Genova & Portofino Full-Day Tour from Milan Getyourguide Review

This is a Genova & Portofino Full-Day Tour from Milan Getyourguide Review. This trip cost £102.59 per person. In this blog post I’ll walk through what visiting these places was like, what the tour entailed and if I would recommend it.

Link to experience (this is an affiliate QR code)

Included in tour:

Explore the historic streets of Genova, rich with maritime monuments and memorials to Christopher Columbus.
See stunning sights, such as San Lorenzo Cathedral, the Palace of the Doges and Royal Palace.
Sail along the Ligurian coast to the glamorous fishing village of Portofino, a popular escape for celebrities.
Relax in the charming harbor of Portofino, full of colorful fishing boats and houses.
Discover the picturesque harbor of Santa Margherita Ligure.
Escape the hectic environment of Milan and enjoy a scenic drive along the serene Ligurian Coast.

After booking on the getyourguide site you’ll receive a message to visit on the app to be able to access your ticket. We were told to meet at 06:45 – so we don’t lose the time slot. But they seemed pretty friendly and we waited for some tourists that were slightly later than us. They did rush off when it hit 7am however!

BREAKFAST

After an hour we stopped off at the petrol station quickly. This was supposed to be for 15 minutes where we could buy breakfast. This was a motorway pit stop so I wouldn’t particularly rate this as a breakfast stop- but don’t worry you get more choice later on in the tour. We were here a little longer than 15 minutes considering the amount of people after coffees.

VISITING GENOVA

Genova was first on the list. We stopped here after just under an hour’s drive. We drove further south to the capital of Liguria and the largest seaport in Italy at Genova (Genoa). This is nicknamed “La Superba” (“Superb One”), due to its impressive landmarks. We firstly did a short walking tour to explore the views of Genova from a higher viewpoint.

Next the bus dropped us in the centre. Here we walked to the birthplace of Christopher Columbus viewed his house from the outside and then explored the streets.

Birthplace of Christopher Columbus

This walking tour was quite long with a lot of information. We asked to stop off at a cafe instead. The tour guides were happy to let us do our own thing. We perched outside a cafe for a limoncello spritz in the sun and walked back to the bus before it set off again. This time, to Santa Margherita Ligure.

Santa Margherita

After another hour long drive we arrived at the picturesque harbor of Santa Margherita Ligure. We stopped off here for lunch for an hour before getting a boat to head to Portofino.

Lunch in Santa Margherita

After another hour long drive we arrived at the picturesque harbor of Santa Margherita Ligure. We stopped off here for lunch for an hour before getting a boat to head to Portofino. We ate at i’Toscano and would highly recommend- Pasta is around 15 euros and delicious. This is the cheaper option to the Hotel Helios which similarly has beautiful views of the ocean.

Here are some other recommended restaurants in Santa Margherita:

1. The Range Restaurant

2. The Porch

3. J’Country Kitchen

4. Rosalina

We next walked to the port with the tour group and headed over to Portofino. This took around 30 minutes. We next walked to the port with the tour group and headed over to Portofino.

This took around 30 minutes. Portofino is a quaint town that dates back to the Roman period. The small harbor has beautiful colorful waterfront houses which has made it a much sought-after destination among celebrities. Portofino comes from the Roman name of Portus Delphini (Port of the Dolphin). This is because of the large number of dolphins that inhabited here.

We stopped off at the picturesque Gelateria Gepi Portofino, which is a small café and gelateria with a quaint shaded terrace area. Gepi has 100% natural ingredients, zero hydrogenated fats and emulsifiers. Read more about this Gelateria in this post.

After an hour or so in Portofino we took the boat back to Santa Margherita Ligure and hopped on the bus back to Milan. This was a longer bus ride around 2 hours. We ended up getting back to Milan around 7pm. So this really was a 12 hour long tour!

Would you recommend this get your guide tour Milan: Genova & Portofino Full-Day Tour?

I’d recommend this tour, I’d just suggest letting the tour guide know if you’d rather stop off and indulge in a cute cafe as opposed to a fully loaded walking tour. They are flexible and it’ll make it a lot more enjoyable for you. There was a fair bit of time on the bus but because it wasn’t packed we could lay down and sleep. This is a good tour to do if you don’t have much time to explore but want to tick of several things on the to do list.