Cornelius Amann
October 06, 2026
5/5
Liguria: Cinque Terre, Portofino and Genoa
7 days from Genoa: Camogli, Portofino and San Fruttuoso by boat, three nights in the Cinque Terre with the village paths and Portovenere, then Lucca on the way to Pisa.
7 days · Genoa to Pisa · up to 12 guests
Vernazza from the path above the village Photo: Original uploader was Evadb, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vernazza_from_above.JPG)
The facts
At a glance
- Length
- 7 days, 6 nights
- Start and end
- Genoa to Pisa
- Group size
- 7 to 12 guests
- Activity level
Moderate
Most days are 2 to 4 hours on foot on steep lanes, stone steps and coastal paths. The longest is day 5: about 3.5 km from Monterosso to Vernazza (about 2 hours with several hundred steps), and for those who want it about 4 km more to Corniglia. Every path day has a train or boat option instead.
- Meals included
- 6 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 1 dinner
- Room of your own
- + CAD 610 (estimated price)
- Season
- April to June and September to October
Highlights
Why this trip
- The first boat of the morning from Santa Margherita into Portofino harbour, before the day boats arrive
- The abbey of San Fruttuoso in its cove, reached only by sea or on foot, with lunch on the beach
- The path from Monterosso to Vernazza at 8 am, coming down to the harbour as the village wakes up
- Riomaggiore in the early evening, after the day-trippers have gone
- The coastal boat past all five villages to Portovenere and its church on the rocks
- A pesto lunch in Genoa, made with a mortar and pestle, and a tasting of Cinque Terre wine and Sciacchetrà
- Camogli's tall painted houses on the harbour, and the walls of Lucca on the last morning
What makes this trip different
Free time is part of the plan
Free time and choices are marked on the days they fall.
Solo without the penalty
A room of your own is + CAD 610 (estimated price).
Day by day
Itinerary
Tap any stop on the map to open that dayClick any stop on the map to open that day
Arrive in Genoa
Genoa airport or Piazza Principe station to your hotel in the old centre
- Welcome dinner
- Stay in Genoa
- Drive about 30 min
We meet you at Genoa's Cristoforo Colombo airport (GOA) or at Genova Piazza Principe station and take you to the hotel in the old centre; if you fly into Milan, a direct train brings you down to Genoa in about one and a half to two hours. Plan to arrive by about 2 pm.
Afternoon
Late in the afternoon your See Sight Tours guide leads a first walk: along Via Garibaldi, the 16th-century street of merchant palaces that UNESCO listed in 2006 with the Palazzi dei Rolli, then down into the caruggi, the maze of narrow medieval lanes, past the striped marble front of San Lorenzo cathedral to the Porto Antico. We stop on the way for focaccia still warm from a bakery oven.
Evening
In the evening we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Ligurian dishes, trofie with pesto among them, and a short briefing on the week ahead.
Included
- Pick-up at Genoa airport (GOA) or Genova Piazza Principe station
- Evening walk with your guide: Via Garibaldi, the caruggi, San Lorenzo cathedral and the Porto Antico
- Focaccia tasting
- Welcome dinner and briefing
Free time: Free until the late-afternoon walk
Activity: About 1.5 hours on foot on stone lanes, some of them steep.
Genoa's palaces, pesto and Camogli
Genoa to Camogli, then Santa Margherita Ligure
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Santa Margherita Ligure
- Drive about 1 h
Morning
We are at the Strada Nuova museums first thing in the morning: Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco, two of the palaces on Via Garibaldi, with their painted rooms and collections, and the roof terrace of Palazzo Rosso for the view across Genoa's slate roofs to the port.
Afternoon
Late morning we join a Genoese cook to make pesto the old way, with basil, pine nuts, garlic, cheese and oil in a marble mortar, and eat it as lunch. In the early afternoon our driver takes us about 40 minutes along the coast to Camogli, a fishing town whose tall houses are painted in ochre, pink and yellow, with trompe l'oeil windows and shutters. The harbour and the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta are best in the afternoon light; try focaccia col formaggio, the cheese focaccia of neighbouring Recco.
