Genoa

Genoa in 2026 is a working port with one of Europe's largest medieval centers, a Renzo Piano waterfront that opened its mall in March, and a €2.20 ticket that covers buses, the metro, funiculars and city trains. Camogli, Santa Margherita and the Cinque Terre sit 25 to 75 minutes down the line.

Updated October 2026

BootsnAll Scorecard

7.5 / 10

Genoa scores highest on food and on how much it gives back to someone who walks it alone, and lowest on safety, hassle and timing, because the old town has rough edges and October and November bring the heaviest rain of the year.

Value
7
Nearer the 8 anchor than 5, since Hostelworld dorms start around US$11, a €2 ticket covers 110 minutes on buses, metro and funiculars, and a regional train to Monterosso is €11.90, though the Aquarium at €26 and up pulls the average back.
Getting around
7.5
One ticket works on buses, two funiculars, a rack railway, public lifts and Trenitalia trains inside city limits, but the single metro line closes at 9 p.m. except Saturdays and the caruggi are walk-only and steep.
Crowds and timing
7
The city itself is rarely overrun and works most of the year, but 7.9 inches of rain in November, a record of Bisagno floods in 2010, 2011 and 2014, and packed Riviera trains in summer keep it off the 8 anchor.
Safety and hassle
6.5
Muggings of visitors are rare, but pickpockets work the San Lorenzo and San Donato nightlife streets and city buses, side alleys off Via Pré feel rough, and there's no Uber, so it sits between the 5 and 8 anchors.
Food and drink
8.5
Close to the 8 anchor and above it, because focaccia, farinata and trofie al pesto are everyday food sold in bakeries and counters all over the center, and pesto alla genovese is the city's own.
Indie fit
8.5
A city that rewards wandering on your own, with no tour circuit to speak of, a public lift up to every viewpoint, forts, hill trails and Nervi all reachable on a city ticket, and the coastal villages a few euros away by regional train.

Editorial scores, 1 to 10, against the same written anchors for every city. Half points allowed. The overall is the plain average of the six.

Overview and Things to Consider

Genoa is the city most people pass through on the way to somewhere prettier, and that's its luck. About 566,000 people live here, squeezed between the Ligurian Sea and a wall of hills, so the city runs long and thin along the coast and climbs straight up behind the port. The center is the caruggi, a 113-hectare maze of alleys so narrow that no vehicle fits. Palace facades hide in scruffy lanes, an alley opens without warning onto a small square, and the grand and the grubby share the same block.

You'll love Genoa if you like cities that work for a living. The port is still the busiest in Italy, ferries leave for Sicily, Sardinia and Tunis, and nobody is performing for you. You'll hate it if you want the tidy Italy of Florence or the romance of Venice. Parts of the old town are grimy, side streets near Via Pré feel sketchy at night, and the city sends you up and down hills all day. Nobody here has done much to make it easy for visitors, which is half the appeal.

The 2026 moment is the east waterfront. Renzo Piano gave the city a masterplan in 2017 for the old fairground, and the canals, homes and promenade have been filling in since. The Waterfront Mall opened inside the old Palasport on March 27, 2026, and the Salone Nautico boat show now runs there, with its 66th edition from October 1 to 6, 2026. Meanwhile the metro is digging at both ends and the new Milan rail line is still years out.

Some of the famous stuff is overrated. The Aquarium is big and well run, the largest in Italy, but at €26 and up it's an indoor afternoon you could have in plenty of coastal cities. Columbus's childhood house is an 18th-century rebuild of one the French navy destroyed in 1684. Spend that time in the alleys and on the lifts instead.

How Genoa Got Here

Genoa was the capital of the Republic of Genoa from the 11th century to 1797, one of the maritime republics that competed for Mediterranean trade. It beat Pisa at Meloria in 1284, and the Doge's palace at the top of the old town dates from that victory. The Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is the oldest known state deposit bank in the world, and its seat, Palazzo San Giorgio, still stands on the old port. Columbus was born here around 1451, and the city still frames itself around him, from the airport's name to the 1992 Expo.

The money of the 16th and 17th centuries built what you'll walk through. Genoa's banker families lined Via Garibaldi, the Strada Nuova, and Via Balbi with palaces, and the Republic kept official lists, the rolli, of private homes chosen to host visiting dignitaries. UNESCO listed 42 of those palaces in 2006, out of more than 100 still standing. The Republic declined slowly from the 17th century, was bombarded by the French in 1684 and fell to Napoleon in 1797. In the 20th century Genoa became an industrial port with a long, slow population decline, and its population is still aging fast.

