Genoa as a base

Posted by RailRider (Los Angeles, CA) on 08/19/22 08:19 PM

What do you think of using Genoa as a base for day trips to Portafino and Cinque Terra?

It has excellent rail connections, and probably there are some hotels with a good value to price ratio and some sea food restaurants?

In the past, I have read that like Naples, its a bit of a rough place. Not sure if that is still true. Also we are coming down from Chur Switzerland, so its a long series of trains to get all the way to Cinque Terra in one shot. We have a small group, and it seems that CT doesn't have any regular hotels to speak of - more of homes with a few rooms converted.

I am not sure why RS avoids Portofino - its a fine looking place from the Youtube videos I have seen and much closer to Genoa that CT.

Posted by Dario

Italy

08/19/22 08:49 PM

3812 posts

There are direct trains from Milano Centrale to Monterosso, the biggest village in the Cinque Terre where you should find the type of usual hotel you are looking for
Portofino is tiny, posh, expensive and boring. The food sucks, but you can stay in Santa Margherita Ligure and avoid most of these problems.

Genoa has the best connections because it's a regional capital with 580,000 inhabitants, Italy's most important freight port and one of the 3 points of what once was the Manufacturing Triangle. Detroit-by-the sea with the largest middle-age historic center in the EU and 6 Unesco princely palaces

I can't imagine a more different place from five tiny villages in the mountains overrun with day trippers and hikers. Camogli is a a nice village next to Genoa, it would be a better choice.

Posted by Roberto da Firenze ⚜

San Francisco Bay Area (USA)

08/19/22 10:29 PM

15154 posts

I personally don’t like Genoa too much, although it has some things worth seeing. I generally prefer to stay in smaller towns rather than large industrial port cities like Genoa.
Any small towns on the riviera between Camogli and the Cinque Terre would work for me. I’ve always liked Moneglia, maybe because I spent a few times there in my youth, but nearby Sestri is also nice, in my opinion. I mentioned those two also because they would be half way between Portofino and the 5 Terre. Camogli is nice and perfect for Portofino, but the Cinque Terre would be farther. In the end it really depends on how much time you want to spend in each place. Portofino after on hour or two starts to get old.

Posted by Marsle

Atlanta

08/21/22 06:22 PM

3250 posts

My vote would be Camogli to use as a base for the places that you'd like to visit. It's on the coast, large enough to be interesting, has good transportation connections, and there are many good restaurants there with excellent seafood and focaccia!

The train station is right in town (though up a hill) so it's a short train trip to Portafino and/or Genoa. You can check on connections to villages in the Cinque Terre.

If you're fortunate and interested, there might be a performance in the Camogli Social Theater. It's a beautiful space - we attended a fun concert there.

We haven't stayed in Santa Margherita Ligure but I agree with Dario that it might be a good second choice - it seemed interesting when we did a day trip there from Camogli.

I'd suggest visiting Genoa as a daytrip - it's an interesting city!