Evening
Then it is twenty minutes over the headland to Santa Margherita Ligure, our base for two nights, in time for an evening on the seafront.
Included
- Strada Nuova museums: Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco (closed Mondays; departures are set so this day is not a Monday)
- Pesto-making lunch with a Genoese cook
- Camogli harbour and the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta with your guide
Free time: Evening free in Santa Margherita
Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot, with stairs in the palaces and a short climb in Camogli. The Strada Nuova museums close on Mondays, so we schedule departures so that day 2 never falls on one; if a closure catches us out, we visit the Palazzo Reale or San Lorenzo's treasury instead.
Portofino and San Fruttuoso by sea
Santa Margherita to Portofino and San Fruttuoso by boat, and back
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Santa Margherita Ligure
- By boat
Morning
We take the first boat of the morning from Santa Margherita, about fifteen minutes round the headland into Portofino, before the day boats from other towns arrive and while the harbour is still quiet. Your guide walks you up past the church of San Giorgio to Castello Brown, a fort turned villa with gardens and a view straight down onto the moored yachts, then out along the path through pines to the lighthouse on the point. Late morning a boat takes us on round the promontory to San Fruttuoso, a Benedictine abbey in a small cove that can be reached only by sea or on foot.
Afternoon
Visit the abbey and its cloister, then lunch at a trattoria on the beach. Out in the bay, about 17 metres down, stands the bronze Christ of the Abyss, placed in 1954. Mid-afternoon the boat takes us back to Santa Margherita, and the rest of the day is yours, for a swim or a drink on the harbour.
Included
- Boats from Santa Margherita to Portofino, on to San Fruttuoso and back
- Portofino with your guide: San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the path to the lighthouse
- The Abbey of San Fruttuoso
- Lunch at San Fruttuoso
Optional experiences
- Sea kayaking off the Portofino promontory with a local outfitter, booked at your request
Easier option: Stay in Portofino harbour while the others walk to the lighthouse, and ride the boat both ways.
More active option: Walk from San Fruttuoso back to Portofino on the promontory path, about 2 hours with steep climbs through the woods, then take the boat to Santa Margherita.
Free time: Late afternoon and evening free
Activity: If the sea is too rough for the boats, we go to Portofino by van and walk to the lighthouse, and visit San Fruttuoso on day 4 if the boats run.
Along the coast to the Cinque Terre
Santa Margherita to Sestri Levante and Monterosso al Mare, then Riomaggiore by train
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Monterosso al Mare
- Drive about 2 h
A late start, then our driver takes us about half an hour down the coast to Sestri Levante for coffee on the Baia del Silenzio, a small curved beach of fishing boats and painted houses. From there we turn inland on the motorway and come back down to the sea at Monterosso al Mare, the largest of the five Cinque Terre villages, in about an hour and a quarter. The villages, the paths between them and Portovenere are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a national park, and cars cannot enter their centres, so the van takes our bags as far as the road allows.
Afternoon
After lunch in Monterosso the afternoon is free: the old town, the church of San Giovanni Battista with its striped facade, or the beach at Fegina. Your Cinque Terre card starts today.
Evening
In the early evening we take the train to Riomaggiore, when the day visitors are leaving, to see the harbour and its stacked houses in the last of the light. Dinner is your choice.
Included
- Coffee stop at Sestri Levante's Baia del Silenzio
- Lunch in Monterosso
- Cinque Terre Treno card for days 4 to 6 (trains between Levanto and La Spezia and the paid coastal paths)
- Early-evening visit to Riomaggiore with your guide
Free time: Afternoon free in Monterosso; dinner on your own
Activity: Riomaggiore is all steps and steep lanes; about 1.5 hours on foot in the evening.
