Portofino

[sandasavi]

Traveling to Portofino for a day on an Oceania Cruise in a couple of weeks. We are not planning to do a ship excursion but DIY. Here is my question. We have never been to Portofino so it it will be new to us in every way. Would we find enough to do including having lunch if we stay just in Portofino, or should we consider taking a water taxi to Santa Margherita for half a day. Thanks.

[durante]

Portofino is small and very expensive. It does not take long to wander around the town. There is also a great scenic walk you can do up the hill, past an old church to Castle Brown

You should have plenty of time to also catch a ferry over to Santa Margherita, it's a very lovely town with much better quality and cheaper restaurants than Portofino. Here is the link to the 2017 ferry timetable to help with your plans.

 

http://traghettiportofino.it/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/04/Brochure2017-ing-web.pdf

 

You can also walk between Portofino and Santa, most of the walk follows the coastline.

[Keith1010]

You can enjoy a lovely day in Portofino and if you like to walk there is indeed a nice walking path. As mentioned you could also take the fear over to Santa Margarita.

 

A few photos from Portofino.

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kuldalai]

Portofino you can do in a few hours on foot. Best sidetrip from Portofino is to the Abbey at remote San Fratuosso . Ferries leave from the waterfront at Portofino on a regular basis, trip time is only 30 minutes each way . Allow 1.5 to 2 hours at SF to explore and have lunch. Just check return ferry times to make sure you are back in time to Portofino for the tender to your cruise boat . San Fratuosso is only accessible by sea or by hiking in on foot, a secret hidden gem . Ferry timetables for 2017 here : http://www.traghettiportofino.it/en/

[sandasavi]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Seeing the ferry schedule give me an idea of timing if we decided to go to Santa Margherita. I think the idea of walking up to Castle Brown would be nice as well. Is there any more moderately priced restaurants for lunch beyond the water front restaurants that we should consider? My husband and I are Chef/Pastry Chefs. So, we enjoy local cuisine but don't want to spend a lot of money. We will have our 11yo Son with us and he eats anything we eat.

[crewza]

Not mentioned is a local bus that'll take you into Santa Margherita for a few euros. The stop is at the top of the hill from the port itself and the schedule is posted there. You can buy tickets on the bus and the trip takes about 30 minutes. If you tender into Santa Margherita, tickets can be bought at the round tourist info kiosk 100 yds to the right of where the tender comes in