Visiting Portofino part 3

Visiting Portofino 3

The village of Portofino lies at the end of a narrow and winding road just 5km to the south of Santa Margherita. You can take this journey by bus all year longer but a better option, in spring and summer, is to use the boats that shuttle regularly to and from all the nearby ports.

During the summer there are lots of boat companies serving ports along the Tigullio coast. One of the most popular shuttle services is between Rapallo, Santa Margherita and Portofino with it taking around fifteen minutes between each port. In July and August there are also night excursions along the same route, these are worth doing if you have the time. A one way fare is around €15, however some of the ferry boats are better than others so it pays to look around before you buy your ticket. This really is the best way to arrive and as you can see from the photos the locals have painted their homes in an ornate style turning plain flat walls into architectural masterpieces.

To get a better view of Portofino’s setting you can follow the footpath which heads south from the harbour up onto the headland. Five minutes from the village just off the path is the church of San Giorgio, which is claimed to contain relics of St George. Keep climbing up the path for a further ten minutes and you arrive at the wonderfully located Castello Brown. It is from here that many of the well-known photos of Portofino have been taken. The terraces around the building offer breath taking views of Portofino below and also up the north coast line. The castle which is from the Roman period is named after a former owner the British Consul Montague Yeats Brown, who bought it in 1867 and started transforming it into a home. When he married in 1870 he planted two pine trees on the main terrace to represent the happy couple. Those trees are still a prominent feature on the terrace today, although now the building frequently hosts art and photography exhibitions. The scenic path does continue on at this point for about a kilometre. It goes down to the lighthouse on the very tip of the promontory, but be warned that once down there the only way back is up the same path you have just come down. If instead of this path you go northwest from the village you follow a course of steeply stepped paths that head towards San Fruttuoso. The best beach in the area is the cove at Paraggi which is 2km back towards Santa Margherita on the coast road. This is a more laidback area than Portofino and has a very small stretch of pebbly sand. It has a couple of bars set back from the water where you can sit quietly and enjoy the peace.

Overall I would say this is an area that is at least worth a look if not a few days of your time.