The path to Vernazza and Corniglia
Monterosso to Vernazza on foot, then Corniglia, by path or train
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Monterosso al Mare
- By train
We are on the path at about 8 am, before the heat and before the trains bring the day visitors. The coastal path from Monterosso to Vernazza is about 3.5 km and two hours: up several hundred stone steps through olive groves and vineyard terraces, then along the hillside with the sea below, and down into Vernazza with the whole village laid out under you. Coffee on the harbour square, then climb the tower of the Castello Doria for the view back along the coast. From here those who want more walk on to Corniglia, about 4 km and two hours higher above the sea; the others take the train one stop with the guide and ride the shuttle bus up from the station. Corniglia sits on a headland about 100 metres up and is the quietest of the five.
Afternoon
Lunch is there, together. In the late afternoon, back in Monterosso, a local producer pours Cinque Terre white wine and Sciacchetrà, the sweet wine made from grapes dried on these terraces.
Included
- Guided walk from Monterosso to Vernazza on the coastal path
- Castello Doria in Vernazza: tower and viewpoint, when open
- Lunch in Corniglia
- Tasting of Cinque Terre wine and Sciacchetrà in Monterosso
Easier option: Take the train to Vernazza at about 10 am and meet the walkers on the harbour, then the train to Corniglia and the shuttle bus up from the station.
More active option: Carry on from Vernazza to Corniglia on the coastal path, about 4 km and 2 hours more, with a long climb out of Vernazza.
Free time: Free time between lunch and the tasting
Activity: The hardest walking day: about 3.5 km and 2 hours with steep steps for the first path, about 7.5 km and 4 hours for both. Shoes with grip and water are essential. If the park closes the path after rain, we go by train.
By boat to Portovenere, back to Manarola
Monterosso to Portovenere by boat, then Manarola by boat and Monterosso by train
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Monterosso al Mare
- By boat
Today we see the coast from the water.
Morning
Mid-morning the coastal boat leaves Monterosso and calls at Vernazza, Manarola and Riomaggiore before rounding the cliffs to Portovenere, about an hour in all, with the villages and their terraces seen as the fishermen saw them. Portovenere, at the tip of the gulf of La Spezia, is part of the same UNESCO listing as the Cinque Terre. Walk with your guide past the tall harbour houses to the church of San Pietro on its rock above the sea, look over to the island of Palmaria across a narrow channel, and climb to the Doria castle if you like.
Afternoon
Lunch is in Portovenere. In the afternoon the boat takes us back to Manarola, where a short path leads to the Punta Bonfiglio viewpoint over the village and the vineyards behind it.
Evening
Then the train home to Monterosso, and a farewell dinner together.
Included
- Coastal boat from Monterosso to Portovenere and back to Manarola
- Portovenere with your guide: the harbour, the church of San Pietro and the view to Palmaria
- Lunch in Portovenere
- Manarola and the Punta Bonfiglio viewpoint
- Farewell dinner
Optional experiences
- The Via dell'Amore from Riomaggiore to Manarola, if open, with its own timed ticket
Free time: Free time in Portovenere after lunch
Activity: If the sea is too rough for the boat, we go by train to La Spezia and bus to Portovenere.
Lucca's walls and home from Pisa
Monterosso to Lucca, then Pisa airport or Pisa Centrale station
- Breakfast
- Drive about 2.5 h
We leave Monterosso at about 9 am and drive about two hours south into Tuscany, to Lucca, a walled city on the plain. Its 16th and 17th-century ramparts, about 4 km round, were never needed for war and are now a broad, tree-lined promenade on top of the walls. Walk a stretch of them with your guide, or hire a bike and ride the whole circuit. Then we drop down into the centre: Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, an oval of houses built on the ring of the Roman amphitheatre, and the white marble front of San Michele in Foro.
Afternoon
Lunch is your choice, in a city full of trattorias. In the early afternoon it is about half an hour to Pisa, arriving at Pisa airport (PSA) by about 3 pm, or at Pisa Centrale station for trains to Florence, about an hour away. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm.
