Phenomenal views. The hotel is well located for access to the train and the beach. All within…read morewalking distance. The hotel is a little dated, as they provide an actual room key (not a card) attached to a rock. The is excellent and very helpful

******BUYER BEWARE--DO NOT STAY HERE******* Before you read on, I want you to know that this is an…read moreauthentic review from an authentic person. I thoroughly read the reviews for this place and noted the boilerplate responses from the hotel manager, Mr. A (who has been stalking my reviews and who I fully expect to write a rebuttal to this review). I ignored the adage "where there's smoke, there's fire" and spent so much money here under the assumption that the good reviews were legitimate and the bad reviews were illegitimate. Sestri Levante is a charming town and there are countless wonderful hotels that don't charge guests €300 for them to sleep in a windowless attic and call it a "Royal Suite" or a "Junior Suite" (we eventually stayed at the Hotel Balbi and the bathrooms were bigger than the "room" we stayed in for 25 percent less than a "suite" here). UNLESS YOU ARE COMFORTABLE PAYING WALDORF ASTORIA PRICES FOR A MOTEL SIX, DO. NOT. STAY. HERE. Words can't describe the experience we had here. I've travelled extensively and honestly NEVER ENCOUNTERED AN EXPERIENCE LIKE THIS. We were given an ATTIC ROOM WITH NO WINDOWS, a slanted roof that did not fit my 6 foot height and the entrance to which required a precarious walk along an unfinished walkway outside. None of this was disclosed when we booked this. They consider this a normal room in this hotel, it was not a discounted room, WE BELIEVED WE WERE BOOKING A NORMAL ROOM. The room was sweltering hot due to it being the attic in a tiny tiny room. When we checked in, we initially raised our concern with the front desk clerk and she apologized and assured us that they could move us rooms the following morning. The next morning, we came down to change rooms and were COMPLETELY GASLIGHTED BY THE STAFF. They first refused to change rooms, then they pivoted and wanted to shift us into a new room each morning so that we would have moved each day of our three night stay. If you do make the mistake of staying here, DO NOT LEAVE THEM WITH YOUR CAR. The parking is not on site and they are not at all careful with guests' cars. I left something in my rental so I asked to access it. A "valet" walked me about 6 blocks and offered to drive me back to the hotel with my bag, which I thought was nice. IT TURNED OUT THAT HE DROVE ME IN ANOTHER GUEST'S CAR!!! Want to know how I learned that? THE VALET LEFT MY CAR KEYS IN THAT GUEST'S CAR AND DROVE TO ANOTHER CITY!!

Good service and great location. Not a tourist trap. Don't come before 12 though :-)read more

Wow, the Hotel Marina (www.marinahotel.it) has been a wonderful place to spend 3 nights in Sestri…read moreLevante, so close to Cinque Terre! Seriously, you need to consider staying here. From the hotel it is an easy (level) 15-minute walk to the train station which will take you to each of the 5 towns decorating the beautiful Italian Riviera coastline. Staying in Sestri is, I think, a less-expensive option than spending the extra money to stay in a Cinque Terre town itself. These towns are close to Sestri by train, so you might want to check it out! The hotel is so very clean! The rooms are tasteful and spotless! The bed is firm, but very comfortable. The hotel water tastes good, too. If these were the only good things I had to say about the Marina Hotel, it would be a boring review, so let me tell you about the hidden value to staying at the Marina Hotel... his name is Santos! Santos is one of the warmest, nicest, hotel managers I have ever met. I think the word I am looking for is "genuine" - Santos "genuinely" wants you to be comfortable, to have fun during your visit and wants you to enjoy the hospitality that he and his sister, Magda, have to offer. I'm talking about more than a friendly, "Buongiorno!" here. Santos will sit down with you and tell you his recommendations for what you want to see while in Sestri Levante. Today, for example, we spent our last day in Cinque Terre taking the train to Riomaggiore, then hopping a boat to Portovenere, something we might not have thought about, had not Santos mentioned it to us as a place we really should visit. And we're glad we did! It is an old and beautiful coastal town that has to be reached by boat or foot, from the northern area of Cinque Terre. Oh, I have to tell you about the food at the Marina Hotel. OMG! While we have enjoyed the lunches we've eaten at other restaurants around Cinque Terre in the last few days, we have eaten every dinner at the hotel. Why? Because - who knew? - Santos is a fantastic chef! Last night he walked me into the back of his kitchen to show me the 40kg of weight he had pressing down on the octopus he is serving tonight as part of his daily hotel pre-fix menu. It's like Santos read my mind, because eating fresh octopus on the Italian Rivera, has been on my list of things to do during this trip! Ha! Santos just stopped by my spot in the lobby (enjoying a nice vino rosso) and showed me the solid block of octopus for tonight's meal. Apparently he has a machine that slices the octopus like a terrine and then I think there is some sauce he is making to put over it. In any event, it's - as always - a delightful 3-course meal and my mouth is watering! So, I'll stop the review here and suggest you do yourself a big favor and give The Marina Hotel some consideration during your next visit to Italy!

Very lovely hotel but unfortunately our room had no hot water for both days/nights of our stay. We…read morereported the problem to the front desk and went out for the evening. When we returned, we were told issue resolved and there is hot water. Well, no hot water at all the second morning. At the time we reported the problem we were offered the option of showering in another bathroom of a room on the other side of the hotel but not the option of changing rooms. Not a fan of cold showers at 5:30 AM. ‍

nice property, with clean rooms. the restaurant leaves something to be desired, food was luke warm…read moreand nothing spectacular. it's a long way from Michelin quality Food. in addition, most of staff appeared friendly, however the owner was off her rocker. we had a bottle of wine in the garden from our day tasting and was accosted by vicious older lady (supposedly the owner), because we were eating cheese and crackers, drinking wine and had moved one of the small wooden benches/plastic table temporarily to enjoy the beautiful garden. very unprofessional and a terrible way to treat paying customers. I would not recommend the place, due to the lack of explaining any rules about drinking wine or a small picnic. there are a number of good quality hotels in the area, avoid due to unpredictability of the owner and lack of respect for the customers.

The service was the best we received on our entire trip. The staff was attentive, informative and…read moregenerous. From helping us pick our meal to treating us like a special guest everything was better than expected. We rarely eat at a hotel restaurant because typically they are awful, but this one is very special. The food was a work of art but also tasted fabulous. The view from the restaurant was spectacular. We ordered a chocolate ball dessert that was out of this world. Truly a restaurant that is worth the price.