Portofino is a tiny pastel harbor on the Ligurian coast where a coffee costs €15, a seafood lunch costs €80, and a hotel room costs €400 for a closet with a window. It's also genuinely, outrageously, heart-stoppingly beautiful — the kind of place where the water is emerald, the boats are polished wood, the houses are painted in colors that don't have names, and the whole thing looks like a movie set because it essentially is one. The trick: don't stay in Portofino. Stay in Camogli (15 min by ferry, €7, hotels 1/4 the price, better food) or Santa Margherita Ligure (20 min walk, ferries, half the price). Visit Portofino for the view, the walk to the lighthouse (20 min, free, stunning), and the hike to San Fruttuoso.
Plan my Portofino trip →A 2-hour coastal hike from Portofino (or 30 min ferry from Camogli, €12) brings you to a Benedictine abbey from the year 1000, hidden in a cove accessible only by boat or trail. The Cristo degli Abissi (Christ of the Abyss) is a bronze statue submerged at 17m in the bay — visible by snorkeling or diving. The abbey (€5) has Doria family tombs and a cloister overlooking the sea. The hike from Portofino through the Monte di Portofino park is the real reason to be here — Mediterranean scrub, pine forests, views of the Ligurian coast, and zero cars. Hiking guide →