Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
long slumber and kick-started various urban renewal projects. The process was
further stimulated by the city's hosting the G8 summit in 2001, and being desig-
nated Cultural Capital of Europe in 2004. With a record 3.2 million visitors last
year, it would seem that Genoa the Proud is on the rise once again.
LAY OF THE LAND
Aeroporto Cristoforo Colombo
(www.airport.genova.it) is 20 to 30 minutes
from the old city center. A
taxi
ride costs
€
25; the VolaBus 100 only
€
3 (it runs
every half-hour). You can also get to Genoa
by boat
from Sardinia and Sicily, or
from various points along the Ligurian coast. Based in Camogli, Golfo Paradiso
ferries (www.golfoparadiso.it) serve the east coast, including Cinque Terre and
Portofino. Homegrown
Consorzia Liguria ViaMare
(
%
010-265712;
www.liguria
viamare.it)
covers the same area as well, offering harbor tours, whale-watching
trips, special night trips, and a few stops along the west coast; both depart from
the Porto Antico.
Your energies should be focused on Genoa's medieval heart, the
centro storico,
and the best (and usually only) way to get around this pedestrian area is on foot.
If you're arriving
by train,
alight at
Stazione Principe
(home to a small but excel-
lent tourist bureau; pick up a copy of the detailed city map, which has every street
in the medieval city marked). Walk down Via Balbi to Via Garibaldi (the north-
ern borders of the historical area), stopping off to view a few museums, and then
lose yourself in the
centro storico,
which bleeds out into the Porto Antico, home
to the aquarium (a 10-min. direct walk from the station).
If you're overnighting in the “modern” side of town, get off one stop earlier, at
Stazione Brignole.
From here catch a bus (
€
1) to Piazza Ferrarri (the eastern
boundary of the old town) and head west.
If you'd like to get a better sense of the city, including its hillside neighbor-
hoods, the 3-hour
Girocittà bus tour
(
%
010-5959779;
€
13)
gives an insight
into the extraordinary variety of Genoa, and includes a short walking tour of the
historical center. More satisfying and focused
walking tours
(historical center or
the interiors of the
palazzi
that line Via Garibaldi) are offered once weekly from
June to mid-September; both are fascinating and an unbelievably good value at
€
5. To find out when these are running this year, call
%
010-2359331
or e-mail
anna.daneri@virgilio.it.
Note:
The one time you don't want to be in Genoa is during the Salone
Nautico Internazionale (International Boat Show) held every year in October (see
www.fiera.ge.it for exact dates). Prices skyrocket and you'll be lucky to find a bed.
ACCOMMODATIONS, BOTH STANDARD & NOT
€
Genoa's upscale
youth hostel
(Passo Costanzi, 120n;
%
010-2442457; www.
ostellionline.org),
rated as one of the best in Europe, is large, clean, and func-
tional, with great views of the port, and at
€
15 a night offers the cheapest bed in
town. Its biggest drawback (besides the institutional atmosphere) is that it's a 20-
minute bus trip from town, and another 5 to 10 minutes into the medieval cen-
ter (bus no. 40 from Brignole station; from Principe station you need to change
from no. 35 to 40). Stay there only if you're on the strictest of budgets.
