【LIVE】Webcam Live Portofino – We are taking you to one of the prettiest places in Italy. It’s the small town of Portofino. This place has been admired by poets and painters, writers and artists of all kinds for centuries. Even the architectural elements seem to have come from some sort of a romantic picture book, like a dream come to life. It’s the ideal version of an Italian seaside village.
Portofino is one of those very special destinations probably in the top 100 of the world. And we are going to show you how to enjoy it best, especially in the offseason. As always, we’re providing a practical guide filled with beautiful sights showing you how to get the most out of your visit. You could drive here or take a ferry boat, we’ll show you both ways arriving by van and leaving by boat. Portofino is located on the northwest coast in Liguria, sometimes called the Italian Riviera, just about 20 miles south of Genoa. Well, to get there we’re driving from Santa Margarita, which is a nearby town.
It’s about three miles along the coastline.And you pass a few isolated houses along the way. But mostly it’s this windy, curvy, Cliff hugging seaside road, it’s really scenic. In our case, we’re going by a private shuttle down. Since we are part of a small group that I’m leading on our tour of the Mediterranean. You can also get here by public bus which is very convenient and inexpensive. It’s not a very long drive. When there’s no traffic like this, it takes less than 15 minutes, or you could walk there in an hour and a half on a scenic poor kilometer inland coastal path. The little beach of Karachi is the only sandy beach on this 10 mile stretch of coastline.
Most of the coast is rocky cliffs or little bolder beaches. But in that little village of Karachi, there’s an actual sandy beach, you arrive at a small parking lot in the little back streets of Portofino. And if you’re traveling by public bus, the bus stop right here they’ll drop you off, we got out of our van and within a block here in the town. If you’re driving here in the summertime, you probably will not find any parking spaces available.
So it’s better to come by a public transportation. From here walk along that main little pedestrian shopping lane a few blocks, and you’ll arrive in a few minutes at the waterfront. Get ready to be dazzled by the beauty of this perfect little place. It’s a very small village makes it easy to walk around, enjoying this splendid view of the marina, beautiful yachts and fishing boats and pleasure craft of all kinds. And around it you’ve got the village itself with rows of restaurants and shops and the old pastel colored buildings embracing it all. When you have a look at the sheltered Cove and pretty buildings of this little hamlet, you’ll see why it has become world famous.
I suggest you have a preliminary look at this charming waterfront, check out the restaurants and shops for later visiting. But one of the first things you want to do after you get oriented is take that walk up the hill for the world famous view, reserve lots more time to poke around in the village later. But now let’s go get that VISTA, the path is just on the right side of the village, you’ll see it between the shops. It’s a little inconspicuous, you might even miss it. If you don’t know how to look for it. There is a small information sign with arrows pointing the way but it’s pretty inconspicuous. Follow your nose and you can’t go wrong.
It’s just one path that goes up the hill. And at least you don’t have to push a heavy load like this local worker does. That’s the first glimpse you get but keep going because it gets better. You’ve come this far and it’s only another 100 meters or less to get to the very best view. So don’t stop here. Just keep going. It’s an easy walk. Keep going. Yes, it’s a bit of an uphill climb but not so bad. Only Takes about 15 minutes at most to walk up
here. Or 10 If you’re a good Walker, when you reach the Church of St.
George, you have arrived at the very best viewing location. This is it. What an amazing this stuff. Of course you’re wanting to take a lot of pictures, grab some selfies, maybe get some group shots, snap away. But when you’re done taking the pictures, just stop and look at is such a gorgeous view that you might never see again. So soak it all up this first time and really appreciate it sometime We’re so busy taking pictures and I’m as guilty as anybody that we forget to just drop it all and look at the view, just soak it up. Just have a seat, there’s little ball, you can sit down there’s benches, and take your time up here.
We arrived in the late afternoon on a sunny day with provided perfect conditions, it was as bright and colorful as it could possibly be. And there was plenty of daylight left for us to go back into the village and walk around and still enjoy that lighting on the buildings. There’s also a nice view behind you in the other direction just to the right of the church walk over to the wall and you can look down at the sea cliffs and the beautiful waters down below.
You could walk further uphill for another five or 10 minutes to the castle of St George and get some more visitors but the view from the church is the best so you don’t have to walk any further up. But walking downhill of course is a little easier. And you can enjoy the views once again. Fortunately, it’s protected as a National Historic Landmark. So it’s going to stay the same way and looking the same with his wonderful appearance for quite a while. The only difference would be in the time of day or in the season that you get here. Again, we’re here in that offseason. If you get here in April or May it’s perfect, not crowded, summertime very busy. Or come in early October like we did.
As you get down to the bottom of the hill. This little Lane becomes a shopping street with all sorts of kiosks and souvenirs tempting you on both sides, as people crowd into, see what they can buy. And then all of a sudden you’re back in town at the waterfront free to explore at will. After all of that exertion to get up and down the hill for the view. This is a great time to reward yourself with a drink. Maybe have a spritz or one of the local wines and you can always find some freshly made gelato, I suggest you take a lovely stroll all the way around the Marina because over on that far side, there’s a charming row of outdoor restaurants and cafes and wine bars and some little boutiques tucked away. Plus you’ll have splendid views of the various boats from different angles in the midst of the marina.
While this is obviously a touristic town, you will be delightfully surprised at the high quality of the restaurants. And they’re really no more expensive than restaurants that you’re going to find anywhere else in Italy. Of course, there’s a variety of price ranges here. You can have a light snack, you can have a full meal. They’ve got a lot of fresh fish, of course, that’s one of their specialties here. And there’s always that great Italian pasta.
