I’ve visited this beautiful (albeit touristy) harbor town twice. First time, all the hotels were booked, so I stayed in Santa Margherita a neighboring seaside town. If you are staying in a hotel outside Portofino, I would recommend not driving to the harbor town. They have a gate on the road, and only allow one vehicle to pass every time another vehicle departs.
After a long wait, I turned around and went back to Santa Margherita where I was advised to take the local ferry that frequently leaves from their dock to Portofino. The ferry trip is only a few minutes and goes by the spectacular Portofino Lighthouse clinging to a rocky cliff. Also, Santa Margherita has a lot of great places to eat for local seafood.
The Portofino harbor is normally crowded with pleasure boats and crammed with tourists. One woman was trying to convince us to buy her local baked goods, and another was showing off her personal artwork. We did buy a piece of the artwork, but passed on the baked goods.
Portofino has a long history dating back to before the first century as a fishing village, but became famous as a destination for the European ‘Jet Set’ in the 1950’s.
