Day Trip to Santa Margarhertia Ligure, Portofino, and Camogli
 

Hello!

We are planning a day trip in September from our base in Cinque Terre (Vernazza) to Santa Margarhertia Ligure, Portofino, and/or Camogli! We love to hike, drink wine, eat good food, and see beautiful scenery! We would love to take a ferry for the views from the water!

Is it possible to see all three towns in one day? What is the best way to see these one or all of these three towns from Vernazza!? Any suggestions on places to visit while in each town or places to eat with a view!?

Thank you so much in advance for all your help!!

The best way to get to Portofino from Santa Margherita would be boat. The train doesn't go out onto that peninsula so you would otherwise have to take a bus (or car) and traffic can be bad. You can easily get from Vernazza to S. Margherita and Camogli by train. I think you can also get a boat from Vernazza to S. Marherita but I'm not sure the schedule would work. I would probably plan to take the train to Santa Margherita and the boat from there to Portofino and then back to S. Margherita. You should have plenty of time to do those in a day. Then if you have an extra hour or two it is very easy to get to Camogli from S. Margherita (about a five minute train ride).

Here's my photos of that area - http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/ital...ligurian_coast

Train from the CT to SML.

The walk to the ferry will give you plenty to do.

Ferry to Portofino. The hike to the lighthouse is the finest in the immediate area.

If you want more, I would go to San Fruttuoso rather than Camogli. See the ancient abbey and have s swim if possible.

Boat back to Portofino or SML, then train back to Vernazza.

A full day.

I liked tuscan's idea.

We stayed three nights in SML. We day-tripped to Vernazza one day; to Portofino and San Fruttuoso (sp?) another day.

From SML, we took the bus to Portofino; the ferry to San F, then back to SML.

such a wonderful area... I love it.

Train to Camogli - hike or boat to San Fruttuoso - hike to Portofino - bus or boat to Sta Margherita. Facilissimo!

Thank you all so much! I am so excited! :)

Re: places to eat, plan around eating in Santa Margherita Ligure. There are nice restaurants with open-air patios right at the harbor. We ate at one, but I forget its name. Just look at the menus and decide.

Portofino is VERY expensive to eat. We paid about 20EU EACH for a simple omelette lunch there, with a glass of wine, at the tiny harbor.

I don't think it's possible to hike from Camogli to San Fruttuoso, and then hike to Portofino in the same day. It would take 6 or 7 hours and be totally exhausting. I tried to find the information online, but this is the best I could come up with:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...a_Liguria.html

I once hiked from San Fruttuoso to Portofino and it was very strenuous. I think the nicest way to get around that area is by boat, but it is very expensive (at least to me). Different companies operate different parts of the boat routes, so you need to keep buying tickets to get from one place to another. It's very beautiful, so if you want to "splurge", it's worth it. But if you want to hike part of the way to save money, be sure you know how long it takes.

I too based in SML for both the CT and Portofino - and I walked from SML to Portofino and it was a great though bit up and down hilly walk (did not follow the flat busy main road)- did it both ways - but I was sadly disappointed in Portofino itself - it was high season and it was sardine city- no ambiance at all. Really about the most congested tourist trap I've been in - even worse than Bellagio or Sirmione and on par with the Cinque Terre towns themselves most of the tourist season.

"I once hiked from San Fruttuoso to Portofino and it was very strenuous"
We did it a longtime ago with our kids who were then 4, 6 and 8 years old. Not the slightest problem! Nobody got tired.

I admit I don't much care for hiking more than an hour so, even though I don't mind walking a lot more than that, but I just double checked various comments on TripAdvisor, and they echoed cautioning people it's not a stroll through the park. I also noticed that while Google indicates that it is less than a 90 minute walk, most people reported it took them between 2- 2.5 hours. Not my idea of a good time on a hot day in Italy, but like I said, I'm so-so about hiking.

As much as was none too thrilled with some of the steeper parts of the trail, what got to me even more was descending into Portofino, which is paved with hundreds of slanted steps (I wish I had been wearing open-toed sandals by the end).

I much more enjoyed walking out of Portofino to Santa Margherita Ligure. Not only was it more of a stroll, not climbs, but the sea was in sight most of the way. Still, I found both San Fruttuoso and Portofino very picturesque, and in particular enjoyed subsequent days when I took boat rides in and out of Portofino, without spending much time in the town, which does have too many tourists for how small it is.

There are different paths to walk through Portofino park, some are strenuous and some less so.
http://www.parks.it/parco.portofino/Eiti.php
http://www.parcoportofino.it/

There are different paths to walk through Portofino park, some are strenuous and some less so>

Yes the SML to Portofino stroll I took went quite a ways up and then over - like a left angle - few sea views so if looking for an easier way do frencharmoire's way along the coast as much as possible.

I would say it is possible to see all three in a day, if you start early. Whilst all three towns are stunning my favourite is probably Camogli - much cheaper than Portofino and just as pretty. It's such a beautiful part of the world - I fall in love with this part of Italy every time I visit. I hope you enjoy! :-)

I would say it is possible to see all three in a day, if you start early.>

Yes indeed - all are fairly small but I'd take SML and Camogli any day over a jam-packed Portofino - even in September - no ambiance there at all IME of a visit about the same time in Sept.