galelstorm

Hello again-it has been awhile but I am ready to return to Italy and wondered which of these two coastal towns hold the most charm? A friend and I are planning a trip in September and it is her second time there but her first time in many of the places we will go so we are looking for less touristy, more local feeling here.
Grazie in anticipo!

Dayle

Portofino is about as touristy as it gets. It is a beautiful tiny harbor town (formerly fishing village) with outrageously overpriced designer shopping where every cruise ship stops to tender in all its passengers. Very expensive lodging and definitely not the most convenient place to stay to do day trips. It's pretty, but don't expect too much.

We went over by boat early in the morning from Santa Margherita Ligure and were able to stroll a little and walk up to the top of town to enjoy the views and a garden park with sculptures. We then parked ourselves at the marina and had a long, wine-filled lunch while we watched the yachts wiggle into the tiny harbor.

Haven't visited Portovenere yet, but it sounds great. You might enjoy SML as a base for the area. It has a train station with good trans to the Cinque Terre (also very touristy now). Others might recommend Camogli, but I haven't visited there yet myself.

Buon viaggio!

HappyTrvlr

Portovenere is beautiful and much larger than tiny Portofino. I have visited Portofino twice while staying in Santa Margherita Ligure and would never stay there. It is overly touristed and filled with designer shops.It is a stop for the dreaded cruise ships too.
We were thrilled with Portovenere and highly recommend it. Lots to see and do, choice of restaurants.

mainetrvlgrl

I'd second the Portovenere recommendation-although I've never been to Portofino. We loved Portovenere and found it to be quiet, charming, and one of the more relaxing places to stay. There is a wonderful swimming place, the amazing Chiesa San Pietro church (small but really beautiful location), good food, and very kind locals. Its also easy to take the ferry to explore any Cinque Terra destinations you might enjoy.

bobthenavigator

Easy choice---Portovenere !
Been there 4 times and love it.

NomadLass

Portovenere is a great choice if you are looking for a non-touristy, small and beautiful coastal town with more of a local feel.

We rented an apartment overlooking the water for a week in late June 2013 and fell in love with the town and its people. Portovenere is not on the train line for Cinque Terre so that may be one reason it is less touristy. Despite lack of immediate train access, we thought it was a great base to explore the Cinque Terre utilizing public transportation - either the ferry or a bus to La Spezia catching the train from there.

Throughout our week in Portovenere, we enjoyed interacting with locals at the grocery store, farmer's market, shops. We also sampled several wonderful seafood restaurants, explored historic sites, and spent time each day walking along the beautiful harbor. At night we would wander down to the main square where families gathered to talk and play.

We had debated staying in one of the Cinque Terre towns but after reading several positive recommendations on Fodors we chose Portovenere instead and are so glad we did. Truly a lovely spot.

yipper

I was in both places in sept. of 2013 and both places were over run with tourist. Portovenere is bigger and I had the best gelato on my walk through town. We stayed in Levanto which has a beach and a train station and good restaurants. We rented an apt. for a month. It was fabulous.

Rubicund

Neither of the two offer "less touristy, more local feeling", as they're heavily visited in the summer. Of the two if I had to choose only between them, I'd go for Portovenere. Portofino is totally underwhelming, is a pleasant spot, but that's about it.

Sanata Margherita Ligure is a great base with lots of hotels, restaurants etc to choose from, and it doesn't feel overwhelmed by tourists. You can walk to Portofino if you must, but you have access to Camogli, Rapallo and lots of lovely countryside. There is a mainline rail station in SML if you don't want to drive.

sandralist

Almost all of the places being mentioned here are cruise ship ports: Portovenere, Santa Margherita Ligure. Both Portofino, and to a lesser extent Rapallo and Camogli, get cruise ship day trippers. Levanto gets all the overflow from le Cinque Terre. All of them are firmly geared to the holiday tourist trade, local and international.

If you would like a locals' experience of the Riviera, try Sestri Levante or, even better, Chiavari (but there are no decent hotels with sea views there). Or consider Bonassola or Zoagli. The last has the best views on the Riviera, I think, but infrequent train service and a half-modern town. Still, transportation connections from Zoagli are better than from Portofino.

sandralist

Also, galestorm, if you are considering towns without train stations (neither Portovenere or Portofino has one) then consider Lerici as well, which is not a cruise ship port and has plenty of parking if you will have a car.

isabel

I like Rapallo as a base. On the train line so easy to get to the other places mentioned but less touristy. Probably not as 'un-touristy' as the ones sandra mentions, but I really felt like it was very laid back and unpretentious, certainly compared to Portofino. Hotel Italia is right on the water, next to the castle. Here is the view from my room: www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/151985952

http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/ital...ligurian_coast - my photos of the region.

