We are taking you to one of the prettiest places in Italy.
It's the small town of Portofino.
This place has been admired by poets and painters, writers and artists of all kinds, for centuries.
Even the architectural elements seem to have come from some sort of a romantic picture
book, like a dream come to life.
It's the ideal version of an Italian seaside village.
Portofino is one of those very special destinations, probably in the top hundred of the world,
and we are going to show you how to enjoy it best, especially in the off-season.
As always, we are providing a practical guide, filled with beautiful sites showing you how
to get the most out of your visit.
You could drive here or take a ferry boat.
We will show you both ways, arriving by van and leaving by boat.
Portofino is located on the northwest coast, in Liguria, sometimes called the Italian Riviera,
just about twenty miles south of Genoa.
Well to get there we're driving from Santa Margherita, which is a nearby town -- it's
about three miles along the coastline, and you pass a few isolated houses along the way
bu, t mostly it's this windy, curvy, cliff-hugging, seaside road.
It's really scenic.
In our case were going by a private shuttle van, since we are part of a small group that
I'm leading on our tour of the Mediterranean.
You can also get here by public bus, which is very convenient and inexpensive.
It's not a very long drive.
When there's no traffic like this, it takes less than fifteen minutes.
Or you could walk there in an hour and 1/2 on a scenic four-kilometer inland coastal
path.
The little beach of Paraggi is the only sandy beach on this ten-mile stretch of coastline.
Most of the coast is rocky cliffs, or little boulder beaches, but in that little village
of Paraggi there's an actual sandy beach.
You arrive at a small parking lot in the little back streets of Portofino, and if you're traveling
by public bus, there is a bus stop right here, they'll drop you off.
We got out of our van and within a block you're in the town.
If you're driving here in the summertime you probably will not find any parking spaces
available, so it's better to come by public transportation.
From here, walk along that main little pedestrian shopping lane a few blocks, and you'll arrive
in a few minutes at the waterfront.
Get ready to be dazzled by the beauty of this perfect little place.
It's a very small village – makes it easy to walk around, enjoying the splendid view
of the marina, beautiful yachts, and fishing boats, and pleasure craft of all kinds.
And around it, you've got the village itself, with rows of restaurants and shops, and the
old pastel-colored buildings embracing it all.
When you have a look at the sheltered cove and pretty buildings of this little hamlet,
you'll see why it has become world-famous.
I suggest you have a preliminary look at this charming waterfront – check out the restaurants
and shops for later visiting.
But one of the first things you want to do after you get oriented is take that walk up
the hill for the world-famous view.
Reserve lots more time to poke around in the village later, but now let's go get that vista.
The path is just on the right side of the village – you'll see it between the shops.
It's a little inconspicuous, you might even miss it if you don't know look for it.
There is a small information sign with arrows pointing the way, but it's pretty inconspicuous
follow your nose and you can't go wrong.
It's just one path that goes up the Hill.
And at least you don't have to push a heavy load, like this local worker does.
That's the first glimpse you get, but keep going because it gets better.
You've come this far and it's only another hundred meters or less to get to the very
best view, so don't stop here.
Just keep going.
It's an easy walk.
Keep going.
Yes it's a bit of an uphill climb, but not so bad.
Only takes about fifteen minutes at most to walk up here, or ten if you're a good walker.
When you reach the church of St. George you have arrived at the very best viewing location.
This is it.
What an amazing vista.
Of course you want to take a lot of pictures, grab some selfies, maybe get some group shots,
snap away, but when you're done taking the pictures, just stop and look.
It is such a gorgeous view that you might never see again, so soak it all up this first
time and really appreciate it.
Sometimes we are so busy taking pictures, and I'm as guilty as anybody, that we forget
to just drop it all and look at the view, just soak it up, just have a seat, there's
little wall you can sit down, there's benches and take your time up here.
We arrived in the late afternoon on a sunny day, which provided perfect conditions.
It was as bright and colorful as it could possibly be.
And there was plenty of daylight left for us to go back into the village and walk around
and still enjoy that lighting on the buildings.
There's also a nice view behind you and the other direction, just to the right of the
church.
Walk over to the wall and you can look down at the sea cliffs and the beautiful waters
down below.
You could walk further uphill for another five or ten minutes to the Castle of St. George,
and get some more vistas, but the view from the church is the best, so you don't have
to walk any further up.
Walking downhill, of course, is a little easier, and you can enjoy the views once again.
Fortunately, it's protected as a National Historic Landmark.
So it's going to stay this same way, looking the same, with his wonderful appearance for
quite a while.
The only difference would be in the time of day, or in the season that you get here.
Again, we're here in that off-season.
If you get here in April or May it's perfect, not crowded – summertime very busy, or come
in early October like we did.
As you get down to the bottom of the hill, this little lane becomes a shopping street
with all sorts of kiosks and souvenirs tempting you on both sides, as people crowded into
see what they can buy.
And then all of a sudden, you're back in town at the waterfront, free to explore at will.
After all of that exertion to get up and down the hill for the view, this is a great time
to reward yourself with a drink, maybe have a spritz, or one of the local wines, and you
can always find some freshly-made gelato.
I suggest you take a lovely stroll all the way around the marina, because over on that
far side there is a charming row of outdoor restaurants, and cafes, and wine bars, and
some little boutiques tucked away.
Plus, you'll have splendid views of the various boats from different angles in the midst of
the marina.
While this is obviously a touristic town, you will be delightfully surprised at the
high quality of the restaurants, and they're really no more expensive than restaurants
that you're going to find anywhere else in Italy.
Of course, there's a variety of price ranges here.
You can have a light snack, you can have a full meal.
They've got a lot of fresh fish, of course, that's one of their specialties here, and
there's always that great Italian pasta.
