Rent a Car in Genoa

Genoa's historic centre — the caruggi alleyways, the old port, Via Garibaldi's Renaissance palaces — is dense, steep in places, and best explored on foot, with parking scarce and a restricted traffic zone covering much of the core. A car isn't for the city itself; it earns its place the moment you head along the coast, since Liguria's most scenic stretches are strung along a narrow shoreline that trains cover well but a car covers on your own schedule.

Portofino is about 40 minutes south-east, and while its centre bans most outside traffic in peak season, driving to nearby Santa Margherita Ligure or Camogli and walking or taking a boat the last stretch works well. The Cinque Terre villages themselves are largely car-free and best reached by train from La Spezia or Levanto, but a car is genuinely useful for basing yourself in the surrounding hills, reaching the Portofino promontory's quieter trailheads, or continuing west along the Riviera di Ponente toward Finale Ligure and the French border.