Italy travel - Bed and breakfast / Apartments in the Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy

Italy travel - Charming holiday residence in the Cinque Terre with short stay apartments and bed and breakfast accommodation ... a romantic and scenic spot for your holiday in Italy.

Located in the unspoiled village of Riomaggiore, in the beautiful countryside fronting the rugged coastline of the Cinque Terre, these newly fashioned holiday houses offer a variety of accommodation types. Within, there are single rooms sleeping 2 or 3 people, and two-room apartments with a kitchenette. All rooms have bathrooms, and all have heating/air conditioning, direct phone lines, satellite TV, radio alarm clocks, minibars, private safes, outside terraces, Jacuzzi showers and hairdryers. The five houses are named after the five villages of the Cinque Terre: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso.

Double rooms range from EURO €95 to €130 per night depending on the season, with three-bed rooms ranging from €115 to €150. Three-bedded rooms with kitchenette range from €130 to €180. Ask also about special rates for longer stays. The accommodation has been awarded the Marchio di Qualità Ambientale, a certificate recognising the high quality of services and products. And the owners have tried to put something back into the environment of the area, through their maintenance and repair of the ancient dry stone walls nearby.

The lovely buildings are bathed in greenery, and the very quiet location has great views. Offering maximum privacy, the flats are open all year round and have parking nearby. Groups are welcome – there is a bar and meeting room – and there is a fax and internet connection.

The rooms are furnished in natural materials (such as wood and rushes) and harmonise nicely with the pastel colours used for the outdoors. From your room, you can go out onto the private terrace where will enjoy a lovely view of vineyards, typical Mediterranean flora, dry stone walls and the village below. The outdoor areas are lit using low energy lamps, creating a warm and relaxing atmosphere among the lemon trees and other scents of the Ligurian Riviera.

Reaching the apartments by train is very easy. The main lines from Rome, Genoa, Turin, Bologna and Parma stop in La Spezia: from here local trains run to Riomaggiore about every 30 minutes, taking eight minutes. Pisa airport is 85km away and Genoa airport 110km; from either of these you can easily reach the accommodation by car or train.

[ local map | map of region ]

The Cinque Terre themselves are both a National Park and a Protected Marine Environment. This strip of land and cliffs runs 15km along the coast, rising steeply from the sea towards the mountains. And carved into the rocky inlets dropping to the sea, the five small villages shelter from the elements. Long isolated, sheltered from change, they are still today a virgin landscape. Over the centuries, the local people have tamed this harsh environment, building a system of dry stone walls and terracing the land. This stepped landscape, planted with vines, gives the Cinque Terre its distinctive appearance.