Where to stay in Genoa & Portofino

A working port with a tangled old town and better food than its reputation, and the Riviera villages start immediately east. Portofino for the look of it; Genoa for actually staying.

The medieval centre between Principe station and the Porto Antico is where to stay. The caruggi run down from the palazzi of Via Garibaldi to the harbour; sleep among them and everything is on foot. Camogli, Santa Margherita Ligure and Rapallo, a short train ride east, are the calmer bases. Portofino has no station and one narrow road and almost no parking; go by bus or boat from Santa Margherita, for an afternoon.

It suits eaters and anyone who found Florence too tidy. The lanes around Via Prè and Via del Campo are for daylight. The hills are steep enough that the city runs public lifts; take the Castelletto one to see how it fits together. Drivers fare badly: the centro storico is a ZTL and too narrow for a car, and the coast road east clogs on summer weekends.

Two nights in Genoa, two on the Riviera. From Camogli, the boat or the footpath to San Fruttuoso, an abbey in a cove with no road, is the best half-day on this coast. Genoa to La Spezia is one railway line, so Cinque Terre follows directly, without a car.

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