5 Terre Pelagos — Hotel in Riomaggiore

First off, let me say I am not a prissy person. Second, when we drove here from Venice we were in a great mood and we had a great short pleasant drive over. Third, the email telling us about this property as far as a map to get to it from the parking area explaining about reception never arrived until after we had checked in. Fourth, we are not in the best shape but a little warning of to bring light luggage would of been nice because of how far it is away from parking with all the steps if you go wrong way (and you did not get email).

Upon arrival, I noticed how completely dirty the outside of the building was. To the point that I did not want to stay. I knew if it was that dirty on outside the inside was also going to be dirty. I voiced this to my husband and the lady checking us in took offense to my comment and said I was being rude. I was shocked at how extremely dirty it looked because from the website it looked so clean. There were huge drops of dried paint they didn’t care to clean up, rusty areas in awning, black dirty areas everywhere, hanging paint strips, and just overall rundown look to outside. To me it looked dilapidated in some areas. My husband had taken a lot of time in selecting each location during our 10 days in Italy and this was only supposed to be 2 of them, it was not his fault that he believed the reviews of how clean it was suppose to be. So he tried to calm me down and his pride got in the way and instead of us leaving we did end up staying one of the two nights we paid for. Our room was right by the entrance. So no view. The door to our room was missing the actual doorframe. The floor was dirty. The furniture in the room was stained from past guests. The bedspread had a lipstick stain on it from the past guest as well as the hairdryer. Around the sink area looked dirty and not cleaned. The door to the bathroom was dirty with brown crusty things near the handle. There was black mold all in the shower between the tiles, not just between a couple of tiles but in large areas of the shower including the white emergency cord even had black mold on it. The one and only chair in the room was stained. When I asked for a new bedspread the lady rolled her eyes but she did get a new bedspread but put back on the same top pillows. I had already taken photos of everything as proof because of how she was acting and how they had lied online. The bed was low to the floor but surprisingly slept well. You can hear the train throughout the night, but that did not bother me, but others it might. The towels were extremely thin and did not smell the best. We saw two bugs in our room. We walked down the steps to look at the cave area and it reeked of mold to the point we couldn’t continue. We asked the lady for a food recommendation and she took the opportunity to insult us by saying she recommended a place but we may not like it since there were several steps to reach it and we should call first since it’s hard to get a table. She did not offer to call for us. We did walk up to that restaurant but it was booked for the night. We got out of there and found a place to eat near the water and took some pictures. We had some great conversations with other travelers. We then booked a much better hotel in Florence and got up very early the next morning and drove there leaving a day early. That hotel was absolutely amazingly beautiful, and clean! and did not lie about it like this place did. I would keep looking elsewhere and I would suggest to not stay at this place I know I will never stay here again. Maybe next time I visit the area I will take a boat ride to just take photos because having seen the area in person, I would not want to stay...

Short version: 5 Terre Pelagos was wonderful. First off, Loris, our point of contact at the hotel was amazing. The service she provided was well above what you'd expect at the price point. From welcoming us, to her suggestions, to the check out process... flawless. She was clearly passionate about giving us the best experience. Email with directions and arrival instructions were clear and simple.

Location: Some poor reviews mention the amount of walking and number of stairs to reach the location. Visiting Cinque Terre, one would hope there is already an expectation of lots of walking up and down many hills and stairs. Definitely not a place for those with mobility issues or trunks of luggage. We took the train from La Spezia. From the Manarola station it was a five minute walk with some light up hill walking. Of all five towns we felt lucky we decided to stay in Manarola. The town has the super busy waterfront and the more chill uphill part of town. It was perfect. 5 Terre Pelagos is located right at the cusp of each area. The views from our room (cave room) were breathtaking. The shared balcony has incredible views too.

Room: We booked the Cave Room and it was incredible. Clean. Stylish. Big. The bed and pillows were super comfortable.

The Rest: Some reviews have mentioned the train sound. The trains run under the property or at least nearby. You can definitely hear/feel them. But they never interfered with our sleep. They stopped running around midnight and started around 7am. But again it wasn't an inconvenience nor affected our stay.

Being super picky here, but we couldn't find a corkscrew/wine key anywhere. It was too late before we noticed so we couldn't ask. Luckily the little market nearby sold them for 5€. We left it in the room, so cheers!

Laundry service was provided for 10€ which was a godsend... Especially for those sitting next to us on the trains :). We dropped it off with Loris and it was done when we came back. Having an in-room clothes iron would have been nice, but again being super picky.

We saw a ton of hotels, inns, and bnbs in all five villages. Knowing what we know, we would 100%, without a doubt, book here again. The staff, location, views, price point, and overall vibe were just incredible.

Lastly they seem committed to being eco friendly and trying to maintain sustainable tourism in the national park which is a great perk. We could not...

This only offer rooms no conceirge, no dining area,  bit has hot drinks & kettle in room with snacks.||Rooms are clean,large and comfortable.   We had a Queen bed that was quite firm, but not a Slumberland firmness. Had a fridge,  writing table, clothes cupboard and side table and well lit. ||All hotel  in Manarola need a walk uphill. 5 Terre is about 250m uphill,  and about 40 steps to the room. We were given a beautiful “Yellow” room with a small balcony. Aircon, safe n power points make this  hotel.||Service  Amee?? She met us at the exit of the tunnel from the Manarola train station and escorted us up to the room..our 3 pc of luggage were portered up to the room and we were asked to pay €20 for that service. I think we were overcharged. Briefed us about the use of keys, places to eat, and the boat nhayou need to request for it. Got it the next morning. Strange practice. ||A benefit in being a guest of 5 Terre is that they are a leading provider of Boat Tours at Cinque Terre and I was charged €65 for asunset tour, same price for day tour. Instead of about €100 sold om Klook,  which is the going rate for the tour. Sunset tour starts at 6pm report by 530pm  Tour is about 2 ½hr.||Overall a very good room and stay. Just need to be aware that there's a lot of climbing uphill, and...