Suggestions for a day in Portofino

[travelgenie]

Portofino is our first stop on Legends of the Seas in September. We have not pre-booked any tours and we are looking for suggestions on how to spend the day? Are there sites, not to be missed there? Are there ferries or boat trips available for a scenic trip along the coast? Originally we had scheduled a day doing Cinque Terre, but our friend is mending from a hip injury and decided it would be too much. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[GSPLover]

Having been there on the same ship, I would suggest the following: (1) Take the tender into Portofino. Follow the walk counter-clockwise around the harbor till you see a sterret going uphill (slightly) at about a 45 degree angle from your direction of travel. This is the main 'street'. Go up this street. About 2 blocks up you will pass a newstand. Stop and buy two bus tickets each (round-trip if you will) for S. Margherita. Bus is at the turnaround another block up. When you arrive there (there will be a marina on your right), get off and wander the town. Beautiful church, fantastic faux paintings on the buildings. Open market is wonderful.

 

(2) Return back to Portofino. If you friend can make it there is a beautiful church on the hill (kind of a steep climb). Further up is a castle. Again, the climb up (and back down) is kinda steep.

 

Along the way, if you feel hungry, do so before going back to Portofino as their prices are quite high. You can do far better in S. Margherita.

 

You can check our review in the link below. This is basically what we did.

[travelgenie]

Thanks for the info, your review was informative. Your trip to Murano sounded interesting. I have been before, we took one of those "free trips" from the hotel prior to our cruise. We will be in Venice again overnight and was thinking of going to Murano on our second day (our friends have not been), however we sail out at 2 and was wondering if we would have enough time and have considered doing the excursion from the ship because of the timing, any opinions?

[GSPLover]

Thanks for the info, your review was informative. Your trip to Murano sounded interesting. I have been before, we took one of those "free trips" from the hotel prior to our cruise. We will be in Venice again overnight and was thinking of going to Murano on our second day (our friends have not been), however we sail out at 2 and was wondering if we would have enough time and have considered doing the excursion from the ship because of the timing, any opinions?

 

Murano is 'somewhat' interesting. Burano is more so. If you go make certain that you take a vaperetto that will take you back to Piazzale Roma - not S. Marcos. The later will put you in great danger of missing the ship (been there, done that!)

[CintiPam]

(2) Return back to Portofino. If you friend can make it there is a beautiful church on the hill (kind of a steep climb). Further up is a castle. Again, the climb up (and back down) is kinda steep.

 

 

Supplementing GSPLover's excellent suggestions, if you do make it up to Castle Brown, instead of returning to town by the steep path, take the Castle's garden route back down to the harbor. The gardens cover the entire hillside down to the harbor and this easy path provides wonderful views. It is basically a series of very gradual switchbacks with no stairs at all.

 

Enjoy!

[debsjc]

After looking around Portofino we went to S. Margherita, which is the next town along and a bit larger than Portofino. We took the bus to get there, and the ferry to come back ...which was a good idea, as the buses were very crowded by then. You can also walk, I think it's about 3 miles.

[stubbornoldowl]

Does anyone know if the ferry is available in October or do we have to do the bus both ways? Thank you for the info about the walk back through the garden - that will be very helpful.

[stubbornoldowl]

Another question for CintiPam - can you use the garden path to get to Castle Brown as well and avoid the stairs or do you miss the views that way? Thanks in advance.

[CintiPam]

Does anyone know if the ferry is available in October or do we have to do the bus both ways? Thank you for the info about the walk back through the garden - that will be very helpful.

 

Rick Steves' Italy 2009 guidebook states that the ferry runs nearly hourly from May through September, and then October through April runs daily only twice a day, mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Check the website: www.traghettiportofino.it.

[CintiPam]

Another question for CintiPam - can you use the garden path to get to Castle Brown as well and avoid the stairs or do you miss the views that way? Thanks in advance.

 

Funny that you were posting while I was fetching my Rick Steves' Italy guidebook.:)

 

I simply do not remember if the exit from the gardens was one-way or not, but the other route is much more direct, just steeper, not full of steps. It passes right by the lovely little church, which is worth a quick look and its very unusual cemetery.

 

Note that the hedges block the views from the main stone path up to the Castle (and further lighthouse), and it only was at the Castle itself and then the lovely windy garden path down that we had the great views.

 

Hope this helps.

[stubbornoldowl]

Thanks so much for the info.

[debsjc]

The ferry did run in October when we were there last year.

[stubbornoldowl]

CintiPam - One more question - you have been very helpful. Approximately how long does it take to walk to Castle Brown using the steep route as well as the garden route on return - want to make sure we leave ourselves enough time after a trip to Santa Margherita? Thanks again.

[CintiPam]

CintiPam - One more question - you have been very helpful. Approximately how long does it take to walk to Castle Brown using the steep route as well as the garden route on return - want to make sure we leave ourselves enough time after a trip to Santa Margherita? Thanks again.

 

At our slow, slow pace when going uphill, probably about 20 minutes, maybe 15. (We stopped at the church for a lookround.) BTW, no movie star photos at the Castello Brown, just empty rooms, great patio/garden views across the way to Hotel Splendido, and the gorgeous view of the harbor you see on all the postcards, even though Rick Steves' Italy guidebook said there were black-and-white photos of the stars who used to frequent Portofino.

 

The person to pay to enter the Castello was around the corner at the turn into the building, so you could just hike up and proceed to the garden paths down gratis. We took forever going down because we really were strolling (and did not go to Santa Margherita, our ship was leaving at 3 PM before our busy disembarkation the following day in Rome), but a brisk walk probably would take 10 minutes max.

[nparmelee]

A lot could depend on what your other stops are, since we stopped at La Spezia we did the Cinque Terre area from there and in Portofino took the bus over to S. Margherita Ligure and enjoyed a couple of hours there and then spent about an hour walking back to Portofino and just enjoyed window shopping and a nice lunch. If you are interested in getting to the Cinque Terre, you want to go to S. Margherita Ligure and get the train from there. How much time you have in port might be a factor to what you can really do, remember to take in tender time as a delay to getting into town.

[seabreezer]

How long does it take to get to Cinque Terra from Porto Fino by train versus boat?

[euro cruiser]

How long does it take to get to Cinque Terra from Porto Fino by train versus boat?

Between 36 - 60 minutes, depending on the train to Levanto, the northernmost of the five towns.

[GSPLover]

Between 36 - 60 minutes, depending on the train to Levanto, the northernmost of the five towns.

 

Hate to correct somebody but Monterosso is the Northern most town in CT. Sestri-Levanto is the Northern most town in the CT National Park region. Train times onlt slightly off the mark.

[euro cruiser]

You are absolutely right. In my head Levanto is simply part of the region, but although nearby (about three miles north of Monterosso), it is not strictly one of the five lands. Sorry about the confusion.