Hotel la Spiaggia

I stayed in a room through Endro's Room, which is just behind the Hotel La Spiaggia and uses the hotel's facilities/staff for check-in, check-out, breakfast. Staff was friendly and helpful, the whole process uncomplicated and the continental breakfast included everything I could wish for. It is right on the beach and a 5 minute walk from the train station of Monterosso al Mare, with a small convenience store and pharmacy just around the corner. Loved the location, would stay there again.

We first stayed in Hotel La Spiaggia in Monterosso al Mare in 1981. Then the village was in a quiet corner of Italy not widely visited by tourists. The hotel’s proprietor Andreas Poggi made us incredibly welcome. During our stay there he introduced us to pesto, taught us that no self respecting Italian ordered a cappuccino after dinner and educated us on fine Italian wines. It was a memorable holiday in lots of ways and we always intended to return. This September attendance at a wedding in Tuscany provided an opportunity to make a second visit. Sadly Andreas died in 2018 but the hotel, modernised and extended,is still run by the Poggi family. However it is nonetheless categorised as a two star hotel which made us raise our eyebrows slightly at the cost of €290 per night for four nights but felt confident a special experience awaited us. We travelled by train to Monterosso from Pisa and arrived on a warm Monday afternoon. We knew the Cinque Terre had become a popular tourist destination but nothing could prepare us for the hordes of people crowding the street along the sea front and the mass of humanity covering every square meter of the pebbly and mostly privately owned beach. Our reception at Hotel Spiaggia was business like, our room small and basic. No passing cat could feel in any danger of being swung in the bathroom, the hairdryer was distinctly underpowered and although there was a fridge in the room no bottled water was provided and the glasses were tiny disposable plastic ones. We had a balcony which overlooked the garden and an apartment block. Breakfast in the hotel was disappointing. Make your own coffee, toast your own bread, squeeze your own orange juice was pretty much the order of the day. The melon was under-ripe, the pastries flabby, the bacon cooked to a frazzle. And who knew you can still buy tinned fruit cocktail? All in all a dispiriting experience. We decided to undertake the walk from Monterosso to Vernazza along a rocky mountainous path. So crowded was this that what would normally be completed in a couple of hours took three and a half. Arriving in Vernazza we found the kind of crowd scenes usually seen in Oxford Circus underground station at rush hour. The hotel receptionist gave us a map of the town which had been reproduced so often that symbols and words were virtually illegible. And this provides an appropriate metaphor for what is happening to this lovely corner of Italy. Mass tourism is wearing away the features that once made this region so distinctive. So here’s my advice if you are taking the train to the Cique Terre. Stay on board and get off at Sestri Levante-it’s a lot nicer.

Best Monterosso location on the seafront. Rooms are small, with little storage space- though brightly decorated. Excellent breakfast; extremely pleasant and helpful reception staff. Large attractive garden patio area behind hotel too. Recommended.

We were unable to get to the hotel due to a train strike in Italy. The hotel has a 5 day cancellation policy. Even due to the extenuating circumstances concerning the strike they refused to issue a refund. I cannot even recommending this facility due to their inflexibility and poor customer service.

Great hotel! It is priced very well with wonderful views. The staff is exceptional! They were so helpful with check-in, recommendations, and general help. Breakfast was good in the morning. It was a pleasure to stay there.

I rated this hotel as excellent. Really the location was excellent. We had a room with a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean, that in itself was excellent. We also had a car that needed a place to stay while visiting this gorgeous town. We parked right under the train tracks about a block away in a gated lot. That too was excellent. The staff were excellent and always accommodating. We walked across the street and rented an umbrella and two beach lounges for a day. The beach in front of our hotel was the nicest with sand. Down aways it’s a bit stony. The breakfast in the morning was very delicious with quite an assortment of foods. The room was very small and a very hard king sized bed. Not so excellent but very clean and looked like it was updated recently. We really thought this place was perfect for exploring Cinque Terre.