Not Really How to : Portofino, Italian Riviera, Italy

Portofino, 28 July 2022 | Summer

Actually I kind a feels like I want to write down everything because I realize that without this blog everything will just faded into memory, which maybe I will forget couple years later. So I will keep writing this travel series as I prefer. 

This blog for sure, not the best travel blog, because this blog is not a travel blog in the first place. Its just a platform to write down what I like. So while I am refreshing to the Spanish Government website to get the TIE appointment, let's get down to the real deal. 

What is Portofino?

Portofino is a commune in Genova, it is one of the very famous Italian Riviera, known for small luxurious harbor and colorful building in the shore. Based on my experience, Portofino in my opinion is very cute and beautiful. There is not a lot of things to do except you own a private boat. This place is a jet set, expensive place, but this place is worth for one day visit (maybe if you visit Genoa or Cinque Terre, or even do a day trip from Novara which is possible, you should definitely check Portofino).

How to get there?

1. Take the train to Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino Station (from Novara it will take 3,5 hours, you can go at 06:00 and arrived at 10:00).

2. From here take the 7385 bus to Portofino.

In order to go to the "real Portofino" you can walk for around 1,5 hours or you can take the 30 minutes bus. You can to take the bus directly from the stop near train station. 

Bus stop to real Portofino in front of the Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino train station

The bus schedule

How do you buy the bus ticket? When you arrived in the Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino station, there is a tabaccheria on the left side of the building. There you can buy a return ticket for the bus to Portofino (it will cost you 5Euro back and forth) in this tabaccheria. Remember this tabaccheria accept cash only. 

There bus ticket will look like this and there will be 2 sides (Andata means going -> validate it when you are going to Portofino, and Ritorno means back --> validate it when you are going back to Santa Margherita Ligure).

Another way to buy the bus ticket is by taping your debit card directly to the device on the bus. But this will cost you 3Euro one way, so it will be 1 Euro more expensive. 

There is this device, and some of passengers also use this device by tapping their visa/mastercard debit/credit card, it will cost you 3 Euro. 

Remember to validate the ticket. There are 2 ways to validate it : 1) On the bus 2) On the device near the bus stop. There will be random checking, so never get on the bus without buying ticket. 

 

You can also buy the ticket in the machine, that machine also works to validate the ticket before boarding to the bus. Once the ticket is validated it will active for 60 minutes if I am not mistaken. The bus stop will look like this.

What to do in Portofino?

You will need cute outfit, but you will hike a lot. For me I went here to take a good photos, so I really need to get to the best spot, and the best spot is uphill. 

1. Strolling around the port and the city. The city is cute and full of authentic Italian restaurants and it also have spots to do luxury shopping. But if you just broke student like me, strolling around is nice. 

 

2. Walking up to the church and cemetery. For me this is definitely highlight of the trip, you can see the whole Portofino with the cute iconic houses, boats from this side. You need to go up a little bit. The view from the road leads to the church is amazing and it has a lot of shades, and there are chairs as well if you want to sit down a bit to enjoy your snacks and cola to see the view is possible. 

3. Walking up to the castle brown. You need to hike up again, a little bit and pay 5 Euro to enter the castle, you can pay by card or cash. For me, this one is also worthed. There is a La Dolce Vita movie shooting location in this castle and the view from the castle is breathtaking. 

I think that's it about Portofino. Here.. everything for me is expensive, so I bring my own coca cola, water, snack and lunch to eat (I just went there to take photos). I did not pay for anything here except paying for the castle entrance and transportation, because I know Portofino is a jet set, luxurious place which is packed with wealthy tourist that come by their private boat. 

But this place is worth one day visit. There are other activities as well like cruising around and swimming, but I didn't try because at that time when I went it was freakin hot, but for sure you can try! Let me know if you visit Portofino and you like it.