If this wasn't the off season, I can only imagine how much our room would have been. Just a few hundred steps from the water, Albergo Marina (aka Hotel Marina) was the polar opposite of our hotel in Rome, in an expected, excellent way.
The hotel has five floors of uniquely styled rooms with varying layouts, furniture, and views. We had an L (ish) shaped room on the second floor that looked out on the "street" (more like a cobblestone path) with two separate terraces that we could walk out and sit on. Views of the water are very hard to come by in this part of town, but we were able across some rooftops and up into the mountains. Sitting on the balcony all we could hear were footsteps, animals, the wind, and a constant stream of water heading towards the ocean. No cars fit up anywhere near here, so we didn't hear a single engine from our room.
The bed was comfortable and warm, and nice and big. Just FYI, the king size bed is actually two not-so-king mattresses next to one another, so movement during the night could create a bit of a gap in the middle. The shower was amazing, larger than I thought it would ever be for a place like this and the rainfall shower head and water pressure were the best.
The free breakfast was nice and simple. Coffee, juice, tea, pastries/bread, as well as omelettes and pancakes made to order. They offered a mid-afternoon snack, and a room here gets you into a free pesto tasting that happens every day from 2pm-3pm just down the street. They have free WiFi, which happened to be much faster (11.12/1.89) than the WiFi at our previous hotel in Rome, and enabled us to stream 1080p Netflix at night without issue.
The staff here was extremely nice, and provided us with excellent recommendations on food, drinks, and things to check out while we were in town. I would definitely recommend this place for a stay in Monterosso, especially when it gets warmer and you can leave the windows open 100% of the time. read more