Each one of these restaurants serves wonderful food, they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t.
And usually the owners and waiters live right nearby as well. So they have a stake and doing a very good job for you. You’ll notice it’s not crowded at all mostly because we’re here in early October, the shoulder season. Summertime you’d be lucky to get a table. Also, we’re here in the late afternoon so it’s not quite yet dinnertime. I stopped for a look at winter rose wine bar which looked very inviting with its outdoor tables and friendly service and big selection of wines. And then I found out that it’s ranked as the number one restaurant in Portofino by TripAdvisor took a look inside lots more wines in there.
Not just a great wine bar, but excellent food. In addition, TripAdvisor lists 30 other restaurants bars and cafes right here in this little town. The waiters here are not in any hurry to pressure you to order a meal or finish up. This is Italy after all it’s very relaxed and casual harbor side dining at its best in Portofino. This little village has become world famous for yachts send the visiting Jet Set the millionaires and billionaires Hollywood royalty and media superstars.
The natural small harbor is near the rocky tip of the lush promontory that protects the sheltered Cove from the Gulf of Rapallo like a giant breakwater. Somehow the overall elements around you fit together in a perfectly harmonious hole. It’s just the ideal picture postcard and it seems too good to be true. But this is the real thing.
This village has been here for hundreds of years. It was a fishing village originally, and now it’s one The great visitor destinations of the world. Every proper Italian town has a main Piazza where the people gather. And here it’s ready the waterfront Piazza martiri della Veta, a fine place for the visitors as well as the locals to hang out surrounded by restaurants, cafes, and all those beautiful buildings. It’s a peaceful and safe harbor where the kids can play and the families can enjoy the experiences together. And this public space is created in such a way that it’s friendly and inviting to the visitor to encourage you to linger and rest.
There’s benches there are chairs, there’s the seawall, you can sit on, places to relax, plenty of room to stand around and then have a seat at one of those many outdoor restaurants that are so inviting with their nice tables, great food, quick service, pizza, pastry drinks, and a complete meal if you wish. While the Marina with its cafes, and that beautiful view from the Hill are the main draws of Portofino there’s another side to this town, Joan in the circled area on the map. Just a block inland from the waterfront is a series of Promenade sand, small lanes for shopping, and more eating and drinking.
And there’s a few hotels tucked away in here, such as the affordable three star hotel nazionale, and it’s adjacent Don Nicola restaurant just inland from the waterfront. So that’s another fun place to explore once you’ve seen everything else. Even though this is a high quality resort town. The prices you’ll find in the stores are about the same as you’ll find anywhere in the country. It’s the downtown of this little village with a range of Dilek shops and souvenir stands and little grocery stores tucked away more deeply into ever smaller alleyways in a setting that many travelers are going to miss altogether art galleries where you could find an original oil painting by a local artist, take out foods and beautiful paving underfoot for walking.
There are no more hills to climb or distant VISTAs in this part of the waterfront Village.
Another small hotel back here is the three star hotel Eden situated in the center of the little town on a narrow side street, close to the Piazzetta but well hidden from the crowd. They have a small garden shaded by old trees that provides a unique atmosphere. You might even use this as home base for visiting the surrounding region. However, there are many more hotels in the city of Santa Margarita Liguori just about three miles away which makes a very efficient home base as we have done in our tourists to this area. But if the charms of Portofino have seduced you, there are possibilities for actually staying here there are a half a dozen hotels and there are some vacation rentals you can pick from. At the end of our day trip visit here we had two different ways to get back to Santa Margarita. We could either take that city bus, or better yet, take the boat it’s a scenic boat ride.
And sure it costs a little bit more than the bus and still under 10 Euro. But what a wonderful excursion it would be and yes, it turned out to be great fun.
You don’t need reservations but you can buy your ticket ahead of time and get to the dock about 1015 minutes early. Wait your turn wait on the short line and soon enough you shuffle on board and away you go. Right away. It’s very scenic enjoying the view of the boats and the harbor and the buildings all around from water level as we make our way out of the marina and into the Gulf of Apollo.
As we round the point and exit the Marina we can see up on the Hill that large pink building it’s the Belmont splendido the five star super deluxe hotel a Portofino. It was an exceptionally clear and sunny afternoon that through beautiful lighting on the green forested hills sprinkled with mega mansions of the multimillionaires. also giving us a view of that beachfront hamlet of perogy that we spotted on the drive coming in with its little beach.
This beautiful ride was over too soon because it only took 15 minutes. Somehow in memory it seemed like a longer ride because it was so stimulating with all of the nice views along the coastline.
The ride is so quick they don’t even have a snack bar.
You have seating indoors down below or better yet on the upper deck where you get the best view and all that fresh air and the sights all around other boats. Going by the beautiful weight of your ship that’s quite a sight to see as well.
The boat brings you right into the center of Santa Margarita Liguori, and you’ll have a splendid view of that city as you arrive as well. There’s a lot of hotels along the waterfront here. We stayed at one of them, and they’ve got a sandy beach. There’s lots of bars and cafes. It’s a great city. We have another movie about Santa Margarita Liguori, you’ll have to look for in our collection.
The city of Santa Margarita is wonderful in itself with its many restaurants and bars and hotels and friendly local people and kind of a authentic character not quite as touristic as Portofino or some other famous Italian places. It also makes a very good home base for visiting Portofino as we’ve just seen, as well as King quickteller, which is just about an hour away by train. And you can also find a lot of videos about that splendid place in our collection.
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