On our trip from the U.S. to Italy this May, we have chosen to spend a couple of nights in Santa Margherita Ligur as our base for exploring Cinque Terre. It will be my wife's birthday, so I want to splurge a bit and get a very nice room overlooking the sea. Any recommendations will be appreciated.. We will be arriving by car.

I would check both the Metropole and the Grand Hotel Miramare which are at opposite ends of town. The views from the Miramare may be more to your liking but I was pleased with the Metropole.

The Metropole is very close to the train station which comes in handy for day trips in the area.

SML is a lovely resort town but is an hour to the CT and not the best base to explore the CT.

I agree with those two hotel recommendarions. Santa Margherita Ligure is a beautiful place to visit and to use as a base for exploring the area. Make sure you see Camogli too.

However, it backs right onto Portofino national park, where you can hike without hordes of people.

We really enjoyed a couple of nights in Santa Maria Ligure several years ago. We stayed in a hotel recommended by Bob the Navigator, who posted above. We hotel was great but it didn't overlook the sea as you mentioned you desire. We boated to Portofino and, if I remember correctly, walked back to SML. We had a delicious dinner in the back room of the local fish market.

We really enjoyed a couple of nights in Santa Maria Ligure several years ago. We stayed in a hotel recommended by Bob the Navigator, who posted above. We hotel was great but it didn't overlook the sea as you mentioned you desire. We boated to Portofino and, if I remember correctly, walked back to SML. We had a delicious dinner in the back room of the local fish market.

Oops. Please excuse the double post. Appeared not to "take" the first time I submitted it.

Grand Hotel Miramare. We stayed 4 nights a couple of years ago and would highly recommend. It's a short stroll into town and a 15 euro taxi ride to the train station. The old school elegance along with beautiful views of the gulf, wonderful service and proximity to Portofino and Cinque Terre (and Genoa, which we also liked alot) made it awonderful choice for us, despite being a bit more expensive than our usual type of place (then again it was part of a 30th anniversary trip so what better time to spend some money).

We stayed in the Metropole recently and can thoroughly recommend it, however it may not have the sea views that you're looking for and I don't think that it's a good base for the CT. Having said that, there's lots of good walking in the area and nice villages to see.

See: www.booking.com or
www.venere.com

I have to say that IMO the CT is overrated and there are many attractive villages just as nice as the CT all over Italy.

I highly recommend the Grand Hotel Miramare. Beautiful hotel, wonderful staff, great location. One of our favorite hotels. 10 minute walk to town. They have a car park for 25 euros per day.
We took train to CT for the day and you can also get boat to CT from SML. Also train to Camogl a nice seaside town. Boat to Portofino. Bus to Ravello. Many possibilities for easy day trips.
Look on the leading hotels of the world for special offers for the Miramare. They sometimes offer 3 nights for 2 etc. hope this helps. Let us know which hotel you choose!