How I planned my trip to Genoa, La Spezia, Portofino and Milan

July 16, 2019




I'll be honest with you and say that it took some time to plan my trip to Italy as I wanted to see so many spots such as Lake Como, Pompei, and Rome. However, due to the cost of flights and accommodation. I decided to see what else Italy has to offer in destinations. I came across Genoa, which seemed to be a somewhat underrated location in Italy as I hadn't seen many bloggers or travel companies talk about this place.

The reason why I thought about traveling to Geona first was that it had the best connection to the other destinations I wanted to visit on my trip. On top of that, the flights were cheap from Easyjet as they were around £30 pp ( excluding luggage).

The location itself reminded me of Ibiza with its luxury port and boats. But that wasn't the main thing that got my attention to visit this section of northwest Italy as truth be told it's the home of pesto and oh boy the food was delicious. 




However, for the first night of the trip, I only stayed in Genoa as part of layover as I didn't want to travel throughout the night to La Spezia.  I stayed in a lovely hotel which had a rooftop seating area and hot tub which served well as the first stop of the trip. Plus the hostess was so kind and made breakfast in the morning and offered me and my boyfriend discount to her son's restaurant called Savo's, which served the best pizza and tiramisu.

I woke up early the next day ready and packed to travel to La Spezia from Genoa's central train station. I purchased a first class train ticket for most of the trip (this includes going to Monterroso and back to Genoa) as the tickets were at relatively cheap 7-14
pp and were only 3 difference to the second class.

During my stay in La Spezia, I stayed in another hotel which was like a studio apartment. I loved the minimal decor, and it was in a great location as it was close to supermarkets, the shops, and the train station so I could head out to visit the Cinque Terre and Lerici.

I then ended the trip traveling back to Genoa to visit the area rather than just in the evening for dinner and a nap. The day I returned to the port was the same date of beer festival so after taking the time out of sightseeing we joined the locals and other tourists in fun. Whilst on the second day I went to visit Portofino and check out the very picturesque harbour.





The last destination of the trip was Milan,I stayed in the fashion capital for two days and took the time to soak up the sun and visit Duomo di Milano and designer shops. 

Overall, I spent around £160 on flights and luggage and then first class train travel in Italy was about 47 euro, which is less than a return ticket to London!  For accommodation I split between booking.com - hotel around £24 pp and then got an Air Bnb in Genoa and Milan for around £55 pp. Overall for the whole travel without food or drinks, it was less than £500, which isn't bad considering how much I did in the week.



My Travel Itinenary:


DAY ONE: Manchester to Genoa - Stay over night in Genoa
DAY TWO: Travel from to Genoa to La Spezia - Take a relaxing day in Lerici
DAY THREE: Travel from La Spezia to Monterroso to explore the Cinque Terre ( Cinque Terre ticket - 24
€  pp)
DAY FOUR: Travel from La Spezia back to Genoa and head out to visit the port and attend the beer festival.
DAY FIVE: Travel from Genoa to Portofino - Walked from the station to the main harbour
DAY SIX: Travel from Genoa to Milan - Explore the designer quarter
DAY SEVEN: Vist the Cathedral ( Entree fee 16
pp) and go to the Aperol spritz bar


Food cost:
Breakfast - Cappuccino 2-3€ ,  Croissant or another type of pasty less than 1€
Lunch- Sandwich - 3-4€
Dinner- 6-20€  ( More expensive in Milan)

Drinks:
Water - Get this from the Supermarket as it's much cheaper approx 1€ for a 2litre bottle
Soft drink - 1-3€
Wine - Glass of house wine approx  6€
Cocktail 10-15€

Tipping: 1-3€ 
I left a tip at most of the places as I went for food and drinks in the evening as they offered excellent service and gave me delicious free aperitif food!

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