Looking to fill a day betwwen these 2 locations. Suggestions?

You do know they are only 4 hours apart?
If you want to stop I would suggest Camogli and a trip by boat or car over to Portofino and San Fruttoso.

Did you know that you cannot drive into the cinque terre? We drove to Levanto, found a nice hotel and hopped on the local ( be sure it is a local or you'll skip all the cinque terre) train every day to a different town. Parking at the Levanto train station is free. Levanto itself could be a destination, with its lovely beach, castle on the hill, restaurant in an ancient town hall in addition to bookstores, restaurants and people not overburdened with tourists. There are choices of upscale and family type hotels; a very safe town too with people leaving their bikes not even locked. You'll love the cinque terre.

Hi

to see a different Cote d'Azur, take a day trip to Gourdon.
Its an historic perched village. The drive is interesting, too.
They have a website with panoramic photos here : http://www.gourdon-france.com/pg_uk/uk_cdr.html

Peter
http://tlp.netfirms.com

ttt

Michelle,

If you want a stop between these two location, Santa Margarita is fine, with many hotels and you can go to Portofino by boat or by car.
From La Spezia you can go till Manarola and park your car, there is a parking we did it . But if you do not stay in Cinque terre the best is to take the train in La Spezia and you can stop in any village and walk between them, Cinque terre is very special. We want to return next year and stay in Manarola ( My english is not very good, I'm french canadian!)
MarieFrance

La Spezia is not nearly as interesting as Levanto, is too big a city and parking near the train is very difficult.

Concurring with the second poster, I would definitely see Camogli. It is unique enough of a town along the Italian Riviera to merit a visit! It has a lovely boardwalk with black/gray sand on its beaches! The charming, bright colored houses crammed along the waterfront add a picturesque ambiance and character to the town. You could then take a train to Santa Margherita Ligure and then a bus over to Portofino for the afternoon. Perhaps lunch in SML (cheaper!) and have a coffee/espresso in Portofino along the little inlet bay and people watch. Buon viaggio!

Message: We much enjoyed Santa Margarita Ligure (we picked up a car in Nice, drove to SML, then CT and finished in Menton - over about 8 days).

And we had no trouble driving to and parking in Monterosso in the CT. There's a large car park. It was, however, off-season.

To each his own...we just returned from that region, and enjoyed Santa Margherita Ligure tremendously - I think due in part to the staff at the Hotel Continental. It's a lovely, friendly town and easy to get around. I would definitely go back for a visit. Camogli was under a lot of construction (with big equipment in the streets) during the second week of May, so maybe that's why it didn't do much for us. How can I put it about Portofino, well, the underpinings are all there, but it looks as though it's going the "commercial" route for the sake of the tourist dollars.

rapallo is hard to beat