Portofino Travel Forum

Does anyone know the best way to get from Cannes to Portofino? How long by train does it take?

Also, hotels in Portofino- reasonably priced?

We stayed at Santa Margherita Ligure down the coast from Portofino because the hotels were beyond, way beyond, our reach.

The bus ride that connects the two along the coastal cliffs is a kick.

It has been a while, but I think I remember. We took the train that connected at Genoa.

The interesting fact was that it had to switch equipment at the border because of different voltages of the railraods .

Nearly 6 hours, by 3 different trains. Sample for a weekday:
Dep. Cannes 10:07
Arr. Ventimiglia 11:40
Dep. Ventimiglia 11:51
Arr. Genova Piazza Principe 14:44
Dep. Genova Piazza Principe 15:11
Arr. S.Margherita Ligure 15:55
Duration: 5:48; runs Mo - Fr, not 1., 2. Jun, 14., 15. Aug, 31. Oct, 1. Nov, 7., 8. Dec
I can't tell you the price because I don't know whether it is single, return, or what and in any case I looked it up on the German Railways site and it doesn't give prices for trips outside Germany...

are you from Iowa? I am originally from Knoxville... just south of Des Moines

what type of hotel did you stay in?

Santa Margherita Ligure will not only offer a far greater range of hotels, espcially less expensive ones, but eating will be far less expensive and there will be more nightlife in the area around the central harbor. We have stayed there several times = great town. Just hop on the orange bus for Portofino. Also, from SML Camogli is accessibly by train as are the Cinque Terra and all the other great coastal towns.

Where can i look up the train.. is it the Euro Rail that we would take?
Are the train stations what you listed in your e-mail?

I misplaced the log from that trip (it will show up, I hope)

I could probably walk you there. It is about half a mile inland from the coast and about a quarter mile north. It is up a light hill. The office was a seperate main building with the rooms up a steep hill from there. It was very nice for our needs.

We found it from service called "Family Hotels of Italy" They are independent hotels that meet a minimum requirement. We used them with great success in other Italian towns.

However, it is 180 degress opposite across town from the train station, but still walkable.

The walk through the town at night was very enjoyable. It met our criteria of living like the locals.

And yes, we get to Knoxville frequently.

This train "engine" (get it?) works well.

http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en

I forgot to add that you need the Italian names for the towns.