Where to stay at the Cinque Terre
 

I will be spending one night at the Cinque Terre on November 1st and was wondering which of the five towns I should stay in. I prefer to stay away from the tourists though I heard Vernazza is very nice. Does anybody have any suggestions? I was planning on finding a room for rent when I arrive unless anybody knows of an inexpensive hotel available. I will be traveling by myself. I heard about Portovenere, does anybody suggest I stay or at least visit there? I plan on seeing several of the towns via hiking and train. The next day I’ll soak up a bit more local Italian color then head back on the train to Florence. Thanks.

The middle three towns are much more quiet than Riomaggiore and Monterosso, which bookend the 5 Lands on the southeast and northwest respectively.

Vernazza seems to be a perennial favorite of Fodorites. Each town has a train station, but one of them, Corniglia i believe is way below town by about 1000 steps or possibly a shuttle bus.

I stayed in manarola at la torretta b&b. manarola was a great location, less touristy than monterosso and vernazza. corniglia has way too many steps to climb and was my least favorite town. manarola is a good home base, as is any town since it is such a short trip by train between them all. make sure you eat lots of pesto and foccacia. didn't visit portovenere. was there for 3 nights and had just enough time to hike one day, and beach one day. you will be truly enhancted by this place, and not want to leave. have fun!

Vernazza is a lovely little town, but swarming with Rick Steves apostles. I much preferred the others towns, especially Manarola & Corniglia. Loved our recent stay at Marina Piccola (in Manarola) so much that we got on the internet at the Manarola train station and hastily revised our itinerary so that we could return to Marina Piccola for the last few days of our trip.

I would happily stay in Corniglia, too. It's the least impacted by tourists (though in November you'll probably have the whole 5 towns to yourself, you lucky dog!) The infamous steps up to Corniglia town aren't all that if you're in reasonably good shape (besides, they allow you to eat an extra cup of gelato!) And if you're really pooped & want to avoid the steps, you can get the little shuttle bus that goes from the train station up the hill to town.

We just returned from Italy and stayed at Villa Accini in Monterosso. It was fine, although my husband got bitten repeatedly by something (probably a spider or something...not necessarily their fault). The only other complaint we had was that we had reserved room #11, and had even confirmed this reservation right before we left. When we got there, they said, "Sorry...#11 occupado." I would rather they have said so in the beginning and offered another room!

The breakfast was nice, as was the location to the train station.

While in Monterosso, we did meet a nice couple from California that were on a Rick Steve's tour. They were staying at a place on the "new" side of town and were VERY happy with it. I'm sorry I don't know the name, but maybe you could check with a Rick Steve's source.

Alan,

I found the name of the Rick Steve's tour hotel in Monterosso...it is Hotel Villa Steno. The website listed on their card is www.pasini.com. Good luck.

Hotel Villa Steno is really quite nice and we had a view to die for...We cut our visit short by a day due to poor weather and the owner helped us find a place to stay in another town. How nice was that? I would recommend it highly.

I agree with those who recommended Manarola. I stayed in Monterosso which was great for a lot of reasons but when I saw Manarola, I wished I had stayed there.

Please please please have lunch or dinner at Marina Piccola which is right on the waterfront. We had a really delicious meal there. I highly recommend the seabass ravioli.

Enjoy!

AlanP, stayed in the CT this summer and visited all towns. I prefer the old town of Monterosso. The towns are small, Monterosso offered more in terms of dining and some shops. We stayed at the Hotel Marina in Monterosso, small clean room with breakfast in the old town. Recommend the accomodations.

I am planning to visit Cinque Terre from 11/4 - 11/12/2006.
How's the weather that time ? will it be raining ? mud slide ? will it be okay to hike ?

We stayed in Corniglia in May about 5 years ago (eek, 5 whole years???) and really enjoyed it. FWIW.

Hi Alan

Don't be put off staying at Villa Steno in Monterosso because Rick Steves tour group chooses to stay there.

We just returned from a great 4 day stay there and loved the Villa Steno. On the third day we heard a tour group from Rick Steves was arriving the next day but to be honest we never noticed or saw any signs of them.

We were very happy with our choice of Monterosso and especially the Villa Steno - great people there.

Don't think you can really go wrong especially for one night.
Have a great trip.