Hello,
We are staying 4 night in Santa Margherita. Do we want a rental car? We want to visit beaches up and down the coast. Is it better to take a bus and walk or will we find better more "local" type beaches if we use our car. I just don't know if there are many parking spaces near the beaches once we find them. There are 5 of us with no mobility issues. I have priced it all out- I just want to know if price is not an issue is a car better or can the buses take us where we want to explore?
Thank you for your help!
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11315 posts
A car would be a liability, IMO. Hard to find parking, too many opportunities to drive where you should not drive, i.e., in a ZTL. Santa Margherita Liguria is well-connected by train to all the little Ligurian coastal towns.
Posted by
871 posts
Spot on. Train time to Levanto for the beach is 40 minutes; 5 to Camogli for excellent swimming in crystal clear waters off the shingle beach there. Here are the ferries:
http://traghettiportofino.it/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/Linea-1-INGLESE-2019-web.pdf
Good hiking around Portofino [click on the + signs for trails of possible interest]:
https://www.portofinotrek.com/trek/gb/6-t
The best restaurant in town is Dal Alfredo [closed Monday], Salvatorre and Aedina the gracious hosts [one of our top 5 in Italy.
The cable car in Rapallo [a very pleasant town] is open from 9:00AM to 12:30; 2:30 to 6:30.
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
Economically, the car might actually wind up being cheaper for five people than the train, depending on how much you would use the train. But the train is infinitely easier in my view - the riviera has excellent train service up and down. If you use it, I recommend the Trenit app to check train schedules if you have a smart phone - very handy. I also buy my train tickets right on my phone with the Trenitalia app, but I'm not sure how that would work for five people. You can buy train tickets from a human at most stations, but there are also ticket machines at every station that take US credit cards and pretty easy to use, with instructions in English (just tap the British flag).
Just remember that when you use regional trains in Italy, and you buy paper tickets at the station, you MUST validate them before getting on the train! You can't buy tickets on the train, and if you get caught without a valid ticket, you'll be subject to a steep fine. There are no warnings for naive tourists. Just watch what the locals are doing when they punch their tickets in the machines at the stations; they are validating them.
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
If your party of 5 are willing to bus or train it, great. portofino is accessible by boat then return by bus.
CT is all about walking and parking a really big issue. So skip the vehicle this time, it would only be a nuisance and costly.
Posted by
OP
USA
35 posts
Great info- thank you!