Need some info on hotels. If anyone has been there, any info would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Good evening, Antoinette <BR>We have not stayed in Santa Margherita <BR>but have drunk a lot of its Pinot Grigio.. <BR>However back to the point. here are <BR>a few hotels sights to surf for the <BR>information you want. <BR>www.hotelguide.ch/ <BR>www.venere.it/ <BR>www.hotelbook.com/ <BR>www.alfanet.it/ <BR>www.cilea.it/ <BR>Good surfing, Richard of Hickory Hills, IL..... <BR>

Good evening, Antoinette <BR>We have not stayed in Santa Margherita <BR>but have drunk a lot of its Pinot Grigio.. <BR>However back to the point. here are <BR>a few hotels sights to surf for the <BR>information you want. <BR>www.hotelguide.ch/ <BR>www.venere.it/ <BR>www.hotelbook.com/ <BR>www.alfanet.it/ <BR>www.cilea.it/ <BR>Good surfing, Richard of Hickory Hills, IL..... <BR>

Stayed there 4 nights last June and loved it. Hotel was Regina Elena, which was acquired by Best Western. Nice hotel, great location, best feature was a rooftop pool with beautiful views of harbor and surrounding area. Great to come back to after a day of sightseeing, etc. Would stay there again. Spent a day in Cinque Terre (toolk the train from Santa Margherita). Another morning in Portofino (beautiful), another on other side of mountain in Camoli. Terrific restaurants (including La Goleta in Rapallo). E-mail me if you have questions. You will really enjoy this place. <BR>

Dennis, I was planning to use Santa Margherita as a base for that area on my next trip. Was is easy enough to get down to Cinque Terre area, see it and hike it, and not be rushed? Any other hotel recommendations? Thanks!

Dayle: It was perfect for Cinque Terre. Took an early morning train to furthest of five towns, hiked back to next two towns, then took train to forth town (Vernazza), had lunch there, then took ferry to fifth town, where we caught train back to Santa Margherita. You can hike to towns where we took the train and ferry but those are the steeper climbs and we did want to work quite that hard. So we varied it. You can do all or as many as you want. There is no rush, but you will have to be aware of the train schedule. There was a train strike the first day we tried to go so we had to go another day. Can never tell in Italy, so go early in your stay just in case. Our hotel was fine, reasonable, clean and great location. You can find more upscale ones if you want them but i didn't stop at any.This was fine for us, and we loved the view from the rooftop pool. It is about 10 minutes by bus or car to Portofino. E-mail me if you have more questions. <BR>

Thanks, Dennis!