The modern turn came in 1992, when Renzo Piano, a Genoese architect, rebuilt the Porto Antico for the Columbus anniversary, adding the Aquarium and the Bigo. The city was European Capital of Culture in 2004. Then on August 14, 2018, a 210-meter section of the Morandi motorway viaduct collapsed in a rainstorm and killed 43 people. The rest was demolished in June 2019, and Piano's replacement, the San Giorgio bridge, opened in August 2020.

Getting There and Around

Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA) sits on an artificial peninsula in Sestri Ponente, about 7 kilometers west of the center. It's small, with 1.34 million passengers in 2024, and the direct options are mostly European, like KLM to Amsterdam, Ryanair to London Stansted, ITA Airways and Aeroitalia to Rome, Volotea to Paris Orly and Vueling to Barcelona. Air Dolomiti's Munich flight ends on October 24, 2026. From North America or Australia you'll more likely connect through one of those hubs, or fly to Milan or Nice and finish by train.

From the airport there are two ways in. The AMT Volabus runs about 30 minutes to Via Milano and the ferry terminal, Principe station, Via XX Settembre near De Ferrari and Brignole, and you ride it on a Met Daily, a €10 24-hour pass that also covers the whole AMT network and line 782 to Portofino. You can pay by tapping a card on board. The cheaper route is the Genova Airlink shuttle, five minutes to Sestri Ponente Aeroporto station every 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., then a regional train to Principe in 14 to 18 minutes. One €2.20 integrated ticket covers both if you finish within 110 minutes. Radio Taxi Genova answers on 010 5966.

Italy is in the Schengen area. Citizens of the US, UK, Canada and Australia enter visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180, and EU citizens just need an ID card. Schengen rules, as the UK government spells them out, also want your passport issued less than 10 years before you arrive and valid at least three months past your departure. The EU's Entry/Exit System began on October 12, 2025 and became fully operational on April 10, 2026, so expect fingerprints and a face scan at your first Schengen border. ETIAS, the online pre-authorization with a planned €20 fee, isn't running yet, and the EU says it will announce a start date several months ahead.

Getting around is one ticket. AMT's €2 Biglietto Città Metropolitana lasts 110 minutes on buses, the metro, the Zecca to Righi funicular and the Principe to Granarolo rack railway. The €2.20 version adds Trenitalia trains inside city limits, from Voltri in the west to Nervi in the east, though each train ride needs its own validation. Public lifts and the Sant'Anna funicular also take a €1.20 single ride. The metro has eight stations from Brin to Brignole and closes at 9 p.m. on weekdays and Sundays, midnight on Saturdays. Buy tickets in the AMT app with Apple Pay or a card, or tap a contactless card on board a bus. Uber and FreeNow don't operate here.

Inside the old town you walk, because nothing else fits. Buses only skirt it, stopping at squares like Piazza Acquaverde, Largo Zecca, Piazza Corvetto and Piazza Caricamento. Distances are short but the hills aren't. Wikivoyage's advice for arriving at Principe is sound. Ignore the map app's shortcut down Via Pré and follow Via Balbi to the main road instead.

What's Changed Since 2016

August 2018 to August 2020. The Morandi bridge collapse on August 14, 2018 cut the A10 motorway through the Polcevera valley and killed 43 people. The remains came down in June 2019, and the San Giorgio bridge opened on August 3, 2020. It carries the motorway past the city and is no reason to visit, but it explains why Genoese talk about the 'Genoa model' of building fast.

2017 to March 2026. Renzo Piano's Levante Waterfront has turned the dead fairground east of the old port into canals, apartments and a seafront path that is meant to carry Corso Italia's promenade toward Porta Siberia. The Salone Nautico moved onto it, and the Waterfront Mall, with more than 70 shops, opened in the restored Palasport on March 27, 2026. A park between Corso Saffi and the Palasport was approved in November 2025 and isn't built yet.

2024 to 2028. In December 2025 the city signed new schedules for both extensions, Brin to Canepari by June 2027 and Brignole to Martinez by December 2028. The Terzo Valico, a high-speed line meant to cut the trip to Milan, has slipped repeatedly and is now due in 2028. Until then, Milan takes 1 hour 41 minutes on the fastest Intercity.

