Top Liguria hotels
Palazzo Ducale & Piazza De Ferrari Genoa
44 Reviews Do you like Statue's with Horse's, I do! Located infront of the Theatre, "Carlo Felice" in Piazza de Ferrari, is a nice monument of Garibaldi on his Horse. Garibaldi is known as an "Italian National...
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The Cinque Terre trails Manarola
11 Reviews This tip also appears as an “Off the Beaten Path” one on my Riomaggiore page so describes the walk as it seemed to us starting from there. The most southerly stretch of the footpath that links the...
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surrounding, Cinque Terre La Spezia
34 Reviews The walk from Riomaggiore to Monterosso al Mare (an 18 km/11 mi hike), at the steadily-decreasing-in-price-per-day-bought price of 5 Euro for one day, is quite a bargain. You get breathtaking views of...
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the trail - via dell'amore Vernazza
8 Reviews I did the trail between Corniglia and Manarola trought the vyniards...gorgeous, although it tooks us 4 hours and tiring, but worth it, because there is less tourists, the scenery is beautiful and if...
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Castello Brown Portofino
19 Reviews Castello Brown was built in the 16th century and had important strategic purpose in defending Portofino bay against the intruders. It is perfectly positioned controlling the entrance into the bay but...
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Church of S. Pietro Portovenere
18 Reviews The site of San Pietro is not only exceptionally beautiful but it is also interesting from the historical point of view. In pagan times there was a temple of goddess Venus here, from which the name...
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Baia del Silenzio Sestri Levante
4 Reviews Chiara - not silent at all in Silent Bay... ...but organizing our lunch with utttz in a nearby restaurant. And a cat in the boat watching Chiara... Chiara and the cats - that is a never-ending...
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promenade of Camogli Camogli
2 Reviews This is one of the best places for a pic of the promenade. Click on the pic and you will see two huge trees bending dangerously over the promenade. When you get closer to this place in reality, you...
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Via San Lorenzo and the cathedral Genoa
31 Reviews In the streets and square located near St. Lorenzo Cathedral, I found many Artist's selling their work. There was all kinds of Art, most probably, something for everybody's taste. I don't know the...
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surrounding, portovenere La Spezia
4 Reviews Porto Venere is an amazing place very close to La Spezia, in a quiet corner of the gulf and on my opinion is one of the best location which worth a visit here. From its picturesque port, you may...
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The Forte Vernazza
5 Reviews Sitting on a rocky promontory above Vernazza are remains of the Doria family castle, including a circular watchtower, quite useful at a time when pirates were regularly raiding Mediterranean villages....
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Chiesa di S.Giorgio Portofino
7 Reviews Saint George Church is a lovely yellow Church on top of Portofino’s promontory and and dates back to the 12th century. It was built in romanic style but it was alterd two times, the first time in 1691...
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carugi: narrow roads Portovenere
8 Reviews The main street in Portovenere, Via Capellini - also known as Carugio - cuts through the town. It starts from the arched gateway by the harbour and runs uphill to la Chiesa San Pietro, a church built...
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Baia delle Favole Sestri Levante
2 Reviews Baia delle Favole ( Bay of fairy-tales ) has a seperate and mostly quite wide boulevard with big palmtrees,benches and playgrounds for the kids, and lots of hotels facing the beach. And when you are...
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Camogli Fish Fry Camogli
1 Review What you are looking at are 2 enormous frying pans. Once a year, on the second Sunday in May, Camogli has a huge fish fry (La Sagra del Pesce) in which pans like these are used to fry a VERY large...
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Genoa Acquarium Genoa
20 Reviews Genovese Acquario is the largest in Italy and the second largest in Europe. It has 3.100 square metres and welcomes almost 1,5 millions of visitors each year. The aquarium was built for Genoa EXPO '92...
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surrounding, Lerici La Spezia
2 Reviews The township, which dates back to roman times, is dominated by a medieval castle now transformed in a magnificent paleontologic museum. There are several beautiful villas in this area and the...
