Day trips from Genoa

Portofino

Portofino is the small harbour village that gave its name to a certain idea of the Italian Riviera — a tight curve of pastel-coloured houses around a marina of yachts, with the Piazzetta, its little harbourside square beneath the church of San Martino, as its social heart. It was a working fishing hamlet, named by the Romans Portus Delphini ("port of the dolphin"), before it was "discovered" by English and other European visitors in the second half of the 19th century and grew into the glamorous, and famously expensive, resort it is today. Away from the harbour, the headland above the village — the Monte di Portofino promontory — is protected parkland with waymarked walking trails, including the path on to San Fruttuoso below.

Getting there: Portofino has no railway station of its own. The usual route by rail is a regional or Intercity train from Genova Brignole or Genova Piazza Principe to Santa Margherita Ligure–Portofino station, followed by a local bus or taxi along the coast road for the final few kilometres into the village. In season, a more direct alternative is the seasonal boat service run from Genoa's Porto Antico (see below), which calls at Portofino itself.

Camogli

Camogli is a working fishing port that has kept much of its character: a seafront of tall, narrow houses painted in trompe-l'œil pastel façades, historically said to have doubled as landmarks so fishermen could find their own home from the water. It was once one of the most important sailing ports on this stretch of coast, and its maritime past is still marked every May by the Sagra del Pesce, a fish festival with fish fried in a giant communal pan on the seafront, and in August by the candlelit boat procession of Stella Maris. It's a quieter, less polished alternative to Portofino, a short walk (or hike) from San Fruttuoso.

Getting there: Camogli has its own station, Camogli–San Fruttuoso, directly on the Genova–La Spezia coastal line, a short walk downhill from the platform into the village — making it one of the more straightforward of these day trips by train. It's also a stop on the seasonal Porto Antico boat service.

Santa Margherita Ligure

Santa Margherita Ligure sits between Camogli and Portofino on the Gulf of Tigullio, and is a more sedate, palm-lined resort town in its own right — a merger of two older fishing villages, with a harbour, a seafront promenade and grand 19th-century villas built by wealthy Genoese families and later by foreign visitors, including, reportedly, the radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, who spent time on this stretch of coast. It's often used as the practical gateway to Portofino, but is a pleasant destination in itself for a slower-paced seafront stroll.

Getting there: the town has its own station, Santa Margherita Ligure–Portofino, on the same Genova–La Spezia line as Camogli, with fairly frequent regional and faster services from both Genova Brignole and Genova Piazza Principe — reported journey times vary quite widely by service, from well under half an hour on the fastest trains to closer to three-quarters of an hour on slower ones, so it's worth checking the specific departure. It's also a stop on the seasonal Porto Antico boat route.

San Fruttuoso Abbey

San Fruttuoso is a Benedictine abbey founded in the 10th century, tucked into a small, otherwise-undeveloped cove on the Portofino promontory, reportedly built to house relics of the martyr St Fructuosus of Tarragona. Over the centuries it passed to the noble Genoese Doria family, who used it as a burial place and, in the 16th century, added the watchtower that still stands beside it; it's now cared for by FAI, the Italian national trust. Just offshore, and a big part of the draw for many visitors, is the bronze Christ of the Abyss, a statue laid on the seabed in 1954 in memory of a diver who died in these waters, with arms raised toward the surface.

Getting there: uniquely among these destinations, San Fruttuoso has no road access at all. It's reached only by boat — scheduled seasonal services run from Camogli, Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure, and it's also a stop on the Porto Antico route from Genoa — or on foot, via waymarked hiking trails through Portofino Natural Park from either Camogli or Portofino, a walk of a couple of hours each way.

The Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre — "five lands" — is the UNESCO World Heritage stretch of coast further southeast, beyond the Gulf of Tigullio, where five small villages (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore) cling to steep, terraced cliffs above the sea. The terracing itself, built up over centuries by generations of farmers using dry stone walls to carve vineyards and olive groves out of near-vertical slopes, is as much a part of the World Heritage listing as the villages. Each village has a slightly different character, from Monterosso's proper sandy beach to Manarola and Riomaggiore's tightly stacked, brightly-painted houses, and the villages are also linked to each other by coastal footpaths, some more strenuous than others.

Getting there: this is a longer excursion than the others here, and realistically a full day out. By train, journeys from Genova Brignole or Genova Piazza Principe are commonly reported at roughly an hour to an hour and a half, either on regional services that run through to the Cinque Terre villages directly, or via a change onto the local "Cinque Terre Express" line at La Spezia Centrale — reports vary on exactly which, so it's worth checking the specific train. In peak summer, a seasonal long-distance boat excursion also runs from Genoa's Porto Antico direct to the Cinque Terre coast, but this is a much longer crossing — several hours each way — run on limited days and intended as a full-day round trip rather than a way to travel with luggage.