Alla Porta Rossa refers to 8 apartments in Manarola and one in Riomaggiore that you can rent out. This review is for the Alla Marina apartment. The apartment has a living room, kitchen, 1 double "room" (really just a partitioned area from the second bed "room"), a double sofa bed, a very, very tiny single room, single bathroom with shower, huge terrace with a view of the main strip (don't believe them when they say "seaview" - that means you can see a sliver of the ocean). Apartment has a full kitchen, AC and satellite TV. The apartment sleeps 5 (two each in the two double beds, 1 in the small coffin...errr... I mean bedroom) but you can pay extra for extra people. You can comfortably sleep one person on the couch and then more people (maybe 3) on the floor of the large living room.
Make all of your arrangements online through the website. You will then be given instructions on where to find the main rental office for Alla Porta Rossa where you meet Barbara. After you've paid (cash gets you a discount) you will then be led to the apartments. I love, love, love this apartment and will try to stay here as much as possible when I'm here. Hopefully they come out ok after the recent mudslides. There's nothing like the feeling of coming "home" at night, going to the balcony, opening a bottle of wine and a variety of cheeses and just looking at all the stars in the sky. Buy food from any of the restaurants downstairs and then ask them if you can take it up to the house if you desire. You can also do your laundry in the small (I mean tiny) washing machine and then air dry it right outside on the balcony. Remember that this is an apartment so no one will be coming by to fix your sheets. If you want to feel like a local this is THE place to stay!
If you're coming here by train give yourself extra time to get here. The trains are completely unreliable and you WILL be late most of the time if you don't account for this. You do NOT want to piss Barbara off. Trust me on that one. =D Sorry Barbara! I will definitely be coming back to Manarola and will rent from Alla Porta Rossa again. read more