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the harbour Portovenere
11 Reviews We arrived in Portovenere from La Spezia by ferry. I think it was a much better choice than coming by bus. What can be nicer on a hot summer day than a cool breeze from the sea? Besides, the first...
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Hills, Cable Cars, Castles Genoa
17 Reviews We weren't actually looking for this funicular, but another which we couldn't find! They are difficult, as the entrance is small and behind a glass door. Above the door is a big sign. Deciding on this...
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Porta Soprana and Columbus House Genoa
16 Reviews In 1155, the Barbarossa defensive walls were extended to give more protection of Genoa, and it was at this time, at the top of St. Andrew hill, the Porta Soprana was built. The pair of medieval towers...
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Porto Antico and Palazzo S.Giorgio Genoa
30 Reviews Piazza Caricamento is a touristy area, but a big space, so I wonder how busy it would get! I saw some interesting architecture on the old buildings, a Carousel, and it looked like they were setting...
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Boccadasse Genoa
6 Reviews Boccadasse is a small fishing-village inside of Genua that kept its old character because there is almost NO car trafic, lots of fishingboats may be seen on the stoney beaches and there are lots of...
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Historic Centre, west Genoa
20 Reviews Saint Peter's Loggia was built between 1589 and 1595 by Andrea Ceresola, nicknamed Vannone, in the trade centre of the old city. The building was commissioned by the Fathers of the Municipality,...
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La Lanterna Genoa
9 Reviews it's beautiful! and all the videos in the museums are great! don't miss to go up on the symbol of genova to see the beautiful landscape! The Promenade is open every day from 8 a.m. to sunset. The...
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Football - Stadium Genoa
5 Reviews Stadio Luigi Ferraris has a total capacity of 36,000. The ground is the home of local team Sampdoria. I went there for a game against Fiorentina in the Serie A (2007). It looks like an orange shoe box...
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VernazzaWith a little of everything, this is our favorite stop on the Cinque Terre. Castle ruins overlooking the most picturesque harbour and pastel buildings. The town has got plenty of shops & restaurants, and a small park for the kids to run around just north of the train station. the photo I took from the harbour on my Liguria home page can say the rest.
The town of Manarola is small and peaceful.If coming from Riomaggiore or the train station, you'll arrive through a pedestrian tunnel; this tunnel was used by the town residents to seek shelter during air raids of WWII. From the Tunnel you enter town close to the elevated Piazza, usually kids playing here and our Daughter was fascinated by the inlay fish in the Piazza.Heading up the hill you have the church, and about 1 KM up is a parking area. Continue towards the water with shops, gelato and cafes and a few decent restaurants; this direction leads you to the trail and on to Corniglia.
Coming from La Spezia and the South, Riomaggiore is the first of the 5 towns you hit. It's a town of pastel houses tumbled on top of each other with the Ligurian Sea as the backdrop. From the train station and exit/entrance to the walking path you're not in the heart of town. To get there you can take the elevator up, and continue south around the bend or just continue south through the pedestrian tunnel.There is a multilevel parking area at the edge of town, about 15 euro for the day (and probably fills up quickly at high season so get there early.)If you're parking in Riomaggiore, to get to the train and walking paths, just do the opposite of what I describe above. You'll pay the entrance fee at the gate to the path. Consider the 5.40 euro Cinque Terre card which gets you in the park and allows you to ride the train & Buses.
Portovenere took its name from the Roman Goddess of Love, Venus. Indeed, it is her village...quite romantic. The narrow streets, grouped together and lined with pretty-colored houses, make this quaint village a "must" to wander. When we took the boat from Levento to check out the views of the five villages of the Cinque Terre, it is where the boat stopped for more than an hour. Wander the streets, visit the 16th Century castle (on the northwestern side of the village), eat at any of the small pizzerias, trattorias,osterias, or ristorantes.Or, just soak up the scenery of this gorgeous location.By the way, this picture was taken from the castle on Portovenere.
