We're passing through the Cinque Terre area this summer and are considering staying one night / one day in the area. I've booked rooms in Vernazza for now, but could change/cancel if necessary.

I have a couple questions:

(1) Is Vernazza a good town for the night's stay? The other thread here about Vernazza being "nearly destroyed" by floods in 2011 has me concerned. I was aware of the Cinque Terre flooding that year but I guess not its scale or that whole villages were destroyed. Is it suitable for tourists to return? Do the people there even *want* tourists to return if their town is in full-on rebuild mode?

(2) We're roadtripping in a van. Everything I've read about cinque terre is that there are large car parks outside the villages themselves and you go in on foot or perhaps with a short train ride from an adjacent village. Anyone have any detailed advice or do's and don'ts regarding this? Everyone in our party is in good shape and capable of walking, but I'd still like to minimize the stress of the entry/exit to the town with our heavy packs.

(3) For our full day there, I'm assuming our main plan would be to do some of the walks between a couple of the towns, shoot lots of photos, enjoy good food/wine, and then take a boat back to our starting point if necessary. Anything else we shouldn't miss in this area? We'll probably stick to the easier trails. We don't have any expectation that we see all five towns unless someone has a compelling reason that we should.