After a stay in the South of France, we travelled by train across the border into Italy for four nights in Santa Margherita Ligure, with family joining us for this part of the trip.
Santa Margherita Ligure sits on the Italian Riviera, not far from Genoa and surrounded by some of Liguria’s best-known coastal towns, including Rapallo, Camogli and, of course, Portofino.
For us, it was a lovely place to slow down for a few days, enjoy the beach, eat extremely well and explore a little more of this part of northern Italy.
Staying in the Heart of Santa Margherita Ligure
We stayed in a that we had booked online, close to the main piazza, and the location was perfect.
The apartment itself was beautiful, with wonderfully high, ornate ceilings and a lovely host, but what we appreciated most was being able to walk everywhere.
We could step outside for a gelato, wander down to the waterfront, walk to the beach or find somewhere for dinner without having to think too much about getting around.
Santa Margherita Ligure is an incredibly pretty town to explore on foot. Colourful buildings line the streets, restaurants spill out onto the pavements and the harbour is filled with boats, all with the hills rising behind the town.
Above it all sits the Castello di Santa Margherita Ligure, overlooking the waterfront.
It’s the kind of place where you don’t necessarily need a long list of things to do. We were quite happy wandering around, stopping for coffee or gelato and simply enjoying being in Italy.
Renting a Boat on the Italian Riviera
One of the highlights of our stay was renting a boat for the day.
My husband has a boat licence, which meant we could head out ourselves and explore the coastline from the water.
He had also secretly bought matching captain’s hats for himself and our daughter, which naturally made them look extremely official.
We cruised up and down the coastline, stopping to swim and enjoying a completely different view of the towns and coves along this part of Liguria.
Our main destination was San Fruttuoso Abbey, tucked into a small bay between Camogli and Portofino.
The abbey isn’t accessible by road, so arriving from the water is part of the experience. Our plan had been to go ashore and explore, although that didn’t quite happen.
The water was fairly rough when we arrived, and after attempting to work out the anchor situation while contemplating how all of us were going to swim approximately 100 metres to shore, we decided admiring the abbey from the boat was quite sufficient.
Sometimes knowing when to abandon the plan is part of travelling too.
We stopped for a swim instead and enjoyed the view from the water before continuing along the coast.
Despite our slightly unsuccessful attempt to actually reach San Fruttuoso, hiring the boat was one of my favourite things we did during our stay. If you’re comfortable on the water, it’s a wonderful way to experience the Italian Riviera.
An Easy Trip to Portofino
Portofino is literally just around the corner from Santa Margherita Ligure, so naturally we had to visit.
Rather than taking the car, we caught the local bus, which made it an incredibly easy day trip.
Portofino is every bit as pretty as you expect it to be, with its famous harbour, colourful buildings, restaurants and boats filling the waterfront.
We ate at Ristorante Delfino – delfino means dolphin in Italian – overlooking the harbour. We enjoyed a lot of delicious ‘langoustines’.
It’s certainly one of the more glamorous neighbours to have, and staying in Santa Margherita Ligure gave us the opportunity to enjoy Portofino while having a slightly more relaxed base to return to.
Dinner in Bonassola – Near the Cinque Terre
One evening, we travelled by train towards the Cinque Terre to meet an old school friend who happened to be visiting the area at the same time.
One of the things I love about travelling in Europe is how easily plans like this can come together. Someone you know happens to be somewhere vaguely nearby, you look at the train timetable and suddenly you’re meeting for dinner on the Italian coast.
I’d visited the Cinque Terre years earlier when I was living in London, and it was lovely to be back in this part of Italy again.
The five villages clinging to the Ligurian coastline are incredibly beautiful and absolutely worth visiting if you have the time. It’s also somewhere that deserves an article of its own one day.
Eating in Santa Margherita Ligure
Food was, unsurprisingly, a fairly important part of our four days.
There are restaurants everywhere in Santa Margherita Ligure, and one of the pleasures of staying centrally was simply walking out in the evening and deciding where we felt like eating.
There are plenty of opportunities to dine alfresco, have a glass of wine and watch the town go by.
One restaurant already on my list for next time is Langosteria, which has a beautiful waterfront location in nearby Paraggi.
And then there was the gelato.
We ate a lot of gelato.
Gelateria Gepi and Simonetti Gelati were among our stops, although I’m fairly certain our approach was simply to try whichever gelateria happened to be closest at the time.
When in Italy.
Why Santa Margherita Ligure Worked So Well for Us
Santa Margherita Ligure turned out to be a wonderful addition to our European trip.
After travelling through the South of France, arriving by train and spending four days in one place gave us time to settle into a slightly slower rhythm.
We could walk to the beach, hire a boat, eat outside, visit Portofino, jump on a train to explore further along the Ligurian coast and, importantly, find gelato whenever required.
It’s also a great alternative if you want to experience this famous stretch of the Italian Riviera without actually staying in Portofino.
Four nights felt about right for us, although I could easily have stayed longer and explored more of the surrounding coastline.
And next time, we’ll make it all the way to San Fruttuoso Abbey.
Probably.
