I am driving from Tuscany to Santa Margherita where I am staying so that I can drive to Portofino each morning to photograph sunrise to 8am, then explore Cinque Terre. Santa Margherita looks a bit large - and although I like the idea of staying near the beach, my main focus of these few days is to accomplish my photography task in Portofino. Any suggestions on where to stay? I have heard that the drive to CT is quite the adventure and am hoping that driving to Santa Margherita won't be as scary.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
388 posts
That town is actually quite a bit bigger than many of the surrounding towns so you should have better luck finding parking. Driving along that coast can be daunting since the roads are narrow and very windy. Getting to Santa Margherita should be easy as the E80 highway goes to Rapallo which is really close. Once you get into Santa Margherita Ligure, I would plan on taking trains as much as possible to see the coast.
As for hotels, they can a be little more expensive but here are a few names that might be helpful:
Hotel Mediterraneo
Hotel Tigullio et de Milan
Sabini Rentals
Albergo Annabella
I hope this helps some.