We arrived after 7.30 at night. After some confusion about check in time and arriving and no one there we were finally let in. Make sure your arrival time is definitely organised, we had no phone reception to ring but after help from 2 lovely ladies we got our keys. The apartment was fairly spacious for family of 4. We also had breakfast included which was more than enough of cereal, pastries, juice and coffee. The ladies that looked after us were very friendly and there English was pretty good. My only note is that it is a bit of a walk uphill and steps but this is the case everywhere in Manarola. I definitely would return and stay
Cheers
Sue

This was our 4th trip to Manarola. On prior visits, we had stayed happily at Ca d'Andrean and Marina Piccola, but decided that this time we would try something different. The reviews of Da Baranin sounded lovely. When we arrived at 10pm (late train from Palermo), we telephoned the owner who gave us directions to a meeting spot, so she could let us in to the apartment. We waited at the meeting spot for at least 10 minutes before being met by a young man (owner? owner's boyfriend?) who was less than charming, and clearly not happy about having to deal with guests late at night. Not a good beginning! We were shown the room, which we politely inspected & thanked the young man for his help. As soon as he left us, my husband and I looked at each other and didn't even have to say anything: we did not want to stay there. Shoddily furnished, poorly maintained, it was not the "lovely" place I had imagined from descriptions; it was depressing, which is difficult to be in a place as lovely as Manarola! Though it was by now quite late, we walked back to town and practically begged for accommodation at Marina Piccola, who fortunately had one very small room for us. (Had we not been able to find a room, I was almost willing to sleep in the train tunnel rather than in the apartment we'd been shown!) I immediately telephoned the owner of Da Baranin and told her we would not be staying there; when she asked me if there was something wrong, I said, "too many stairs" (which was not the issue; we've stayed in Manarola enough times to be quite accustomed to the hills and the hikes!) To her credit, she was extremely gracious about it, which certainly made up for the rather unpleasant interaction with her co-worker.

We did the whole Cinque Terre "thing" but wanted to stay in a smaller village to experience what once must have been an idealic lifestyle before we tourists discovered it. Manarola was just such a magical place and the apartment was roomy and perfect for the whole occasion. The breakfasts and staff were fantastic. After 4 nights we did not want to leave this beautiful place. We even got a chance to chat daily with the locals who were much more relaxed in September than perhaps at the peak of the season. I would definitely stay here again as it was such a highlight but next time it would have to be a week or two!

The apartments are located further from the train station than others, but Manarola is such a small town, it isn't a big concern if you are in good shape. It is quite a hike uphill though and if you have large luggages, would suggest taking the cinque terre bus to the Church piazza and walking from there.

Everything is clean and nice, but internet is only available in the office. It is much quieter where the apartments are which is nice. The owners are ok, but not very friendly.