Included
- Lucca with your guide: the walls, Piazza dell'Anfiteatro and San Michele in Foro
- Drop-off at Pisa airport (PSA) or Pisa Centrale station
Optional experiences
- Bike hire on the Lucca walls
Easier option: If your flight leaves before about 4 pm, we take you straight from Monterosso to Pisa airport.
Free time: Lunch on your own in Lucca
Activity: Book a flight leaving Pisa after about 5 pm to see Lucca.
- Genoa1 night
- Santa Margherita Ligure2 nights
- Monterosso al Mare3 nights
- Pisaend
- Overnight stop
- Day trip
- By boat or train
Wildlife and weather: April to June and September to October are mild, good for walking, and the boats are running. Spring brings wildflowers on the terraces; September and October bring the grape harvest and warm sea. July and August are hot and at their busiest, so we leave them out.
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Before you book
Right for you?
Good for you if you want
- Travellers who want the Cinque Terre slowly, with three nights there instead of one
- Walkers who like a coastal path in the morning and a long lunch after it
- A short trip that pairs well with Florence, Rome or Venice before or after
- Food and wine lovers: pesto, focaccia, seafood and the wines of the terraces
Not for you if you want
- Step-free access: every village is built on steps and steep lanes
- Travellers who want a car-free beach holiday in one place
- High summer: we do not run in July and August
- City sightseeing: Genoa gets one evening and one morning
Book flights after we confirm your seat.
6 nights
Where you'll stay
Your hotels are named in your trip confirmation.
- Genoa1 night
- Santa Margherita Ligure2 nights
- Monterosso al Mare3 nights
One price
What's in the price
Included
Accommodation
- 6 nights: 1 in Genoa, 2 in Santa Margherita Ligure and 3 in Monterosso al Mare (or Levanto, one stop up the line)
- Central hotels of a 3-star-plus standard; we name each hotel when we confirm your dates
- Rooms shared, or your own for a supplement
Transport
- Pick-up at Genoa airport (GOA) or Genova Piazza Principe station
- Drop-off at Pisa airport (PSA) or Pisa Centrale station
- Our own vehicle and driver for the group on the road days, with drives of about 1 to 2.5 hours
- Boats from Santa Margherita to Portofino and San Fruttuoso and back
- The coastal boat from Monterosso to Portovenere and Manarola
- Cinque Terre Treno card for days 4 to 6: regional trains between Levanto and La Spezia and the paid coastal paths
Your guide
- A See Sight Tours guide with the group from day 1 to day 7
- Local guides where a site requires them
Activities
- Genoa: the evening walk, the Strada Nuova museums (Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco) and a pesto-making lunch
- Camogli harbour
- Portofino: Castello Brown and the lighthouse path
- The Abbey of San Fruttuoso
- Sestri Levante's Baia del Silenzio
- Riomaggiore in the early evening
- The Monterosso to Vernazza path with your guide, and the Castello Doria tower in Vernazza
- Corniglia
- A tasting of Cinque Terre wine and Sciacchetrà
- Portovenere and Manarola
- Lucca's walls and old centre
- All entrance fees for included sights
Meals
- 6 breakfasts
- 5 lunches, including the pesto lunch in Genoa and lunch on the beach at San Fruttuoso
- 2 dinners: a welcome dinner in Genoa and a farewell dinner in Monterosso
Not included
- International flights to Genoa and from Pisa
- Train from Milan to Genoa if you fly into Milan
- Visas or travel authorisations, if needed
- Travel insurance
- Meals not listed (lunch on days 1 and 7, dinners on days 2 to 5)
- Drinks, except at the wine tasting
- Tips
- Optional activities, such as sea kayaking, bike hire in Lucca and the Via dell'Amore
- Local city tourist taxes, where a hotel collects them on arrival
- Personal expenses
Extras
- Room of your own
- CAD 610 (estimated price)
When you can go
Dates and prices
Pick your start date when you request to book. We check that date and confirm it in your quote.
Prefer to travel without a group or guide? Ask us about arranging hotels, transport and city tours for you to travel independently.
