I am planning to spend a week in this area of Italy -- exploring this part of the Ligurian coast. Which one -- Portovenere or Lerici -- would be best as our base for the week? Both appear very nice and very convenient, however, Portovenere seems a little more expensive.
Thanks for the input.

We spent a week in a small town (Arcola) above Lerici and embarked by boat from Lerici to Portovenere and the Cinque Terre across the Gulf of La Spezia. Lotsa fun!

Having a car, we easily made daytrips to Lucca, up in the hills around Carrara and to the Portofino peninsula. Using Portovenere as a base, these kind of daytrips would be more difficult because of its location...

Both are really very nice but, if you have a var I suggest Portovenere.


Have a lovely trip, ciao.

Vincenzo

Good question !
Tuck has a good point about day trips to Lucca or SML are easier from Lerici, but Portovenere is just so charming. Have you looked at Hotel Belvedere at about 130E. Also, for a week, look at the rental in Lerici as advertised by Megan in Lerici---you can find her ad at slowtrav.com

Thanks for the input. The main reason I'm looking at those two cities is so we don't have to drive. We can take the ferries to Cinque Terre and other areas. Last year we went to the Chianti region of Tuscany so we drove all the time. We loved Tuscany! But I thought this time it would be nice to stay somewhere within a pretty town that has easy access to other areas. FYI - We're going the end of September.

I just e-mailed Megan about the Lerici villa - thanks for the tip Bob.

Do you think 7 nights too long to stay in this area?

Let me preface this by saying that we have never stayed in Lerici, but Portovenere is one of our favorite spots in Italy. he scenery is beautiful and the food great.

Portovenere can be reached by bus from the La Spezia train station, basically the same as Lerici. If you want a hotel, we have always liekd Hotel Genio in the historic center. It's kind of in the castle. Not the fanciest but well located and the owners are great. Here is a link for some rentals. I'd suggest trying to stay as close to the old city as possible.

>> Do you think 7 nights too long to stay in this area? <<

Without a car, YES.

And Portovenere is not a "city" - far from it!

Oops: here's the link:

http://www.cinqueterreriviera.com/Ar...ortovenere.htm

I like both. Keep in mind that the boats do not always run. We stayed in Vernazza last summer and could not go in by boat or train, but had to drive in. Rough Seas and a train strike.

We stayed in Lerici for 4 nights and really enjoyed it there. But would definitely recommend a car. You can do Cinque Terre and Portovenere by boat, but if staying there for a week I would suggest having a car.

We really enjoyed our drive to Carrara, and a small inland town called Sarzana - some of the best gelato there. We also drove one day to spend sometime at a private beach which was really nice.

Consider doing Megan's cooking class with her MIL. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

I refer to Portovenere as the poor mans' Portofino. I enjoyed it. It is a very small what I call a village. If I recall it is a bit of a drive to get out of there and back to the autostrada.

We stayed 4 nights in Lerici last year without a car. But we hired Megan to provide some guide services. We were going to take the boat to the CQ but it was not running that day due to high seas. So we went over to LaSpezia to take the train to CQ. Oops...a train strike that day. So Megan took us to Portovenere instead. We loved it and had a great time. But we never did get to CQ.

We stayed at Lido di Lerici Hotel, a very small 4 star hotel on the sandy beach in Lerici. We loved it. Indoor pool, great breakfast buffet, right on the water. Took the bus to Sarzana for market day, rented a boat for a day (with Megan's help), and had the most fabulous dinner at Pin Bon Ristoranti (again...Megan put this together for us). Lerici is one of my favorite places!

We have stayed in Posara above Lerici, and on the rail line, at these flats:-

http://watermill.net/mainpages/water...cany_info.html

If you want to be on teh coast, then Portovenere, I think, over Lerici.