November 2023 and August 2026. Genoa's tourist tax keeps climbing. Hotel rates were reset in November 2023 and now run €2 a night at one star to €5 at five, with €3 at three stars. From August 1, 2026, short-let tourist apartments pay €5 per person per night in most districts, B&Bs and guesthouses €4, and hostels €2. You pay only the first eight consecutive nights in one place, and under-14s are exempt.

October 2025 to April 2026. The EU's Entry/Exit System replaced passport stamps with fingerprints and face scans, starting October 12, 2025 and going fully live on April 10, 2026. Where you meet it depends on your route. Connect through Amsterdam, Paris or Rome and you register there, but fly Ryanair in from London Stansted or Manchester and you'll do it at Genoa's own small airport.

What the Usual Advice Gets Wrong

"Take the Volabus from the airport, it's the airport bus." The Volabus only takes a €10 Met Daily pass. That's fair value if you'll ride all day, but if you're heading straight to a hotel near Principe, the Airlink shuttle to Sestri Ponente Aeroporto station plus a regional train costs €2.20 on one integrated AMT ticket, runs every 15 minutes, and reaches Principe in about 25 minutes door to platform.

"Stay in the Cinque Terre and skip Genoa, it's just a port." The Fast Regional from Brignole reaches Monterosso in 1 hour 12 minutes for €11.90, and Genoa has hostels from about US$11, real restaurants and a city that keeps going after the day-trippers leave the villages. Sleep in Genoa and treat the Cinque Terre as the day trip. La Spezia is closer to the five villages, but it isn't Genoa.

"The new Morandi bridge opened in 2019." What happened in 2019 was demolition. The collapse was August 14, 2018, the remaining stubs came down in June 2019, and Renzo Piano's San Giorgio viaduct opened on August 3, 2020. It's a motorway in an industrial valley, so don't plan a trip around seeing it.

"Get home after dinner on the metro." The metro shuts at 9 p.m. on weekdays and Sundays and only runs to midnight on Saturdays. After that you're on night buses, a Radio Taxi or your feet, and with no Uber or FreeNow in Genoa, booking a taxi by phone or app is the way to do it.

"The caruggi are dangerous, stick to Via Garibaldi." The old town is where Genoa lives, and violence toward visitors is rare. The real problems are pickpockets in the student nightlife around Via San Lorenzo, Via San Bernardo and Via San Donato, on buses, and some dark side alleys north of Piazza Caricamento and along Via Pré that are uncomfortable at night. Walk the main lanes and you'll be fine.

Ideas to Consider for Your Visit

Have you thought about seeing the city from its lifts? Genoa has 14 public elevators, two funiculars and a rack railway, and most run on the same €2 ticket. The Castelletto Levante lift rises 57 meters from Piazza Portello to the Spianata Castelletto terrace, the best free view over the port. The Zecca to Righi funicular climbs seven stations from Largo Zecca to Righi, where paths run along the hills to the city's ring of forts. The Principe to Granarolo rack railway is the oddest of them, eight stops up a slope from behind Principe station. The Sant'Anna funicular is closed for its legally required five-yearly overhaul as of October 2026.

Eat like the city does, which is often and on the move. Breakfast is a slab of focaccia with a cappuccino, which the tourist office itself recommends. Farinata, a thin chickpea pancake eaten warm with black pepper, goes back to a recipe documented in 1477. At lunch, Trattoria Da Maria on Vico Testadoro, near De Ferrari, is crowded and practical, sometimes lunch only and with no reservations. Order trofie al pesto, pansoti or minestrone alla genovese. Sà Pesta is the historic option, a place that has fed both port workers and nobility. Antica Friggitoria Carega on Via di Sottoripa sells fried food to take away by the port.

Spend a morning at the Mercato Orientale on Via XX Settembre, the city's main covered market since 1899, built in the cloister of an Augustinian convent and the first building in Genoa made of reinforced concrete. Expect produce and baked goods, with restaurants in the middle. For something to take home, Pietro Romanengo has been making candied fruit, sugared almonds and fondants since 1780.

The best museum ticket is the €14 combined pass for the Strada Nuova Museums and the Museum of Sant'Agostino. Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Tursi hold Domenico Piola's painted halls, Bernardo Strozzi's The Cook, and Paganini's violin, Il Cannone. If you're here October 16 to 18, 2026, the Rolli Days open UNESCO palaces, many of them private homes and company offices, with science popularizers telling their stories.

