. It isn't easy to find a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment around the Cinque Terre for a group of friends. This apartment was comfortable, light & airy & gave us the room & the privacy that we were looking for. It's a bit of a climb up the steep narrow streets & has quite a few stairs on the way, but the views are great from the small balcony.
The apartment has a large combined dining, kitchen, lounge area which faces the view out across Manarola & the sea. The bedrooms & the bathrooms are to the back of the apartment.
One of the bedrooms has a window but very little room for storage. The second bedroom has no window but there is hanging space for your clothes. The bathroom which is off this bedroom is tiny & very tricky to manouvre around. The main bathroom is larger & has a washing machine tucked away in a cupboard. It would have been good to have some instructions on using the washing machine.The kitchen had the basic utensils but it took us a little while to work out that there was a switch that we needed to turn on above the sink to work some of the electrical appliances & lights
We booked the apartment through Arbaspaa & they were very good to deal with. They were always very quick to reply to my questions throughout the booking process & once we were there, they were always on hand to offer advice & directions regarding hikes, restaurants etc. They even organized an electrician to fix a dodgy power point in the kitchen on a Sunday.
Manarola is a lovely little town with a good selection of restaurants & a couple of grocery stores. We visited in October & we were glad that it was a bit later in the season. The weather was quite pleasant & there weren't as many tourists. I can imagine that the summer months must be very hot & very crowded in the Cinque Terre.
We did a number of hikes around the towns & we mostly caught the train to & from the other towns, although there is a ferry which is available & it is a fun way to get from town to town! Just be aware that the ferry can't dock in Manarola if the sea isn't calm. If there is a bit of a swell it is too dangerous for the ferry to dock & let off & pick up passengers due to the proximity to rocks. You will then need to either walk out of town or catch the train. This is not the case in most of the other towns where it is easier for the ferry to dock if there is a bit of a swell. Just something to keep in mind if you are wishing to use the ferry for transportation from town to town during your stay.
Also the grocery stores have different opening & closing times, so be sure to check from day to day. It would be a nuisance to arrive back to town after a day out to find that there is nowhere open to get bread, milk etc for the next day's breakfast.
Liked best:
2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms for 2 couples sharing
Liked least:
Getting the luggage up & down the stairs
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC