This place was great for our family of 5 - my wife and I, and our kids ages 10, 8, and 3. All of the reviews that mention the terrace are accurate - it is mind blowing to stand up there and look out at the beautiful sea or the coast in the daytime, or the millions of stars at night. The stars were so clear at night you can see satellites passing over as they orbit the earth. The rest of the place was great as well - two very clean bathrooms, lots of air conditioning, and plenty of room for all of us to sleep great. You really have the town to yourself at night and early in the morning as well. The restaurants and ice cream shops are all open still, so you have all the amenities but you aren't dealing with crowds at these times. It does get crowded at midday, as all of the daytrippers start to show up mid-morning until late afternoon. A few things to keep in mind if you stay here - you cannot drive anywhere close to the property, so any luggage you have, you are rolling it or carrying it through the town to the place. I had a ton of luggage due to traveling through Italy with the kids, and I felt like the local townspeople were very entertained to see how many trips I had to make through the town looking like a pack mule. I had to park the rental car about a half a mile away from the town, and I was lucky to get the parking spot that I did. This was the adventure, and the reward was staying in this magical town. I would do it all over again to sit on this terrace. On checkout day, I discovered there is ONE one hour parking space right next to the town, and I was lucky enough to get it. This made getting all of our luggage back to the car much faster (including the fact that it was downhill this time). Regarding traveling to other villages, you have to either hike to Vernazza (the trail to Manarola is closed currently due to a landslide), or take the train. We didn't touch our rental car after we arrived because it makes no sense to try to drive to the other villages due to the terrain. The train station for Corniglia is down 380 steps, but you can take a small bus that runs from the village. If you are arriving in Corniglia by train, RUN to get on this bus as soon as the train stops. If you miss it, you are climbing 380 steps to the village. The bus also stops running at 830PM, so if you have dinner in another village, you will work it off by climbing 380 steps in order to get home for the night. Just stay. Eat on the terrace.