For an afternoon by the sea, walk east along Corso Italia, the city's promenade, to Boccadasse, an old fishermen's village of pastel houses around a small beach at the end of it. Keep going to Nervi, 9 to 16 minutes from Brignole by train on the same €2.20 ticket, for the park above the cliffs, its seafront path and four small art museums, including the Gallery of Modern Art in the 16th-century Villa Saluzzo.

Day trips run along the coast on regional trains. Camogli is 25 to 45 minutes from Brignole for €3.50. From there Golfo Paradiso boats leave hourly most of the year, less often in November and December, for the abbey cove of San Fruttuoso for €11 one way. Santa Margherita Ligure is 29 to 53 minutes for €4.60, and AMT's line 782 bus covers the last stretch to Portofino for €5 or free on a Met Daily. For the Cinque Terre, take the direct Fast Regional to Monterosso, 72 minutes and €11.90. On the way back, stop in Recco, whose cheese focaccia has had EU protected status since June 2013.

The Part Most Guides Miss

The best thing in Genoa is free once you have a ticket. Ride the public lifts. The city built them between the early 1900s and the 1980s so people in the hill neighborhoods could get home, and they still do that job, with tourists as an afterthought. The Castello d'Albertis lift leaves from Via Balbi near Principe and climbs to Corso Dogali and a castle museum of world cultures. The Ponte Monumentale lift links Via XX Settembre to Carignano. Each one drops you on a residential terrace with a view down over slate roofs to the cranes, and none of them sells souvenirs.

Where to Base Yourself

Centro Storico (old town). Sleep here if you want to walk out the door into the caruggi, with Porto Antico, the Strada Nuova and the San Lorenzo cathedral all close by. It suits a short stay and people who don't mind noise. The catch is that the alleys fill up on Friday and Saturday nights with bar crawls and live music around Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza Luzzati, and the western edge toward Via Pré is uncomfortable after dark. Aim for the lanes between San Lorenzo, Piazza delle Erbe and Sarzano.

Brignole and Via XX Settembre. The practical base. Brignole serves most local train routes and has good bus links, the Volabus ends here, and the metro's eastern terminus is here. Via XX Settembre gives you the Mercato Orientale, shops and a straight walk to De Ferrari. It's the better choice if day trips to Camogli, Portofino or the Cinque Terre are the plan, since the direct Monterosso trains leave from here. It's also more ordinary, with 19th-century blocks and traffic rather than medieval lanes.

Principe and Via Balbi. Best for ferry nights, early trains to Milan and Turin, and the Royal Palace at Via Balbi 10. The Castello d'Albertis lift and the Granarolo rack railway start nearby, and the metro runs from Principe to De Ferrari. The catch is the edge of Via Pré and the station area, which Wikivoyage flags for extra caution, so pick a place on Via Balbi or above it rather than down toward the port.

Realities to Be Aware Of

Genoa is cheap to sleep and move in, by Italian standards. A dorm bed runs US$11 to $36 on Hostelworld in October 2026, the hostel tax is €2, and a Met Daily is €10, so a budget traveler covers bed, tax and transport for roughly €22 to €44 a day before food, which here can be focaccia and farinata from counters. Mid-range means a B&B double, which one old-town B&B on Wikivoyage lists at €80 to €120, plus a €3 or €4 tax per person and a museum or two. Comfortable means a four- or five-star hotel at €4 to €5 tax per person per night and boats along the coast. Most restaurants add a coperto, a fixed per-person cover charge, though lunch at a trattoria or bar often doesn't.

Safety is mostly about pockets. Wikivoyage's local editors report that muggings and violence toward tourists are almost unheard of, but pickpockets work the crowded student nightlife around Via San Lorenzo, Via San Bernardo and Via San Donato, and city buses. Some side alleys north of Piazza Caricamento and Via Banchi, along Via Pré and around Principe have street prostitution, sometimes in the middle of the day, and feel uncomfortable even when they aren't dangerous. Keep to the main lanes at night. Traffic is the other risk, because scooters pass stopped cars at crosswalks without slowing down.

Weather can turn serious in autumn. October averages 5.9 inches of rain and November 7.9, and the Bisagno stream flooded parts of the city in 2010, 2011 and 2014, which is why the city has spent the years since 2015 enlarging its covered channel. Check the forecast before committing to a boat day in those months. Summer is warm rather than brutal, with average highs of 82 to 83°F (28°C) in July and August.

