We have just come back from our week-long trip to Italy, during which we spent two nights at the Hotel Nazionale in Levanto. Booking: After making the booking, I happened to read a negative review about the beds being extremely uncomfortable. We exchanged a number of emails with the hotel reception and, with some trepidation, decided to go ahead with the booking, even though the reception hadn't succeeded in fully allaying our concerns about the quality of the mattresses. Hotel Building: The hotel itself is in a lovely old edifice but, in keeping with so many other buildings in Levanto, it looked as though it'd seen better, grander days. It certainly gave the impression that it would benefit from better maintenance and some renovation. That said, its location within Levanto couldn’t have been better. It was very central, with the beach only being a 5-minute walk. The train station was a little further: it took us about 15 minutes on foot to reach it from the hotel. Room: Our room was quite spacious and comfortable and we were extremely relieved to discover that the mattresses weren't that bad at all. In fact, we certainly can't complain about the quality of sleep we had whilst there. What was inordinately cramped, however, was the bathroom. One would have to see it to believe it. It took three separate manoeuvres to get in, close the door, and squeeze past the sink in order to finally find the loo, tucked out of view behind the door! Still, it was a 4-piece suite (it included a bidet), the shower had a lot of pressure, and everything worked well and was reasonably clean. We had a problem with the air-conditioning: it kind of worked but didn’t produce enough cool air to regulate the temperature to anything below 27-28 degrees. A technician came a day later, which improved the situation only slightly, to 26 degrees. Meals: Breakfast at the hotel was ok. There was a good enough selection of most things one would expect of a buffet breakfast, except I found the coffee quite poor. However, as breakfast is taken in the hotel’s pretty garden, it definitely makes for a lovely start to the day. The hotel also offers dinner but we never opted for it, even though the set menu posted in the lift every day did look tempting. Hotel Staff: The staff at the reception was very friendly and helpful. The hotel has been a family-run affair for decades, and the two ladies who staff the reception had a lovely way about them and were able to answer our every question. On our last day, we were given plenty of good advice to help us circumvent a train strike that we were unaware of and would have certainly wreaked havoc with our day’s plans, had we not been given the heads-up. Parking: Regarding parking, we didn’t find it necessary to use the hotel’s parking facilities as we easily found free street parking about a five-minutes’ walk from the hotel. Price: Overall, at 135EUR (per room, per night) including breakfast, we didn’t think the Hotel Levanto was good value for money. I understand that this is probably the going rate in Levanto but perhaps the other establishments in the town justify this price by offering a better standard of accommodation. The town of Levanto: Levanto has a great reputation for being an ideal base from which to explore by train the amazing Cinque Terre. Such a reputation is not wholly deserved, in our view. Were we to visit this part of the world again, we would probably opt for staying at one of the villages within the Cinque Terre National Park. Although lively, the town itself has an air of neglect, was rather disappointing from a culinary point of view, and as far as the beach is concerned, not only was it excessively busy but there were also (and I’ve saved this for last!) a lot of jelly-fish, of the stinging variety no less.