Liguria

Too frequently passed off as a grimy port city, Genoa is a beautiful and fascinating place to explore, with a vibrant cultural and arts scene, a world-class opera house and an authentic character that remains relatively free of tourists. To its south lie the best-known images of the Italian Riviera - post-card Portofino circling its pretty yacht harbor, the promenades of Rapallo and Lerice and a string of other tiny ports where local life and tourism coexist happily. At the end of Liguria is the fabled Cinque Terre, five towns that are now part of a national park, accessed by a train that burrows through the mountains or by a spectacular ...

Too frequently passed off as a grimy port city, Genoa is a beautiful and fascinating place to explore, with a vibrant cultural and arts scene, a world-class opera house and an authentic character that remains relatively free of tourists. To its south lie the best-known images of the Italian Riviera - post-card Portofino circling its pretty yacht harbor, the promenades of Rapallo and Lerice and a string of other tiny ports where local life and tourism coexist happily. At the end of Liguria is the fabled Cinque Terre, five towns that are now part of a national park, accessed by a train that burrows through the mountains or by a spectacular (and often breathtakingly narrow) trail that clings to cliffs high above the sea. Between Genoa and the French border are the classy Riviera beach towns of San Remo and its smaller neighbors, interspersed with charming little villages in the coves along its steep shores. Noli and Finale Ligure are well worth stops, although highway detours around some of the industrial ports are welcome. Between the cliffs of the promontories are golden-sand beaches.

About the Expert

Barbara Radcliffe Rogers has written or coauthored more than 30 guidebooks, including The Portugal Traveler, Drive Around Portugal, City Spots Munich, City Spots Helsinki, City Spots Stockholm, Eating New England, and the Maine section of Thomas Cook's Independent Traveller USA.