Each one of these restaurants serves wonderful food.
They wouldn't be here if they didn't.
And usually the owners and waiters live right nearby as well, so they have a stake in doing
a very good job for you.
You'll notice it's not crowded at all, mostly because we're here in early October, the shoulder
season.
Summer time you'd be lucky to get a table.
Also were here in the late afternoon, so it's not quite yet dinnertime.
I stopped for a look at Winter Rose wine bar which looked very inviting, with his outdoor
tables, and friendly service, and big selection of wines.
And then I found out that it's ranked as the number one restaurant in Portofino by Trip
Advisor.
I took a look inside – lots more wines in there.
Not just a great wine bar but excellent food.
In addition Trip Advisor lists thirty other restaurants, bars and cafes right here in
this little town.
The waiters here are not in any hurry to pressure you to order a meal or finish up.
This is Italy, after all, it's very relaxed and casual – harborside dining at its best
in Portofino.
This little village has become world-famous for yachts and the visiting jet set, the millionaires
and billionaires, Hollywood royalty and media superstars.
The natural small harbor is near the rocky tip of the lush promontory that protects the
sheltered cove from the Gulf of Rapollo like a giant breakwater.
Somehow the overall elements around you fit together in a perfectly harmonious whole.
It's just the ideal picture postcard, and it seems too good to be true, but this is
the real thing.
This village is been here for hundreds of years.
It was a fishing village originally, and now it's one of the great visitor destinations
of the world.
Every proper Italian town has a main look at that were the people gather, and here is
right at the waterfront Piazza Martiri dell'Olivetta, a fine place for the visitors as well as the
locals to hang out, surrounded by restaurants, cafes and all those beautiful buildings.
It's a peaceful and safe harbor where the kids can play and the families can enjoy the
experiences together.
And this public space is created in such a way that it's friendly and inviting to the
visitor, to encourage you to linger and rest.
There's benches, there are chairs, there's the seawall you can sit on, places to relax,
plenty of room to stand around, and then have a seat at one of those many outdoor restaurants
that are so inviting with their nice tables, great food, quick service, pizza, pastry,
drinks and a complete meal if you wish.
While the marina with its cafes and that beautiful view from the hill are the main draws of Portofino,
there's another side to this town, shown in the circle area on the map.
Just a block inland from the waterfront is a series of promenades and small lanes for
shopping and more eating and drinking, and there's a few hotels tucked away in here,
such as the affordable three-star Hotel Nazionale, and its adjacent Don Nicola restaurant, just
in land from the waterfront.
So that's another fun place to explore, once you've seen everything else.
Even though this is a high-quality resort town, the prices you'll find in the stores
are about the same as you find anywhere in the country.
It's the downtown of this little village with a range of deluxe shops, and souvenir stands,
and little grocery stores tucked away more deeply into ever smaller alleyways, in a setting
that many travelers are going to miss all together.
Art galleries where you could find an original oil painting by a local artis, t take-out
foods, and beautiful paving underfoot for walking.
There are no more hills to climb or distant vistas in this part of the waterfront village.
Another small hotel back here is the three-star Hotel Eden, situated in the center of the
little town on a narrow side street close to the piazzetta, but well-hidden from the
crowd.
They have a small garden shaded by old trees that provides a unique atmosphere.
You might even use this as home base for visiting the surrounding region.
However, there are many more hotels in the city of Santa Margarita Ligure, just about
three miles away, which makes a very efficient home base, as we have done in our tours to
this area.
But if the charms of Portofino have seduced you, there are possibilities for actually
staying here.
There are half a dozen hotels, and there are some vacation rentals you can pick from.
At the end of our daytrip visit here, we had two different ways to get back to Santa Margarita.
We could either take that city bus, or better yet, take the boat.
It's a scenic boat ride, and sure, it costs a little bit more than the bus, and still
under ten euro, but what a wonderful excursion it would be.
And yes, it turned out to be great fun.
You don't need reservations, but you can buy your ticket ahead of time, and get to the
dock about 10-15 minutes early, wait your turn, wait on the short line, and soon enough
you shuffle on board and away you go.
Right away, it's very scenic, enjoying the view of the boats in the harbor and the buildings
all around from water level, as we make our way out of the marina and into the Gulf of
Rapollo.
As we round the point and exit the marina we can see up on the hill that large pink
building.
It's the Belmond Splendido, the five-star super-deluxe hotel of Portofino.
It was an exceptionally clear and sunny afternoon that threw beautiful lighting on the green
forested hills sprinkled with mega-mansions of the multimillionaires, also getting us
a view of that beachfront hamlet of Paraggi that we spotted on the drive coming in, with
its little beach.
This beautiful ride was over too soon because it only took fifteen minutes.
Somehow, in memory, it seemed like a longer ride because it was so stimulating with all
of the nice views along the coastline.
The ride is so quick they don't even have a snack bar.
You have seating indoors, down below, or better yet, on the upper deck where you get the best
view and all that fresh air, and the sights all around, other boats going by, the beautiful
wake of your ship, that's quite a sight to see as well.
The boat brings you right into the center of Santa Margarita Ligure, and you'll have
a splendid view of that city as you arrive as well.
There's a lot of hotels along the waterfront here.
We stayed at one of them.
And they've got a sandy beach.
There's lots of bars and cafes.
It's a great city.
We have another movie about Santa Margarita Ligure you'll have to look for in our collection.
The city of Santa Margarita is wonderful in itself, with its many restaurants, and bars,
and hotels, and friendly local people, and kind of an authentic character, not quite
as touristic as Portofino or some other famous Italian places.
It also makes a very good home base for visiting Portofino, as we've just seen, as well as
Cinque Terre, which is just about an hour away by train, and you can also find a lot
of videos about that splendid place in our collection.
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