Our tiny room was shockingly small when we first arrived. My wife and I had been to Italy several times before, so we know that European hotels can be small and short on amenities. However, there was barely enough room for us and the bed in this room! The bathroom was tiny as well, with no room for anything except the basics. The view was splendid though and thank goodness for the air conditioning. It was noisy at night, with loud Italian pop music from one of the upstairs rooms and trains rolling by at the near by station, so we used our ear plugs. The manager Barbara was very friendly. No breakfast was provided. The location was nice - just come expecting to climb alot of stairs.

We stayed in the Blu Mare apartment for 3 nights and we LOVED it! The deck was amazing and the sunsets were out of this world. It is a few doors up from Billy's Trattoria (highly recommended) and can get a little noisy at nights but only till about 11pm then everything quietens down so it did not bother us. Lovely warm welcome by Barbara's Dad and an early check-in was graciously allowed (which we really appreciated). We were happy to make our own toast with delicious lemon marmalade bought at the local deli in Manarola Town for breakfasts and enjoy the beautiful vista so did not worry about lack of breakfast facilities. Don't stay here if you have trouble with stairs as it is a hefty climb even for relatively fit people. It was well worth it for us as the climb helped to keep our weight in control as Manarola has some fantastic restaurants to enjoy. We would return in a second :)

We stayed in Villino Aurora in Riomaggiore. We were greeted at the train station by the owners daughter who spoke a little english and showed us our apartment. It was two levels and had a balcony to enjoy the spectacular view whilst eating dinner. The kitchen was also very impressive and they left minor condiments of us to use including sugar/tea/coffee/salt which was handy. There is a sofa bed in the downstairs section as you enter and another small bedroom. The bed was very hard to sleep on so we transferred the sofa bed mattress to the double bed which made it better. The best part of this apartment was the view! We were on the quiet side of Riomaggiore and we got to see the busy side and the beautiful sunsets each night. We would recommend this place for people looking for peace and quiet as there were very few neighbours surrounding our little apartment. Beware though - the steps to our apartment arent for the fain hearted! Its about 100 steep steps but we thought it was worth it. The apartment itself is very central to the centre of Riomaggiore and is only 8 mins from the train station. Of the five villages this was our 2nd least favourite village as it did not have many shops or restaurants and the harbour wasn't as nice as the other villages. For some advice we would suggest:
Monterosso - for families and those wanting to be close to the beach, although this area is very touristy.
Vernazza - amazing and full of shops and great restaurants. This was our favourite.
Corniglia - too high up in the hills and hard to get to. Not many shops or restaurants.
Manarola - very romantic and had some great quaint little shops and restaurants. NB: not all of the trains stop at this station as regular as they do at Riomaggiore or Monterosso.

We just left and I miss our place and Manarola already. We stayed in the Scaglie di Mare apartment and I'd highly recommend it. It's smallish for an apartment but had a great balcony and we loved spending time there. The things that could be improved were small - really bad hairdryer (5 minutes normally was 20 minutes at this place) and towels that were like tea towels. If you are not in decent shape, you'll find it a bit tiring to get to but that's what cinque Terre is like overall.

Tips - get a balcony for sure, reserve a table in advance at trattoria dal billy's and stock up on groceries while the stores are open (not 12-4).