We are thinking of spending about 4 nights in one of these towns next year - late Sept. / early Oct. Anyone have a preference as to which is more pleasant? How easy its it to visit the CT from either? by train? ferry? Will the beach clubs be all closed down by that time? Thanks for any advice you care to share!

I spent 5 days in Rapallo and loved it. I had actually planned to stay in SML but found a better deal on a hotel in Rapallo. Loved the hotel, loved the town. SML was great too. Also visited Camogli, Portofino and Portovenere as well as the CT. All very easy to do. Could have used even more than 5 days.

Here's my trip report. Scroll down half way to get past the France part. There's a link to the photos.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...swiss-alps.cfm

We were there last september, but visiting from La Spezia. We found Rapallo bigger, and has a train station and the boats depart to Santa Margherita and Portofino.

You can use Rapallo as your residence, to visit SML and Portofino via boat, and the Cinqe Terre via train, which is easy.

In Santa Margherita, you can have a good lunch at Da Emilio, fritto misto is realy good, and apple torte is out of this world!.

You will enjoy your stay, no doubts, you cannot go wrong !!!

I imagine the beach clubs will be closed by then. For charm, neither can beat Camogli. There is a train from there to the CT. Agree with JE Lopez that you cannot go wrong in any of those places. It is a gorgeous area and should be great that time of year.

I stayed in SML and it is a very pretty place.
Very convenient as there is a train station and boat departure.
We took the train to CT and a boat to Portofino.
You can not go wrong with either, although I would favor SML for its proximity to Portofino.

I cant speak to Rapallo, as we didn’t go there, but we did stay in SML at the Hotel Miramare and LOVED it - the town, the hotel, the walks to Portofino, the whole thing. Took the train from Florence and a cab the short distance to the hotel.

We did take the train one day to the Cinque Terre, which took about 45 minutes. In early May, there were only three direct morning trains from the area to Monterosso, at 7:59, 8:20, and 10:22, and three fast afternoon trains at 14:54, 16:56, and 18:54. Once in Monterosso, we wanted to see Manarola, Vernazza, and Monterosso. It was a lot of “train-ing” between the towns (some of the trails were closed) and pretty mobbed. We wished we’d taken more hikes around Portofino and SML and just relaxed in the pool at the hotel. Just our experience, everyone is different.

It’s an absolutely beautiful and relaxing area, we plan to go back (to the same hotel, cannot say enough great things about it).