Has anyone ever had any experience with this hotel (www.clelia.it) or with Deiva Marina? We have decided to drive to the 5 Terre area (originally we were going to train, but we have decided to drive to get there because of the good deal we got on the car, plus there are 4 of us) and it looks difficult to negotiate Monterosso by car, where we have reservations at Hotel Pasquale. But Deiva Marina seems more manageable. We would be just leaving our car in the garage and taking trains while in the area. Are there restaurants in Deiva Marina?

I should add that we are a family of 4 with 2 teen boys and are hoping to do hiking, swimming and enjoying good food, so Portofino,etc, seem a little upscale to us. We want to be comfortable and relaxed, not exclusive and fancy. Thanks.

Nina, It seems to me that Levanto would be a better choice for you. The Villa Margherita is very good value. Much closer to the CT and the beach is good. Monterosso has a large town parking lot that is not hard to access.

I have been to Deiva Marina some ten yeras ago in a very short holiday. The reason we chse it is because someone lent us an apartment. personally i remember it as a quite depressing place: basically a cluster of tall buildings of small summer apartments. There is a tiny old village on top of the modern one which is nicer, but I would not choose Deiva Marina as a base unless it was particularly convenient from other points of view (such as having the use of an apartment for free ).

Bob and Alice,
Thanks so much for your replies. I think we are going to go with our original plan of going to the Hotel Pasquale in Monterosso, for which we were lucky to get reservations. We travel very lightly, so I don't think it will be so bad with parking in the big lot and getting to the hotel with our packs. This message board is so great!