Best hotel deals to stay in Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy

Cheap hotel deals in Cinque Terre are hard to come by and even harder when you are looking for the best quality / price ratio for your Cinque Terre accommodation.


We usually stay away from guest houses because of the lack of any standards whatsoever. Being in a guesthouse means being at the mercy of the owner, with no other authority to complain to in case of problems. We do make some exceptions to this rule, though.

As usual, we do not consider hostels, or any form of accommodation with shared bathrooms. Also, we penalize properties that do not offer free in-room Internet, which should be as ordinary as toilet paper these days.

These are the recommended hotel deals for your Cinque Terre holiday:

NH La Spezia - located in the largest town in the area, it is the only international 4 star property around. It offers free Wi-Fi and a free varied breakfast 

Hotel Il Saraceno - a 7 room property located in Volastra, a small village on the hilltop above Manarola. Free WI-Fi, parking and continental breakfast

Albergo Marina - a 2 star family owned hotel in Sestri Levante, a short train ride from Cinque Terre. Reviewers speak greatly about the very good value for money dinner at the hotel

Oasi Hotel - a 3 star hotel located in Levanto, only 15 minute train ride from Cinque Terre. Perfect for those who want to combine trips to Cinque Terre with sunbathing at the sea, this property offers free Wi-Fi and breakfast (including hot cooked to order egg dishes)

Albergo degli Amici - a 3 star hotel located in the centre of Monterosso al Mare (the northernmost of the 5 villages). The best location, with free Wi-Fi and breakfast

Albergo Suisse Bellevue - 3 star property located outside Monterosso al Mare, offering a free shuttle into town. Great views of the sea from the hilltop location, with free Wi-Fi and continental breakfast

Park Hotel Argento - a 4 star property located in Levanto. There is little to fault about this hotel, however the price is rather high, so we left it at the end of our choices

When we visited the area we also stayed at the Holiday Inn in Genoa, however we do not recommend Genova because you loose 2 hours each way by train to reach Cinque Terre.

Let us know where and how were your stays in Cinque Terre.

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Best hotel deals at Disneyland Paris

A friend of ours recently asked us what are the cheapest accommodation offers for Disneyland Paris.

He meant both what are the cheapest hotels at Disneyland Paris, but also what are the best quality / price ration hotels in and around the adventure park.

After a bit of research, we are listing below the choices for accommodation at Disneyland Paris. We looked for hotels that are affordable, close to the parks, are clean and well maintained and thus, provide the basis for a great time at Disneyland Paris.

To put things into context, we looked for the best deals at Disneyland Paris for a family of four, during the upcoming summer school holidays.

There are basically two main solutions to decide on the best hotels at Disneyland Paris:

On-site hotels (owned and operated by the park)

Disneyland Paris does not mean only the park itself, but also the range of accommodation offering  called "Disney Hotels".

There are 7 such hotels, covering all tastes from the camping style wooden cabins at the Disney's David Crockett Ranch to the 5-star called Disneyland Hotel.

The best place to book these hotels is the Disneyland official website.

The advantage of booking Disney's own hotel is that you can find year-round packages offering accommodation on a half-board basis, but also free tickets for both parks (and free FastPass and Extra Magic Hours with some packages).

These are the prices for a 3-night stay for a family of four during the summer school holidays:

Disney's Hotel Santa Fe - £1,404 including park tickets and half-board. For approximately £50 per night, you can upgrade to a full-board basis (thus including all three meals of the day).

This hotel offers all the necessary room amenities for an enjoyable stay. The downside is that it does not have a swimming pool and the property is split between several buildings, some of them at quite a distance from the main building.

At the same price you can also book the Disney's Hotel Cheyenne, a Wild West themed hotel.

A better property is Disney's Sequoia Lodge, offering both an indoor and an outdoor pool. Go for the Golden Forest rooms for an improved experience. For the period we checked, prices were in the same range with the lower classified properties, so this one is definitely worth it.

The other Disney properties get more expensive as the star ranking increase, so it seems that Disney's Sequoia Lodge would be our choice for staying at one of the park's hotels.


Hotels outside the park

In this category, there is a greater palette for choice, starting from budget hotels like the Premiere Classe to premium properties such as the Radisson:

However, looking at all the options, it seems that the Explorers Hotel at Disneyland Paris*** is the best option from the pack. Total price was £407, breakfast included. Free internet, parking and shuttle to the parks. Tourists praise the indoor pool and the playing grounds for children.


Leave a comment at the end of this post to share which hotel you chose and why.

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Accommodation for the Lady Gaga concert in Barcelona, 6 October 2012

Below are the best hotel deals we found in Barcelona for the night of Saturday, 6 October, for the Lady Gaga concert.

The show, part of the world tour Born this Way Ball will take place at Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona.

We searched for the cheapest hotel rates in Barcelona, for that night, for a double room, preferably breakfast included (to recover after an intense show the previous night). We looked for comfortable hotels close to the venue, so that you can return to the hotel without much headache:

- Travelodge L'Hospitalet, 54 euro from HotelTravel.com

- AC Hotel Som by Marriott, 84 euro from Otel.com

- Expo Hotel Barcelona, 124 euro from LateRooms.com (breakfast excluded)

- Hotel Market Barcelona, 150 euro from Booking.com (breakfast excluded)


For restaurants in Barcelona, we recommend Groupon.es.

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What is European Plan (EP) for hotel accommodation

You may have already encountered the case when, trying to make a hotel reservation, the description of a hotel room shows "European Plan (EP)".

Well, European Plan is referring to the meals included in the room rate and means that NO MEALS are included (not even breakfast).

Basically, European Plan means no plan at all. It's kind if ironic that it's called lilke that, but it is one of those marketing gimmicks (just as the notion of a 3-door car, when in fact it is a 2-door car, as nobody will use the trunk as a door, or, who knows :).

Expedia.com says that:

- European Plan means room only;
- Continental Plan equals continental breakfast (without any cooked food);
- American Plan (or all-inclusive) containts three meals a day, but without drinks (full board / full pension system from Europe);
- Modified American Plan is breakfast plus lunch, or breakfast plus dinner (the half-board, half-pension known in Europe).

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