Great little three star hotel in the Centre of La Spezia, 10 min walk from the boats to the cinque terre and 12min walk from the old centre of town. The hotel is well signed and pretty easy to find. Room and bathroom were pretty small and spartan but clean and tidy and up to date. Reception staff was friendly. Breakfast was on par with many other Italian hotels of a similar standard ie (dry bread and pastries, some hams and cheese, yogurts etc. a nice touch was the coffee freshly made from the espresso machine), in other words the breakfast is ok but it won't blow your sock off and definately isn't up to the standard of big hotel breakfast buffets. Parking is available at E18 per day, which is on par with the on street parking fees.

My wife took ill in Siena, but we needed to move on to La Spezia, and the Cinque Terre. Hospital visits on a daily basis required we stay in La Spezia much longer than intended. We were unbooked here, and stumbled on the Hotel Corallo. I admit there was some noise, but not intrusive, and the accomodation was more than acceptable. The front of house staff were pleasant, helpful, and spoke excellent English, fortunately for my wife and I, with little Italian. The house keeper assisted my wife in many small ways, and spoke excellent English, so she was a real treasure. Management arranged an extended stay, although booked with American Tour Groups, and generally, put themslves out for us. I have no hesitation in recommending the Corallo. An added bonus was the garaging. Great, and very central to most tourist things.

rooms were a tad noisy for me. stayed in rio maggiore previously, and found it hard to get accom anywhere else. it was clean, but the also last on the list of choices.

First thing...if you're in La Spezia, you're probably there for the walking and the 'easy' Cinque Terre walk (and probably, most of the others) begins with a short train ride from the train station. Get to the station early...it's a madhouse for the 10.10 train ! The Corallo is about 25 minutes walk from the station. It is an easy flat walk through the pleasant pedestrianised town, but you may want to take a taxi, particularly if with luggage. (3 persons with luggage was E9 and one without was E6). So you may want something nearer the station. On the other hand, it is within 75 m of the tree-lined promenade, from where you can get ferries to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere and there is a supermarket about 40m distant (although disguised as a cinema !).
Reception staff were friendly and spoke sufficient English (one had spent 4 yrs in England). Guests were fairly international, including many Italian and German (plus a number of Norwegians when we visited). The multi-national element is evident from some of the reviews. Most seemed to be there for the excellent walking. The hotel was actually fully booked when we were there at the end of May, and it was not a public holiday !
Rooms were of an average 3 star standard. the bathroom was the usual and rooms seemed to be cleaned adequately. Breakfast was the usual continental served in an 'underground' area which was fairly cramped, although this led to a friendly atmosphere amongst the various guests.
(dubbed bun-fight at the OK Corallo). There was an open-air breakfast area, but it is completely surrounded by three large apartment buildings so was not really private, although partially shielded by an awning. In fact this area was not in use during our brief stay, except for evening use by guests having a quiet drink together in the evening (bringing in their own duty-free alcohol !)
Breakfast was the 'usual continental'.
Room was the usual, no balcony, looked over road but had a/c so we were abl to close window for quitness at night. bathroom was Ok but strange smell if left with window closed all night.
A few mosquitoes about but electric killer left in room seemed fairly effective.
There was a small lounge area (about 8 seats) on the first floor but no other guest area that I saw. There is no restaurant, but we were recommended the Lanterna around the corner...OK for reasonably priced Pizza etc. Resist the temptation to eat at the cafe next door to the hotel.
I can amplify a previous point concerning car-parking. Although we had no car, a prominent front-desk notice stated a daily charge of E18.