shoemacl

Hi everyone,

My boyfriend and I are planning our last few stops for our upcoming trip - we leave the end of October and are traveling through Northern Italy for a 17 days.

We have 3 free nights and I was hoping to stay somewhere along the Ligurian coast. I have been to Cinque Terre - loved it and was originally thinking about staying there again (bf hasn't been) but I am now considering staying somewhere new and instead doing a day trip to the CT. I have been researching Rapallo, Camogli, Levanto and Chiavari. I've been leaning more towards Camogli or Rapallo but I am having a lot of trouble deciding.

We would prefer staying in a less touristy town with beautiful scenery, great food and still get the seaside, fishing village feel that the CT has to offer. I realize Rapallo is a bit larger which we aren't oppose to - the cable car ride and hiking originally turned me onto Rapallo.

Any suggestions or recommendations? We are open to cities that I haven't mentioned.

Also, recommendations of affordable accommodations (ideally under 75 euro) would be appreciated. I realize this is a difficult budget to work with but I'm hoping that there will be some hotels/b&b with cheaper rates this time of year.

Thanks!

bobthenavigator

Are you driving?
If so, Camogli--if not, Santa Margherita.

Mimar

Camogli is on the train line also, and it retains something of the fishing village feel, though a fishing village with very tall houses with painted trompe-d'oeil facades.

shoemacl, have you considered what you'll do if the weather's bad in November? I suppose you could always take the train up to Genoa.

Sorry, can't help you with accommodations.

zeppole

Only Camogli is going to give you the fishing village feel that you are seeking. There is no difference between Camogli and Santa Margherita when it comes to transportation. Both have train stations (7 minutes apart), both have parking.

Many of the painted tall houses in Camogli to which Mimar refers were built as tenement housing for fisherman and their families. The steep terrain between sea and mountain makes building "up" the only possibility.

Chiavari is the best place for food and it is a very charming town in itself. But it is extremely difficult to find a hotel there, and it isn't a fishing village as much as a unique and tiny commercial shopping hub. Rapallo has long been a grand resort, so its waterfront is loaded with plenty of huge piles of old-fashioned hotels. I don't care for Santa Margherita Ligure (it's a yacht marina and wannabe Portofino) and there isn't much point in staying in Levanto if you were hoping for a different experience of Liguria.

If you can find nice accommodations in Camogli, it will only take you 10 minutes on the train to get to Rapallo, and the entrance to the cable car ride is an easy 10 minutes walk from there. Even better is to take the stunning bus ride from Camogli to Rapallo, which lets you off at the train station. But in the evenings and for sunsets, you will have the peace of Camogli's long seafront promenade, completely without cars, with beautiful vistas.

If it is rainy, take the 20 minute train ride from Camogli to Chiavari, or stop there on your way back from le Cinque Terre, and eat lunch or dinner at Luchin (closed Sundays). Another good rainy day option if you don't want to take on the whole city of Genova is the suburb of Nervi, where several huge villas are now museums. In particular the Arte Moderne and the Wolfsonian are interesting. Even if it is raining, having foccacia at La Marinella is one of the great cheap treats of the Riviera. La Marinella, overlooking the sea, is visible from the Nervi train station (20 mintues from Camogli). The Camogli tourist office can give you information about Nervi's museums.

zeppole

PS; If you get curious about Chiavari, make sure that you plan your visit so that at least some of your time coincides with at least some shopping hours. The entire town, apart from eateries, goes completely shut between 1pm and 4pm. Also realize when you get off the train in Chiavari that you want to walk away from the sea, straight toward the low hills, It takes about 5 minutes of flat walking from the train station, in a straight line, to reach the centuries-old historic center, filled with brightly painted building and shopping arcades.

shoemacl

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your responses. Bobthenavigator - no, we will not be driving.

It may be helpful to know that we will be traveling from Alba, staying somewhere along the Italian Riveria for 3 nights, and then moving onto Florence.

It's looking like Camogli would best suite what we are looking for. The only issue is that it has been very difficult finding accommodations in our price range.

Does anybody have any suggestions for affordable accommodations in that area or good websites to use? I'm hoping that we can find a discounted rate for that time of year. Ideally, we are hoping to keep it under 75 euro/night.

Thanks in advance!