We were in Santa Margherita Ligure on April 27th & 28th, 2013.It is a lovely town. The promenade facing the sea is long with lots of good restaurants. Boats for Portofino, San Fruttuso Abbey and the Cique Terre villages leave from the pier. Bus to Portofino is convenient. The train station is up the hill, but a short-cut from the... More

Excellent place to stay and explore the nearby area including posh Portofino. Waterfront is pretty, good restaurants. Slower pace.

We were 3 ladies staying at the Lido Hotel right on the beach in this lovely town. The location was great - close to all restaurants and shops, and we made the easy walking trip to close-by Portofino with ease (+/- 5km). The clothes in Santa Margherita are word class, and the food at some of the local restaurants was... More

This small town is quite lovely to visit. We came here by train from Riomaggiore, one of the 5 tiny villages of Cinqueterre. While Portofino is much more famous, and therefore so much more expensive, we highly recommend that you make SML your home base, and you can venture from here. This is what we did. We stayed overnight at... More

I cannot decide whether Santa Margherita Ligure is better by day or by night... There would be check mate reasons for each side. Every woman in Santa Margherita Ligure was completely dreamlike. If you are single American man this is the place for you. Learn some Italian first. I remember these two Italian girls approached my brother and I and... More

A great town with everything you want from Liguria. 5km walk to Portofino and get the bus or boat back. Take a train to Cinque Terre. Have an ice cream. Eat fresh porcini pasta. Visit Villa Durazzo. Sit outside a bar and watch the world go by.

We visited several times for shopping the village of Santa Margherita Ligure, very pleasent walks from our hotel and we did find lovely shops and cafes. A place difficult to forget..

Position with easy access to cinque terre and Portofino. In summer the beach area and boating would be lovely. The restaurants were quite repetitive but there were a couple of great ones if look far enough.

So much history and beautiful spots to enjoy. I highly recommend visiting the old cemetery and the gorgeous church.