Ideas on Day Trips for La Spezia

Posted by Patti (Oregon, USA) on 03/21/24 11:28 PM

Hi fellow travelers. My friend and I will be on a cruise in Sept and will have a 2 day stop in La Spezia, Italy. We are trying to decide btw a few options on how to spend those 2 days while in Port there. We love the outdoors, sea views and touring quaint colorful fishing and/or historic villages. We are considering:
1. Ship excursion to Rapello, Santa Margherita Ligure & Portofino. We have never been to either of these places and always wanted to see lovely Portofino. Includes shuttle drive and ferry.
2. Bus or taxi to Lerici & San Terezno and spend the day there. We have never been here and it looks very pretty.
3. Train over to Cinque Terre, including a hike btw 2 of the villages. I have been here twice but love it so would be willing to go back to see it again with my friend who has never been.
4. Florence and/or Pisa via ship excursion - we've been to Florence and Pisa so have no desire to go back there; especially since it's a 4hr RT drive.

We would appreciate any input you may have to help us decide btw Options 1-3.
Thank you!

Posted by MaryPat

Irving

03/21/24 11:40 PM

2969 posts

Go with option one since you’ve never been.

Posted by Laurel

Forest Grove, OR

03/22/24 12:32 AM

11339 posts

Some years ago we spent a day getting out and away from the Cinque Terre by going to Lerici following this guide. https://www.apathtolunch.com/search?q=Lerici We loved it!

Posted by Suki

03/22/24 01:08 AM

11174 posts

Santa Margherita Ligure and Camogli are wonderful. Rapallo too.
Portofino has a lovely setting but crowds and overpriced luxury goods turned us off and we left quickly.It is a shot walk from Portofino to Santa Margherita Ligure.
South of the CT is Portovenere, worth a stop.
We hiked to all five Cinque Terre villages years ago. I hear they are mobbed now, such a shame.
The villages are not far apart, we hiked between the five of them..

Posted by hiredman

San Diego, California, USA

03/22/24 03:11 PM

817 posts

I think it just depends on what kind of experience you're looking for, really. SM and Portofino are beautiful, famous and very upscale as where Lerici and surrounds are much more "Italians summering at the coast" touristy. I'm not sure I would stretch to "blue collar" but much more everyday Italians.

San Terezno was a fishing village but now mostly exists for the beaches and is sleepy off season. There is a waterfront walk all the way to Lerici which has a small marina, tree lined beachfront promenade and castle on the hill. Now renovated as an "art gallery" the climb through the twisting paths is interesting and the views and renovations are great. When we were there I found the art to me "okay" but not a reason to go. Tellaro is small and like a CT town and 15 minutes over the hill is Sarzana with a nice old town section and reputation for good restaurants.

I was lucky enough to visit CT what was probably 20 years ago now - before ferries and cruise ships - and choose to let that memory stay as it was. I know people still go and love it but it is what it is. And of course Florence and Pisa are Florence and Pisa since you've been to both.

Just to add more confusion to the mix there are less tony Ligurian beach cities as well - Sestri Levante, Chiavari, Levanto and others. I know locals who consider Chiavari to be the quintessential Ligurian beach town but maybe that's because it's in-between famous locations on either side.

I think you should balance what you want and what you think your travelling companion would want. Unlike Florence or Pisa none of these coastal towns have a lot "to do" in terms of big sights to see so it would just be wandering and exploring. You can do that in larger, upscale set of towns, crowded beautiful CT towns or Italian beachy vacation towns.

You're spoiled for choice which is a good problem to have, have a great trip,
=Tod

Posted by Patti OP

Oregon, USA

03/22/24 08:00 PM

115 posts

Thank you everyone for your input. I was wondering if the places I haven't been to are as nice as the blogs and images claim them to be, and it sounds like they are. I will talk this over again with my friend and see what we decide on. As much as I love CT, I'm leaning on exploring some news places (#1 & 2) since they do sound quite nice, but I'll have to see what my friend thinks as well. I much appreciate the time you took to respond. Ciao!