Places Close to Cinque Terre?
 

HELP! Husband and I have left the planning far too late and now we are completely unable to get a hotel in Cinque Terre for June 19-22.

Can anyone suggest nearby towns with either bus/train/transport of some kind into Cinque Terre so that we could day trip? We're not opposed to staying outside and commuting in I'm just not even sure where to start.

Santa Margherita Ligure

Levanto

La Spezia is the closest city to the 5 Terre and has the main train station that you would have to stop at anyway to get to the 5 Terre. Riomaggiore is only a ten minute train ride, and each of the other villages are only about five minutes apart from there.

There are lots of little hotels, rooms for rent and apartments available. It is actually a really central place to stay as you can travel all over the region from La Spezia Centrale train station. Pisa and Florence are only an hour east. It is also easy to take a bus to the beautiful Porto Venere, one of Hemingways favorite spots in the Golfo dei Poeti.

Don't sweat not having plans, it's Italy...if you are flexible and friendly, you are sure to find something!

We're staying in La Spezia in September for 2 days to visit Cinque Terre and reserved at the Firenze e Continentale hotel, just across the street from the train station. Looks really convenient and the prices were great. They also had parking available which was a plus for us and the reason why we aren't staying in one of the CT villages instead.

website: http://www.hotelfirenzecontinentale.it

We liked Santa Margherita Ligure. It is a medium-sized harbor town with a lot of personality, and not too many tourists. From there, you can train to the CT or bus to Portofino.

We stayed at the Nuova Riviera:

"We really enjoyed the Nuova Riviera, via Belvedere 10, www.nuovariviera.com. The little B&B hotel is located on a slight hill, on a quiet narrow road, in a nice semi-residential neighborhood, only 200 meters from the harbor and the center of town. They call it a “liberty villa with garden”, and you feel at home there.

The owner met us at the front gate, to assist with our bags from the taxi up to our room on the third floor. There is a beautiful staircase at the Nuova Riviera, but no elevator. Breakfast is included (very simple pre-packaged rolls, but nice cappuccino, also simple juice). Our room was very reasonable, 98.50 EUR for a double/twin with breakfast. (It would have been slightly less expensive if I hadn't gone through venere.com)

Actually, our room had three twin beds, and was quite large with a big wardrobe, a desk, a roll-top desk, and two upholstered chairs. The room had a unique rounded wall, with large windows, and also a ceiling fan. The bathrooms are relatively new, with nicely tiled shower stalls. It was sparkling clean and very charming.

The owner and his manager live there, I think, so they are there to say Hello and Goodbye whenever you are coming and going. It's a very personal touch, so you feel like you're staying in a private residence really. They are very helpful in answering questions, providing maps and directions.

Despite the late hour of our arrival, we were interested in dinner, so we walked down to the town. Santa Margherita feels very safe, and we were comfortable there walking at all hours to and from the hotel."

La Spezia is an industrial port city and Santa Margherita is an hour away by train. There are better options. Look at Levanto, Lerici, and Portovenere. I cannot believe that Monterosso is fully booked--there are at least a dozen decent hotels there---check again.

Although you don't mention the boat option specifically, Portovenere is nice, and boats go to 5T from there.

Will you be driving or traveling by train?

In addition to the suggestions already offered, Rapallo, Chiavari & Camogli are north of CT with train access. They are all aps 45-60 minutes away by train.

We stayed at the Hotel Helvetia in Sestri Levante when visiting CT a couple years ago. It's maybe an hour or so north of Riomaggiore with convenient and frequent rail access. The Helvetia was very nice, with a small bay and beach just outside of the town center and we ended up liking Sestri very much.

Portovenere has ferry service to the CT.

I knew that "La Spezia is an industrial port city", but since the hotel where I'm staying is across the street from the train station (trains take 5-12 minutes to the CT villages) and I plan to be in CT ALL day and only using the hotel to sleep in, I thought it very convenient. I won't be spending any time in La Spezia at all in my waking hours.

Another vote for Portovenere, if nothing's available in CT.

In Cinque Terre, in Monterosso a small, very clean and inexpensive hotel called Albergo Amici
http://www.hotelamici.it/
We've been stuck in Monterosso, just 3 weeks ago, with a reservation to a hotel which was a dump, and they took us late evening, treated us really nice and the price was right....