Genoa - what should we do, help please!

[Essexlass2]

Our ship will be docked in Genoa from 7am to 7pm and we cannot decide whether we should stay in town and do our own thing or should we book an excursion. There are excursions to Genoa itself, Portafino and also Portafino, Rapallo and Santa Margharita. Never having been to this area before, we have absolutely no idea of what to do with 12 hours ashore or where to go.

 

Please, please help the four of us, all adults, to decide what would be best!

[swoonx]

If you stay in Genoa, you don't need an excursion. You could walk to the historic center or just take the underground near the cruise Terminal for 1,50 EUR.

 

(Genoa was the least favored destination of our cruise before two years. We love Italy and have been to a lot of cities there, but Genoa was quite boring. But ok, we arrived on a Sunday, everything was closed.)

[Hlitner]

My goodness, just think of it....you will be in Italy which is a fabulous country with so much to do and see! As a frequent independent traveler, cruiser, etc. we think most folks that are disappointed in Western European ports have only themselves to blame. We understand that many folks prefer excursions (we like to think of "tour" as a 4 letter word) but we only use excursions if they do something we can not absolutely do on our own.

 

If you stay in Genoa it will be a pretty laid back day. You can walk along the water, go to the Aquarium (one of the best in the world), stroll around some of the older parts of town, find a restaurant for a nice long lunch, etc. Portofino is a nice place to visit for a couple of hours, but we do not see it as a place to spend an entire day. If you have always wanted to see Milan (not our favorite city) it is only 1:35 min away via the train. Since you have a long port day another possibility is to take the train about 1:40 to Monterosso al Mare which is the northern most of the Cinque Terre villages. You can then use a few hours to explore some of Cinque Terre. And the train fares are quite cheap (less then $15 one way). I should also mention that Tripadvisor lists over 130 attractions in the area...so there are enough things to keep anyone busy for a port day.

 

Hank

[Essexlass2]

Thanks folks, will do a little more homework :)

[readboat]

My husband and I loved Genoa. Walking the streets was very interesting. Genoa has a lift that goes to the top of the city and it is very beautiful at the top. There is a little cafe at the top to have a cold drink and snack. The home of Christopher Colombus is there but we didn't have time to see it. We also took a bus around the city. We would go back to that area.

[Essexlass2]

My husband and I loved Genoa. Walking the streets was very interesting. Genoa has a lift that goes to the top of the city and it is very beautiful at the top. There is a little cafe at the top to have a cold drink and snack. The home of Christopher Colombus is there but we didn't have time to see it. We also took a bus around the city. We would go back to that area.

 

That sounds interesting too - thanks readboat! :)

[vadell]

We have stayed in the area on five separate occasions in Portofino, Santa Margherita and Rapallo, so when we had a cruise stop decided to visit Camogli and stay in Genoa for some of the day. I agree it was my least favourite day if I were to revisit I would go back to Portofino, Santa Margherita or Rapallo. The train goes to Rapallo and Santa Margherita and you can go on a short boat trip to Portofino and then on to San Frutossa, when we last stayed in Rapallo we took the cable car up to the mountains and had lunch on a terrace overlooking town which I can definitely recommend. Otherwise the boat trip and few hours in Portofino is a lovely day if you walk up the castle there are some lovely views. Depends on the time of year not sure how frequent to boats run but in high summer they were very regular.

[Sapphire56]

Our ship will be docked in Genoa from 7am to 7pm and we cannot decide whether we should stay in town and do our own thing or should we book an excursion. There are excursions to Genoa itself, Portafino and also Portafino, Rapallo and Santa Margharita. Never having been to this area before, we have absolutely no idea of what to do with 12 hours ashore or where to go.

 

Please, please help the four of us, all adults, to decide what would be best!

 

The best thing is to do some research on each of the reachable destinations and see what takes your fancy. On ports of call it seems that we always try to get to the further point or some other interesting place other than the port we dock in. We have done this on many occasions we have regretted not staying in the port as they were very nice. Cadiz is one port that we were so pleased we stayed in, in preference to a tour to Seville. We wanted to visit Seville but decided this time to stay in port and we are so glad we did. We felt the same with Genoa. We walked our feet off and it was so worth it, it's a lovely city, new and old. But you should do your own research and decide where you want to be.

 

The other thing is that as you're from the UK. All these places are reachable in a long weekend from the UK so what you don't see this time you can always see another. Enjoy wherever you decide to go, we can't see it all in one trip - unfortunately!

 

Happy cruising.