They say that more visitors come to Riomaggiore because of its location than to any of the other four Cinque Terre towns. Its location is most accessible via the road. Still, it maintains its self-contained profile because it is hemmed in by the steep cliffs.As one can tell from the picture, Riomaggiore has quaint shops, local traditions (hanging laundry off the small balconies), and pastel-colored buildings.
Since there are few places to stay in the Cinque Terre, we decided to stay in the grand old resort town of Levanto (Levante to use as our doorway to the five small villages. It was a wise decision.Levanto has about a 5,000 population and boasts of "castles, historic churches, more than 15 good restaurants, weekly open-air market, abundant shops and warm, friendly people".ALL OF THIS IS TRUE. It's an easy town to explore, and we were able to take a boat or a train to visit Cinque Terre.
On our second-day visit to the Cinque Terre, we took the train from Levante. We found that these tiny towns remain self-contained because of the cliffs, which are quite steep.Monterosso al Mare was one of our favorites.In the picture on the left is the village of Monterosso al Mare. This village, like the other four, has its own particular personality. It lies on the northwest edge of Cinque Terre and is said to be the largest of the five (that's relative because it is quite small and so quaint). We had an opportunity to spend some time here rroaming the back lanes to see how the locals live...we found that it is a tranquil place.The picture on the right is Allan and I along the walking trail. It just so happens that a tourist from Germany asked us if we wanted our picture taken TOGETHER, since we were each taking photographs of the other. How kind of him. But, we found kindness to be...
Don't miss the opportunity to walk these paths of the Cinque Terre; you are right at the edge of the cliffs. There are two levels of difficulty. The higher the pathway, the more difficult the walk and the longer it takes. So, judge what your capabilities are and choose wisely.The scenery is captivating. Allan and I were impressed with the color of the sea...a strange combination of blue and green. In addition, we were also impressed with the picturesque villages; each with its own personality.
By the time we got to Corniglia, it was well into the afternoon and we hadn't eaten lunch yet. We were starving! Corniglia is perched at the top of a hill and by the time we got there, we were very ready to eat. Luckily, there were plenty of cafes, delicatessens and snack bars to choose from. If anything, we had too many choices and we took a little too long to decide where to go. In the end, we found a little hole in the wall pizzaria, where we got a few slices of focaccia, which really hit the spot! We chose a little park bench with a view of the trail behind us and enjoyed!
From La Spezia, the first train stop of the Cinque Terre is Riomaggiore. At the La Spezia train station, there is a tourist office with all the information you need for your Cinque Terre hike. The Cinque Terre is now part of the Italian national park system, so you have to pay to hike it. At the tourist office you can buy one ticket that covers your rail fare (unlimited between La Spezia and Genova) and your hiking pass. The ticket costs 5.20 Euro for one day. You can also buy a pass that covers you for 3 or 7 days. Make sure you validate your ticket at one of the little yellow machines at the train stations. They don't check for validation on the train (as far as I could tell), but they do check it at the hiking checkpoints at the outskirts of each village. Don't lose your ticket!At the La Spezia train station, there is also a snack bar where you can pick up snacks and sports drinks or...
Best Western Hotel Metropoli Genoa
1 Review and 238 Opinions It's good 3* hotel, rather centrally located (about 15 min walk to Duomo and 25 min walk to the...
La Baia di Rio Riomaggiore
108 Opinions
Camere Giuliano Vernazza
221 Opinions
Reviews and photos of Liguria attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Liguria sightseeing.
More Cities in Liguria
Q: My husband and I are traveling to N. Italy in July with friends for their 30 anniversary and am wondering if anyone can give...
A: Do not miss Verona where you could take a train to Venice. Only a bit over an hour and close to Milan by train. No need for a car in Verona. I also loved Sestri Levante...
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