Portovenere

Yes, the local tourist boat runs several times per day between the five Cinque Terre towns and a few of these departures continue to Portovenere and back. I enjoyed it quite a bit - larger and flatter than the CT towns, but still pretty and colorful.

Keep an eye out for a type of thick crepe called testaroli that is cut into squares and served with pesto or other pasta sauce. I've only seen this in a few restaurants and shops in the region, specifically in Portovenere, Corniglia, and Rapallo.

It's always good if you can compare what others think of places you have both visited in order to get a sense of whether you are likely to agree with their opinion of some place you haven't been but they have. So that said, we have been to Portofino and thought it was vastly overrated. Not really much to do in town but visit a few shops and restaurants ringing the harbor. The harbor is pretty, sure, and so are the views of the houses on the hills. But unless you have a nice yacht to park in the harbor I'd say skip Portofino.

Portovenere is much more interesting. There is an old church to visit, a castle, many more shops in the heart of town, views to be had by hiking around. I don't know if I'd say it is worth a full day, but I'd recommend it for a half-day visit.

It was worth it to us. We took the ferry from Monterosso on a Sunday and very much enjoyed the day. Monterosso was unbearably crowded (to us) and Portovenere was much quieter. After a scenic boat ride, we just wandered along the waterfront and enjoyed the views, especially those of the Appuan [sp?] Alps in the distance. We had wonderful pannini at a touristy place by the harbor - touristy or not, those sandwiches were one of the best meals of that trip - better by far than anything we ate in Monterosso.

Absolutely. It is a different kind of town with far more history than any Cinque Terre village. It was founded by the Romans and contested by Genoa and Pisa for centuries. The location at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia is stunning. It is much more popular with Italians than the CT, Here are some of the highlights: http://www.apathtolunch.com/2014/09/portovenere-travel-guide-top-ten.html

Don't tell the cruise ship people; They'll be carting in busloads!

PortoVenere is lovely and far less visited than the 5 towns. The boat ride was beautiful.

When is your trip Susan? I ask because I was in Cinque Terre in early October 2013, and wanted to go to Portovenere for a day. While the morning sea looked pretty calm to me, I was told it was too rough for the boats. Maybe for the return in the afternoon, said the boat people. So, I went by train to La Spezia, then walked several blocks to the bus stop, then by bus to Portovenere. But, same in the afternoon, so I spent three hours or more of the day on the train, in the bus, and waiting for those. If I had known that was part of the deal, I would not have made the trip. (I had a special reason to visit Portovenere, as several decades before when I was an exchange student, my host family took me to Portovenere for lunch. I remembered it as the most beautiful spot in all the world! Many years later I found it was nice, but not THAT great., and not worth all that time of ground transport.)

Yes, I believe Porto Venere is a very worthwhile day trip from the Cinque Terre, provided the boats are running, and starting in Riomaggiore will be the shortest trip (perhaps 45 minutes or so).

It's another beautiful town similar to the five C.T. towns, and has some interesting shops in the small alleys up from the harbour. The restaurants on the waterfront seemed a bit "touristy" but I suppose that's to be expected. There may even be a few yachts in the harbour while you're there. I believe the RS Italy guidebook has information on the sights in that area.

We really enjoyed visiting Portovenere via ferry from the CT. We were there in August though and found it to be just as crowded as the CT towns, plus there were 2 weddings there so I'm sure that brought in a lot of people, but we loved it nonetheless. I would definitely take the time again to visit Portovenere and also recommend Camogli and Portofino as well. My husband and I are amateur photographers and found all of these towns to be very interesting from a photographic point of view. In Portofino, there are fantastic views from Castle Brown of Portofino below and we were really glad we took the time to visit. Both towns take some effort to visit in terms of a combination of train and ferry boat but are worthwhile in my opinion.