Beaches are the other surprise. Nearly all of them around Genoa are cobbles, rocks and cliffs, the sea floor drops off a few meters out, and the stones underwater are slick with weed. Free beaches have no lifeguards, so swim only when the sea is calm and you're a confident swimmer. Restaurant hours follow the Italian pattern, with lunch from about 12:30 to 3 p.m. and dinner from 7:30 to 10 p.m., so plan around the gap.

What things cost in Genoa

Prices checked October 2026. Each links to where we read it.

ItemPriceSource
Hostel dorm bedUS$11-36 (about €10-32) a nightHostelworld Genoa listings, Oct 2026
AMT single ticket, 110 minutes€2 (about $2.25), or €2.20 including city trainsAMT tariff panel, July 2026
Met Daily 24-hour pass, needed for the Volabus€10 (about $11.20), €30 for four peopleAMT tariff panel, July 2026
Regional train, Genova Brignole to Monterosso€11.90 (about $13.40), 72 minutes directTrenitalia journey planner, Oct 2026
Regional train to Santa Margherita Ligure, then bus 782 to Portofino€4.60 plus €5 (about $10.80 total)Trenitalia and AMT, Oct 2026
Strada Nuova Museums and Sant'Agostino combined ticket€14 (about $15.70), €2 for ages 18-25Musei di Genova, Oct 2026
Acquario di Genova adult ticketFrom €26 (about $29)Acquario di Genova, Oct 2026
Boat, Camogli to San Fruttuoso€11 (about $12.35) one wayGolfo Paradiso 2026 fares
Tourist tax, per person per night€2 hostels, €3 three-star hotels, €5 tourist apartments (from Aug 2026)Comune di Genova, Oct 2026

Dollar figures use €1 = US$1.1225, the European Central Bank reference rate of October 2, 2026. Train fares are Trenitalia base fares quoted for October 14, 2026.

If Genoa Is Part of a Longer Trip

Genoa sits at the hinge of the Italian Riviera, so it sequences well by train. Milan is 1 hour 41 minutes on an Intercity from Principe for €18.90, or about 2 hours on a Fast Regional for €14.30. Torino is about 2 hours for €14.65 on a Fast Regional. Heading west, the Intercity reaches Ventimiglia on the French border in about 2 hours 5 minutes, where you change for Nice and Monaco. East, the Frecciabianca reaches Pisa in about 2 hours, and Florence takes 3 hours 10 minutes or more with a change, so treat Tuscany as its own leg rather than a day trip.

The port opens routes that are hard to do any other way. GNV sails overnight to Palermo six times a week, seven in summer, in just over 20 hours, which drops you in Sicily without a flight. GNV also runs from Genoa to Barcelona, Olbia and Porto Torres in Sardinia, Tunis in Tunisia and Tangier in Morocco. If you're building a longer loop through Europe and North Africa, mixing open-jaw flights with ferries like these is the kind of thing AirTreks can route for you.

A sensible order is Milan, then Genoa, then the Riviera east to the Cinque Terre and on to Tuscany, or Nice and the French coast first with Genoa as your way into Italy. Fly into Genoa only if you can connect through Amsterdam, London, Paris, Barcelona or Rome. Otherwise the train from Milan is often the simpler start.

Yearly Things to Consider

The sea and the rain drive Genoa's year more than holidays do. Summer brings the driest weather, with July averaging an inch of rain, and the busiest season on the coast, which crowds the Cinque Terre and Portofino far more than Genoa itself. Autumn is when the city fills its calendar, with the Salone Nautico from October 1 to 6 in 2026 and the Rolli Days on October 16 to 18, 2026. It's also the wettest stretch, with September to November bringing 4.6 to 7.9 inches a month.

The counterintuitive pick is late winter and spring. January highs of 54°F (12°C) are mild, the old town has few visitors, and in 2026 the World Pesto Championship filled Palazzo Ducale on March 21 with 100 competitors pounding basil in mortars, free to watch. May gets you average highs of 71°F (22°C), only 2.3 inches of rain, and the Camogli to San Fruttuoso boats on their fuller timetable, with the extra boats from Recco running April to September.

