Portofino's pastel harbour on the Italian Riviera

Portofino, Italy

Mediterranean

Pastel harbours, cliffside gardens, long afternoons on the water.

Portofino is a small harbour that has never needed to be large. A crescent of pastel houses, a handful of tables at the water's edge, and a hillside of gardens looking back down at the boats — the village keeps its scale on purpose, and it rewards those who arrive by sea. From the deck, the Riviera unfolds at its own pace. Mornings are spent at anchor in a quiet cove, afternoons ashore among the terraces and terracotta, and evenings watching the light soften over Santa Margherita and the Ligurian coast. There is no hurry to it — the point is to stay a while, and let the day set its own itinerary.

A clifftop pool looking out over the anchorage

THE ITALIAN RIVIERA, DAY BY DAY

Four days out of Portofino — the harbour, the abbey coves and the villages of the Ligurian coast. Drawn to the charter by our concierge.

DAY ONE
Portofino Harbour
Join the vessel off the piazzetta. Aperitivo on deck as the harbour lights come up, dinner ashore at the water’s edge.
DAY TWO
San Fruttuoso & Camogli
Anchor below the tenth-century abbey at San Fruttuoso — reachable only by sea — then lunch in Camogli’s pastel harbour.
DAY THREE
The Cinque Terre
A morning passage down the coast. Vernazza and Riomaggiore from the water, swimming in the coves between, sunset off Monterosso.
DAY FOUR
Santa Margherita & Return
A last swim off Paraggi beach, lunch in Santa Margherita Ligure, and the short run home to Portofino.

A yacht at anchor below a Riviera cliffside village

On the water

The days here are built around the coast, not the clock. Anchor for a swim below the point, take the tender in for lunch among the harbour tables, then come back aboard as the village lights begin to show. Dinner is set on deck or ashore — a long table, a slow service, the water close enough to hear.