Looking for recommended accommodation in Cinque Terre. Any town.

Monterosso al mare

Kirsten Hildebrandt-Toole
Loved Riomaggiore

We stayed in Monterosso al mare last summer. Was just gorgeous. Easy to catch ferries and we brought along a car and our airbnb had parking.

Sue hi. We’re looking at trAvelling with our teens. How did u get to monterossi. What is there to do?

Hi Michelle, we actually drove in from France. While I wouldn’t recommend a car for Cinque Terre as there is very limited parking, our airbnb provided us with a spot. Was convenient for us as we were travelling to other cities both before and after. This trip was just my husband and myself- we took the ferry to Portofino one day, and spent the day walking around the town, ran into a Kardashian and entourage
. Another day we took the ferry in the opposite direction as far as it would go,to Portovenere. Very beautiful there. Beaches and Grotto for swimming, town to walk, or just sit on a bench overlooking the water and enjoy an ice cream. You can stop and get off at any of the towns in between. Not sure what your teens are keen to do. Check ahead to see what trails are open, and you can walk between the villages, also train if tired. Swimming, hanging out at the beach. Monterosso has one and is a very flat village. The Food is fantastic, but we could eat Italian every day.

*

following

We stayed in Riomaggorie and loved it. If you are planning to hike between the towns, I’d check first which are open!

I would highly recommend staying in Manarola of the five towns only because that's where my husband I stayed and loved it. We stayed at … https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/16544932. It was small but very clean and the bed was comfortable. If you need a good window and a view I would recommend skipping it and paying a little more somewhere else. There is limited, if any, vehicles allowed within any of the five towns so something to keep in mind if arriving by car and keep in mind when looking for a place to stay that Cornelia is the only town not on the water.
Travel between Monterosso, Vernazza, Cornelia, Manarola and Riomaggiore is easiest and fastest by train which runs approximately every 20 minutes.
The line connecting the 5 villages is part of the main Italian railway line between Rome and Genova so there is at least one train going in both directions every hour. Most trains stop in Riomaggiore, Monterosso, Levanto and La Spezia but only regional trains stop in Manarola, Corniglia and Vernazza. You can get a free printed timetable at the railway station in every village.
If you would like to check train timetables, you can do that on www.trenitalia.com. But don't look for Cinque Terre as you won't find it. You have to enter the name of one of the 5 villages.
You can also travel between the five villages by ferry. They do not run as often as the train but they are a really lovely way to travel. We went in one direction by train and returned by ferry.
Ferry … https://cinqueterreinsider.com/.../cinque-terre-ferry.../
You need to buy a pass to be able to hike the trails of Cinque Terre and there are control booths along the way to check you have one. A one day pass cost us €7.50 and you can buy it at one of the tourist information centres or at one of the control booths. The other option is to buy the combined train/hiking pass. This costs I believe around €16 and includes unlimited use of the trains. The trains go between La Spezia and Levanto and stop at each of the five towns. Take good walking / hiking shoes and a good sized water bottle. Every village has water available to fill up your bottle.

Rising contributor
I stayed a bit further out, but was nice cheaper. Sestri Levanti. It is right on the ocean and has a very nice beach

Following

Deva Marina is also a good place to stay - on the water and rail line access to Cinque Terre.

Abby Mallari Wolosezky Shabana Hall

*