Here's my trip report - you need to scroll half way down to get to the Italy part - http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...swiss-alps.cfm

progol

Another one for Portovenere (though I've never been to Portofino, so can't compare).

Here's a short thread posted earlier in January -- see my comments on Portovenere:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment

galelstorm

Grazie tante to all of you! The overwhelming consensus seems to be Portovenere. I very much appreciate your recommendations and advice as I was unaware that Portovenere was not on the train line, and we will not be driving this trip. I find the local transportation of buses and ferries as just one more way to see the area and we do want to head to Cinque Terre as it has been on my list for awhile now. If anyone has any restaurant recs, by all means please let me know! I am going to research Santa Margherita Ligure as well, sandralist, before making a place to stay decision. Please NO cruise ships! Isabel, thank you for the link to see your lovely view in Rapallo! annforcier-I must read your trip report!
For me, the planning has always been almost as exciting as actually getting there.

sandralist

If you are adamant about 'please NO cruise ships," then you need to rule out both Portovenere and Santa Margherita entirely. As I mentioned before, both towns are cruise ship ports and ships dock directly into the towns.

You can sometimes find online the cruise ship schedules and see if they coincide with the day you plan to be there. This might help

http://www.cruisecompete.com/vacatio...porto_venere/1

Lerici gets very little overflow from the cruise ship tourists, and it might make a good substitute for Portovenere. Rapallo is right next door to Santa Margherita Ligure, so it does get some, but most people head elsewhere. Sestri Levante doesn't get any and it is very centrally located for a visit to both le Cinque Terre and Portofino (and even Portovenere with a bus or taxi or ferry ride).

yipper

I urge you to research other suggested towns. Try to stay in a town with a train station. It is so convientent. Getting in and out of portovenere requires a bus to the train station. After the first few times it becomes a pain. This assumes you will not have a car.

Mimar

We based in Camogli, which is on the train line to the Cinque Terre. Camogli is a nice town with several hotels and restaurants. A fair number of tourists there but they are Italian tourists who go home at the end of a day on the beach.

BigShoulders

Depending on your plan for the trip, cruise ships may not be an issue. My wife and I spent four days in Portofino last May. I think there was a cruise ship there every day. I say I think because I don't know. We did day trips in the car and then spent beautiful evenings in a very quiet, charming little yacht harbor that is Portofino.

For what it's worth, we are planning a visit in September to Portovenere.

NomadLass

I honestly don't recall seeing any cruise ships in Portovenere the entire week we were there late June 2013. We did leave early almost every morning to explore one of the CT towns and returned late afternoon so maybe by then the cruise people and other day trippers were gone? Perhaps it gets more crowded in July/August but we did not find Portovenere overrun with tourists. Instead, we interacted mainly with locals who were lovely and welcoming.

As far as transportation concerns, we found the ferry system to be very efficient and used it as our main transport option to the Cinque Terre. The ferries do not operate if the sea is rough so I recall one day when the ferry was cancelled we used the bus instead to reach La Spezia and it was maybe a 10-15 minute walk from the bus drop to the train station. From there you could quickly access the CT towns on the train line and go even further down the coast as I recall.

We considered many other towns on the train line including several mentioned above but in the end were won over by the many positive comments about Portovenere from Fodors posters. And it proved to be a great choice. Our rental experience could not have been better - beautiful apartment with a balcony overlooking the sea and a charming, very responsive landlady who conducted a cooking class in her home for us. We fell in love with Portovenere!

bobthenavigator

The odds of a cruise ship being in port at Portovenere are quite low. And, they would have to be fairly small to get into that harbor. It is a non-factor to me.

Motorino

Cruise ships in Portovenere is absolutely a non-factor. In fact is September ships will be tendering passengers on exactly 0 out of 30 days.

La Spezia is a busy port but those passengers will be going to Cinque Terre for the day.

With regard to Portofino, again ships is a non-factor with exactly 3 days out of 30 tendering passengers. The largest of which carries 300 high end luxury travelers. Not exactly a mob descending on Portofino.

And same thing for Santa Margherita, where you'l find ships tendering passengers on 2 out 30 days next September. The largest a luxury ship carrying 700 luxury travelers. I think there's plenty of room in Santa Margherita to absorb the flow.

We like riding the ferry from Portovenere to Levanto and among the Cinque Terre. Although with Spielberg and his entourage descending on us last September we'll probably opt for Camogli this year... shh;-)

Buon viaggio!