6 Hours in Portofino

Welcome back to the #RivieraSeries! On the second day of my Italian Riviera trip with my sister, we set off to none-other-than Portofino! The infamous shipping village frequently visited by celebs and ballers; the vast display of million pound yachts lives up to this description.

We took the bus #82 from Santa Margherita Ligure which cost 5 EUR return. The scenic bus journey lasted 20 minutes and took a quick stop in Paraggi. Once we arrived in Portofino we walked to the main square (pictured below) and admired the view of the sparkling sea and brightly coloured buildings. Much to my surprise and slight disappointment, the detailing on the buildings has mostly been painted on! 

The intricately painted facades on nearly all of the buildings on the Italian Riviera is known as "trompe l'oeil'". This is an art technique that uses realistic imagery or paintings to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in 3D.

After a brief walk, we got hungry (surprise surprise) and chose Bar Gelateria “Il Molo” as our lunch spot. This restaurant has a gorgeous sea view and the food is reasonably priced. I opted for the pizza con parma ham for 14 EUR and a lemon soda for €7.50. I'm not going to lie, the pizza was dry and didn't have enough cheese at all... Sorry. Strangely, most of the beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) cost more than the actual food... Cocktails were 15 EUR, quite expenny but we expected such in Portofino. The waiter was lovely and our food took around 15 minutes.

With lots of calories to burn, we decided to take a short but steep hike to Chiesa di San Giorgio (Church of San Giorgio - pictured below). The yellow painted church looked beautiful against the summer blue sky.  The view of the Bay of Portofino from the church was equally as breath-taking.  Admission into the church is free. Definitely worth the huffs, puffs and panting by my sister and I.

The church structure dates back to 1154 however it has been destroyed and rebuilt four times since then. The interior of the church is oval in shape and houses the relics of San Giorgio brought back by sailors that participated in the Crusades.  

After taking several birds eye view shots of Portofino, we travelled back down to the square and picked up our mandatory gelato from Gelaterie Gepi. Yet again, I failed to deviate from a cup of stracciatella which costs 3.50 EUR. After stuffing our faces we said “Arrivedeci!” to Portofino and got on the bus back to Santa Margherita Ligure.

Brace yourself for an unpopular opinion... Both my sister and I agreed that we preferred Santa Margherita Ligure to Portofino. Portofino is undeniably scenic including the flash cars and yachts that I hope to afford one day. However, if you’re looking for luxury, beautiful views, seaside glory and food to die for... Santa Margherita is your best bet. I wouldn’t recommend booking accommodation in Portofino as there are very few hotels, the majority of which are quite expensive.

Furthermore, Portofino is a very small village and you can experience it in a couple of hours. There is no train station in Portofino so it can only be reached by car (if you want to brave the bendy roads), bus and ferry/boat. Santa Margherita Ligure is an amazing base if you wish to explore the Italian Riviera - SML has trains, buses, ferries etc all of which are easily accessible.

Nonetheless, I hope to return to Portofino in ten years with my husband and a bit (a lot) more cash. I’d stay in the Belmond Hotel Splendido, park my yacht in the harbour and live my best riviera life. I’ll sign off this post with a picture of my future yacht that includes an outdoor hot tub!

Happy roaming!