Santa Margherita Ligure – Near not in Cinque Terre
And another in the “near but not in Cinque Terre” series, which is a look at several towns in the same area as the famous Cinque Terre, but are likely overlooked. Santa Margherita Ligure is a name that I saw several times in my previous trips to Cinque Terre. As train stops in this area go it is a fairly major one. So if you come into the Cinque Terre from Genoa you will have likely stopped here too. It is also the jumping off place to Portofino. The town is well worth a visit on its own though.
If you are going to Portofino by bus or boat, you will likely be walking through Santa Margherita Ligure. The train station is at the top of the hill and like most places in this region the town extends down toward the beach. In this case a wide pebbly beach around a large cove. We were there in March so it wasn’t high time for sunbathers, but I can well imagine the place is full in summer.
Around one end of the cove is the wharf where you can get boats to Portofino. We saw a large groups of tourists pile on and off of such boats and most just walked straight through town to the station. This is a shame I think. I enjoyed my time here far more than in more ritzy Portofino. Though from looking at the cars and houses and even the babies wandering in high fashion names, this is not a poor fishing village either.
Santa Margherita Ligure is a beach town and thus not especially cheap, but it feels a lot more livable than the other cute little beach towns in the area. My parents and I walked around town before taking our bus down to Portofino. The idea was to see another place as well as hopefully find a decent place to eat lunch. Trattoria da Pezzi is where we ended up. It is tucked down Via Cavour and we randomly stumbled onto it. We had originally chosen a random pizza place that in classic Italian style was slow in getting ready at noon. So we wandered and found this place. A little worrisome were the numerous travel book awards plastered on the windows. Despite this we saw locals doing take out from the deli counters up front and sitting in the back room. The menu is a black board where things are erased as they sell out. It was really great food and cheap enough that we went back for dinner. They apparently open the deli before the back room so we settled for pizza pocket like things and sat in the square. Heartily recommended.
After lunch we walked around the cove just to see what was here. There is a small castle on the hill to walk up to for a view of the cove and an interesting looking house looms over the base of the jetty which forms what looks like the private wharf. There are plenty of beaches here compared to in Cinque Terre itself. This is more what I think of when I think Italian Riviera.
They say all roads lead to Rome. See if maybe you can find a road that leads you to Santa Margherita Ligure. As always there are more pictures on the Facebook Fanpage for Grounded Traveler. This time several mosaics that line the promenade here.
Also thanks to Giulia for twitter help in some remembering of this place, her home town. Check out her blog for great photography and interesting stories including some first hand views of the Egyptian revolution.
March 20, 2012 @ 2:03 pm
We are here in S. margherita a year after you and agree with all you say. We have also added to your favorites the nearby town of camogli for a visit – wonderful little town with excellent focaccia col formaiggio – Molto buona .
Thank goodness we found the road to Santa Margherita !
March 22, 2012 @ 11:13 pm
I remember seeing Camogli on the map and bus routes. We didn’t make it there though. Thanks for the tip.
A Quick Guide to Near but not In Cinque Terre » Grounded Traveler - Expat Adventures in Germany
October 30, 2011 @ 11:00 pm
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June 2, 2011 @ 12:13 am
I’ve been there! http://mackie.squarespace.com/europe-2005-paris-and-italy/day-6-santa-margherita-ligure/ Back in the day.. we walked from SML to Portofino.. it was a beautiful walk! The weather was a bit overcast just like in your photos–brought back memories 🙂 I love Cinque Terre and this was just a stop off to see something different before heading over there for a few days, but we loved it!
June 8, 2011 @ 3:42 pm
I would have loved to do that walk, but it was too long a walk to do on the day we had set.
Italy Travel News 03/16/2011 | Italy Travel Guide
March 16, 2011 @ 6:20 pm
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March 13, 2011 @ 12:13 am
Heeey Andrew! It’s so nice to read about my hometown, but from a visitor’s point of view. I have to admit it’s a really nice place… I remember when I was a child I gave its beauty and colors for granted, then when I started traveling I realized how unique and beautiful this area is.
SML is a beach town and is full of tourists (especially from Milan) during the summer… and I used to hate it when the quiet small village suddenly became an overcrowded /overpriced place!
Luckily, unlike Portofino, some areas are not touristic and are much cheaper.
I am very glad that you had your lunch at Pezzi’s and not in one of the overpriced touristic restaurants near the sea where everyone ends up. Pezzi is my choice too when I’m in town! So great choice 🙂
…by the way why do all your posts always make me hungry? hehehe 🙂
It was a pleasure helping you (well I didn’t help that much) writing this, it’s nice to think of the town where I was born and raised… nice memories 🙂
Thanks for writing about Santa Margherita Ligure, it was a really pleasant read!
March 13, 2011 @ 1:46 pm
Hi Guilia,
I wish we had more time to spend there, but the time there was pretty cool. I can well imagine how full it would have been with tourists in the summer. We were there last March.
Glad I could offer nice memories and tasty thought. I don’t know why my posts make you hungry. I don’t really think I write about food all that much.
March 12, 2011 @ 11:42 pm
It’s confirmed – I want to live out my days in a beautiful Italian town. Must get back that way soon!!
March 13, 2011 @ 10:27 am
Well if you do that certainly add SML to your list of places to look at. Oo for that matter, look at Bologna too.
March 12, 2011 @ 6:29 pm
A fair number of tourists use Santa Margherita L as their home base while exploring the region. It is a fun town, less expensive that Portofino and near enough to the Cinque Terre to use the trains or boats for day excursions.
Thanks for posting more about this incredible area of Italy.
March 13, 2011 @ 10:23 am
I can see how that would be neat. We picked La Spezia and it was great for its own reasons. We got access to the eastern side of things easier. Sarzana is the next on the list in this series and we went to Pisa. That would have been more difficult from SML. But I totally agree that if you want to explore the area and still have a place to lounge on the beach this would be a great town for it. I would have liked to hike more on that peninsula.
Thanks for commenting.
March 11, 2011 @ 8:07 pm
Another great town that I would love to visit. It’s interesting to take a look at all these great towns that have the same look and feel as the CInque Terre. While towns like this can’t escape the tourists, still looks like a fun place to visit.
March 13, 2011 @ 10:21 am
Maybe my pictures don’t really do them justice, but I don’t think these towns and CT look alike. Similar yes, but each other one has its own flair. Maybe I’ll do a comparison at the end of the series. That could be fun.