Before you book
Booking terms
Nothing is charged now. Full terms and the cancellation schedule come with your quote, before you accept.
Business addresses
See Sight Tours Trips (USA): 3172 N Rainbow Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89108, United StatesSee Sight Tours Trips (Canada): 5305 50 Avenue, #1091, Red Deer, AB T4N 4B6, Canada+1-888-961-6584Guest reviews
What guests say
Reviews from guests on our day tours.
Jane
October 06, 2026
5/5
Susan
October 06, 2026
5/5
Tom L
October 05, 2026
5/5
MandL83
October 05, 2026
5/5
Darren O
October 05, 2026
5/5
Good to know
Questions
What does the price include?
Six nights in central hotels, 6 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 2 dinners, airport or station transfers at both ends, our own vehicle on road days, every boat in the plan, the Cinque Terre train and path card, a See Sight Tours guide throughout, all entries in the day plan, a pesto-making lunch and a wine tasting. Flights, drinks and tips are extra.
How big is the group?
The small-group trip runs with 7 to 12 guests. That matters here: the village lanes, the paths and the boats are narrow and busy, and a group of 12 moves through them, and fits round one lunch table, far more easily than the 16 to 40 of larger tours. For fewer people, choose the private style.
Who leads the trip?
A See Sight Tours guide is with the group from the first evening in Genoa to the drop-off at Pisa, and walks the paths with you. Local guides join where a site requires one. We name your guide when we confirm your departure.
How fit do I need to be for the Cinque Terre paths?
Moderately fit. The Monterosso to Vernazza path is about 3.5 km and two hours with several hundred steep stone steps; the optional stretch on to Corniglia adds about 4 km. Anyone can skip a path and take the train or boat instead. Every village is built on steps, so expect stairs every day.
I am travelling solo. What will I pay?
You can have a room of your own for a supplement of CAD 610, about 18 percent, shown before you book. Or ask to share: we pair you with one roommate of the same gender for the whole trip, with no swapping between hotels, and if no match is found we tell you before any payment.
When is the best time to go to the Cinque Terre?
April to June and September to October. The weather is good for walking, the sea is warm by late May, and the boats are running. July and August are hot and at their busiest with day visitors, so we do not run then. From November to March many boats stop and paths close more often after rain.
Why stay in Monterosso rather than La Spezia?
So you wake up in the Cinque Terre. From Monterosso you can be on the path at 8 am and see Riomaggiore in the evening after the day-trippers leave. Trips based in La Spezia spend part of each day on the train in and out with everyone else.
What happens if a path is closed or the sea is rough?
We switch to the train, bus or our van, and tell you the evening before. The national park closes paths after heavy rain, and the boats do not sail in rough seas. Every day in the plan has a land route to the same places, though San Fruttuoso is reachable only by sea or on foot.
How does booking work?
Choose a date and request to book. We confirm your place within 24 hours, and no payment is taken until then. Prices shown are per person sharing a room, with taxes, and the small group starts from CAD 3,385.
Can we travel privately or on our own dates?
Yes. Besides the small group, the trip comes as a private trip for your party only, on a date you choose, from CAD 6,095 per person. If you would rather travel independently on your own dates, ask us from the dates section and we will quote the same hotels, boats and transfers.
Do I need a visa for Italy?
Canadian, US, UK and Australian citizens do not need a visa for a short stay in Italy and the Schengen area. ETIAS, the EU travel authorisation, is not yet in force; we confirm whether it applies when you book. Your passport should be valid for at least three months after you leave.
Which airport should I fly into and out of?
Fly into Genoa if you can, or into Milan and take a direct train to Genoa in about 1.5 to 2 hours. The trip ends at Pisa airport in the mid-afternoon, so book a flight after about 5 pm, or take the train to Florence, about an hour away.
See Sight Tours has been providing travel services across North America since 2006. Operating in 20 cities across Canada and the USA, the company specializes in small group tours that offer personalized, high-quality experiences for travelers.
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