Genoa month by month

MonthTempRainfallSeasonNotes
January54°F (12°C)3.0 inLowHighs around 54°F. Few visitors.
February55°F (13°C)2.3 inLowDriest winter month. Good for museums.
March59°F (15°C)2.9 inShoulderWorld Pesto Championship was March 21 in 2026.
April64°F (18°C)3.3 inShoulderBoats from Recco to San Fruttuoso resume.
May71°F (22°C)2.3 inShoulderWarm and fairly dry. Good walking weather.
June77°F (25°C)2.0 inHighHighs near 77°F, only 2 inches of rain.
July82°F (28°C)1.0 inHighDriest month. Cinque Terre and Portofino busiest.
August83°F (28°C)1.9 inHighHottest month, highs around 83°F.
September77°F (25°C)4.6 inShoulderRain jumps to 4.6 inches. Last month for Recco boats.
October69°F (21°C)5.9 inShoulderBoat show and Rolli Days in 2026. Heavy rain.
November61°F (16°C)7.9 inLowWettest month at 7.9 inches. Check forecasts.
December56°F (13°C)3.9 inLowQuiet and mild. Check museum holiday hours.

Ideas for Itineraries

3 Days in Genoa

Day one is the old town. Start with focaccia and a cappuccino, walk San Lorenzo and Palazzo Ducale, then lose the map in the caruggi between Piazza delle Erbe and Sarzano. In the afternoon, do the Strada Nuova Museums on Via Garibaldi and ride the Castelletto lift up for sunset over the port. Day two, take the train to Camogli and the boat to San Fruttuoso, back by evening. Day three, ride the Righi funicular and walk a stretch of the forts, then come down for the Mercato Orientale and a late walk along Corso Italia to Boccadasse.

5 Days in Genoa

Do the three days above, then add the coast. Day four is the Cinque Terre on the direct Fast Regional to Monterosso, with time to walk one section of trail and a train between villages. Day five is slower, with the train to Nervi for the clifftop promenade and its museums, an afternoon at the Galata sea museum or the Aquarium if you have kids along, and a farewell farinata at Sà Pesta.

1 Week in Genoa

A week lets you treat Genoa as a base and stop rushing. Spend two days in the city proper, adding Staglieno, the monumental cemetery where Mazzini and Fabrizio De André are buried, and the Principe to Granarolo rack railway. Give a day each to Camogli and San Fruttuoso, to Santa Margherita and Portofino on bus 782, and to the Cinque Terre. Use a Saturday or a holiday for the narrow-gauge Genova to Casella railway into the hills, the only days it runs as a train, part of the way. Keep one day loose for weather.

2 Weeks or More in Genoa

Two weeks is enough to live in a neighborhood. Rent near Via XX Settembre or in Albaro and shop at the Mercato Orientale. A short-let pays €5 a person a night in tax, but only for the first eight nights. Take an Italian course at one of the city's language schools in the mornings and walk a different hill each afternoon. Weekend trips can go to Turin or Milan, both about two hours away, or west along the Riviera to Ventimiglia and on to Nice. Book the overnight GNV ferry to Palermo as an exit and the trip becomes a loop through Sicily.

Sources

What this guide is built on. Every page below was read for this guide; prices and rules were checked in October 2026.

Genoa Travel FAQ

Genoa is worth at least two nights, and it works as a base. The villages are 72 minutes away on the direct train, rooms in Genoa are usually cheaper, and you get a real city in the evening when the Cinque Terre empties out. Base yourself in La Spezia or Levanto instead only if the Cinque Terre is the whole point of the trip.

Yes. Paper AMT tickets must be stamped when you board a bus or at the platform for the metro, funicular or lift, and a €2.20 ticket used on a Trenitalia train needs a separate stamp at the station's validators on the Trenitalia side. App tickets activate on your phone and count down the 110 minutes. Tapping a contactless card on board an AMT bus pays and validates in one go.

Yes, in season. Golfo Paradiso runs boats from Genoa and Nervi to Portofino for €16 one way and to San Fruttuoso for €15. The train to Santa Margherita Ligure plus AMT bus 782 is cheaper, about €9.60 together, and the bus is included in a €10 Met Daily.

No, and plenty of people mix them up. Genoa (Genova in Italian, Zena in Ligurian) is the Italian port on the Ligurian Sea. Geneva is the Swiss city on Lake Geneva, on the far side of the Alps.

The fastest Intercity from Principe takes about 1 hour 41 minutes for €18.90, an early-morning Frecciarossa does it in 1 hour 30 minutes, and Fast Regionals take about 2 hours for €14.30. The Terzo Valico high-speed line, which should cut that time, isn't due to open until 2028.

Yes, on weekend afternoons. The Lanterna has been the city's symbol since 1128 and is the second-tallest traditional lighthouse in the world. Wikivoyage lists it open Saturday and Sunday from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. for €6, reached by an 800-meter pedestrian promenade that starts near the ferry terminal on Via Milano, so check before you go.