We'd stayed in a few of the Cinque Terre towns before and loved this part of the Italian coast. This time we wanted to be in that general area but not right in the thick of it. We ended up staying at this lovely hotel in cute Levanto, one short train stop from Monterosso. The hotel is close to the train depot, but they also offer parking for $18 per night in a nearby garage (most hotels we looked at charge more, fwiw). It's right in the middle of the town's "centro," near great restaurants, several yummy "foccacerie," a cute park where kids play in the evening and people stroll about, and a block and a half from the beach. The rooms are spacious, high-ceilinged, air-conditioned, well-maintained and -furnished. The included breakfast was good and filling, the wifi strong and fast, if that's your thing. They rent bikes for next to nothing, and you can easily bike to beautiful Bonnasola, a nearby beach town with sparkling water and even fewer people (since trains don't run there), or Monterosso. In the past we'd stayed at four-star hotels that really should have been designated three-star; in this case, it was the opposite. We had a near-perfect stay at the Hotel Nazionale and will surely return. read more