and I loved it. However we decided to stay in Monterosso this time for that very reason.

While I can understand the lure of Monterosso, especially the more charming older part of town, I've stayed in Vernazza both times I've been in Cinque Terre and vastly prefer it, because of how intimate and incredibly picturesque it is.

But to each their own...vive la difference!

All that you said is even more true if you travel off season (i.e. not summer). We had very few accomodation choices other than Monterosso when we went in early March. And we certainly appreciated having at least a couple dinner choices open each night.

And while Monterosso is often knocked on this forum for being too big or commercial, those comments should be understood to be made relative to the other small towns. In the absence of that comparison, Monterosso is a charming small town in itself.

Despite that Monterosso is more convenient and Vernazza is also very charming, I prefer to stay in Manarola.

The village is small, quaint ,much quieter and very picturesque.

I agree with that, Manarola would certainly be my choice for a quiet stay - leave Vernazza to the Rick Steves crowds.

What about Riomaggiore as a compromise? It seems to have the most hotels with online availability I see, and there seems to be a laundramat. Also there are many, many hiking trails in all directions (not with the intimidatingly steepness required at Monterosso to get to other towns) - don't need to wait for train or unreliable boat service. Maybe it has bus service to Portovenere too?

kismetchimera, earlier I mentioned Paul Theroux's great book about traveling around the Meditteranean, <i>The Pillars of Hercules</i>, in a thread about Barcelona.

For years I'd wondered what spectacular cliff-hugging pastel-colored village is on the dust jacket of the hardcover (and large paperback). I'd suspected a Cinque Terre village, partly because the town looked a bit like Vernazza and also because, in the book, Theroux says that the Ligurian coast is one of his favorite parts of the Mediterranean. (He skips it on his clockwise journey from Gibraltar -- since he goes from Nice to Corsica to Sardinia to the Italian mainland -- but returns there on his way back.)

Well, after finally visiting Manarola two years ago (I'd only visited Monterosso &amp; Vernazza on my previous trip to Cinque Terre), I took a look at the cover again, and realized it was Manarola. It's a great photo. The part we loved about Manarola was that little park to the north of town. But what we would've really missed staying there (we considered it) is the harborside piazza that Vernazza has.

I'd also read in a couple guidebooks that Manarola tends to draw a lot of European tourists, particularly, if I remember correctly, Germans and French.

I am biased to Riomaggiore, but my 2nd choice would be Monterosso al mare. While Vernazza is the &quot;Portofino&quot; of the CT, there are just too many Rick Steves tourists and higher prices in that town than in the others.

Viking, Riomaggiore is wonderful and, truthfully, my fav CT Town. There are a lot hotel options there as there are in Monterosso and the prices are not as high as they are in Vernazza. (Manarola is nice too.) There is not bus service from Riomaggiore into Portovenere. The 2 ways to get to Portovenere are to take the 5-Terre boats (that stop/leave from each of the 5 CT towns), or take a train down into La Spezia, then a local bus out to Portovenere. I have done both options many times, but prefer the boat and excellent coastal views over the bus!

We've decided to check out Monterosso for our base in late September for touring the vicinity. Can anyone recommend a B&amp;B or hotel? We are leaving Venice in morning and would like to be in Monterosso by the afternoon? Is it possible ? what would be the plane &amp; train connections? Leaving Monterosso...how would we get to Rome's airport same day of checkout . Flight from Genoa airport?