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Route · 7 days · round-tripYacht charter route · Amalfi

Genova round-trip.

A week's yacht charter from Genoa west along the Riviera di Ponente through Arenzano, Varazze, Savona, Albenga and Imperia, then home past the Lanterna.

The route

Day-by-day route

Click any pin on the map or any day in the route summary below to see that day's stop, story and photos.

Arenzano
Day 1

Genova → Arenzano

A gentle 12-mile warm-up west of Genoa to shake down the boat, ending stern-to at Arenzano beneath the Beigua hills.

Distance

11 NM

Sailing

~2.2h at 5 kn

At a glance

Route at a glance

Best season

May – mid-October (peak Jun – Sep)

Duration

7 days

Departure

Genova

Sailing area

Amalfi

Route summary

Click any day to jump back to the map and see its photos, narrative and mooring tip.

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The full story

Day-by-day journey

Named anchorages, mooring notes and things to do for every leg of the week — the map follows along as you scroll.

Day 1 / 7
Arenzano
1
Day 1

Genova → Arenzano

The first leg is short on purpose. You collect the boat at Marina Porto Antico, run through the systems, then slip out past the Lanterna and turn west. Twelve miles of open coast, the Beigua ridge rising green behind the shore. In July the morning stays glassy; the libeccio fills in from the southwest by early afternoon, usually ten to fifteen knots, so we like to be off the dock by ten and let the breeze do the work on the way in. Arenzano itself is unhurried. The old resort villas sit back from a pebble beach, and behind the seafront the Parco Villa Negrotto Cambiaso spreads out with its little lake and aviary. Grab focaccia while the crew settles in. It is a soft start, which is exactly what a first day should be.

Things to do

Wander the Parco Villa Negrotto Cambiaso gardens

Swim off the Spiaggia Libera pebbles

Focaccia al formaggio from a village bakery

Hike a ridge trail in Beigua Park

Mooring tip

Marina di Arenzano takes you stern-to and shelters well from the north; reckon on €60–100 a night in season. If you want more room for the handover, Genoa's Marina Porto Antico is the bigger base to leave from.

Varazze
2
Day 2

Arenzano → Varazze

This is the shortest hop of the week, so there is no rush. Sleep in, top up water, and make the eight miles at your own pace. Marina di Varazze is one of the largest yards on the Riviera di Ponente, around eight hundred berths, lazy lines on every finger and a fuel dock if you need it. Slot capacity is rarely a problem here, even in August. The town behind is honest, working Liguria rather than a postcard. Old men play cards along the Lungomare Europa, the promenade laid over a disused railway that runs on toward Cogoleto. Kids comb Spiaggia di Ponente for sea glass. Eat fritto misto from a paper cone and walk it off along the front.

Things to do

Hunt sea glass on Spiaggia di Ponente

Snorkel the reef off Capo Santo Stefano

Fritto misto from a paper cone

Stroll the Lungomare Europa promenade

Mooring tip

Marina di Varazze berths you stern-to on lazy lines and is fully sheltered; peak nights run €70–120. There is almost always space, so no need to book far ahead.

Savona
3
Day 3

Varazze → Savona

Savona is a proper city, not a resort, and the better for it. The approach is unmistakable: the great bulk of the Priamar fortress on its headland, sixteenth-century stone thrown up by the Genoese, with the striped Torre Leon Pancaldo marking the old harbour mouth. Tie up in the Old Port marina, fully sheltered, and you step straight into the town. Columbus knew these streets; his family lived here for a spell. Climb the fortress walls for the view over the roofs, then find salt-cured anchovies and a glass of Vermentino somewhere off the main drag. If the marina is full, Vado Ligure sits three miles south with quieter berths.

Things to do

Walk the sixteenth-century Priamar fortress walls

Swim the Mermaid's Grotto cove south of port

Salt-cured anchovies at a backstreet osteria

A glass of local Vermentino ashore

Mooring tip

Savona's Old Port marina puts you stern-to and fully sheltered, around €70–110 a night. Quieter Vado Ligure is three miles south if you would rather skip the city bustle.

Albenga
4
Day 4

Savona → Albenga

Twenty miles today, the longest sail so far, so we leave by nine to carry the morning calm and pick up the sea breeze as it fills. Off to port the coast opens into the Albenga plain, flat and green, unusual on this cliff-bound Riviera. The old town sits a little inland, a knot of brick towers left from the Middle Ages, and at its heart the fifth-century Battistero Paleocristiano still holds its original mosaics. Isola Gallinara rises just off the bay, a humped nature reserve with clear water on its lee side, worth an anchor and a snorkel before you go in. Ashore, this is Pigato country. Order a plate of buridda under one of the medieval towers and pour the local white.

Things to do

See the fifth-century Battistero Paleocristiano mosaics

Anchor and snorkel off Isola Gallinara

Buridda fish stew under a medieval tower

Pigato wine from the Albenga plain

Mooring tip

Marina di Albenga sits you stern-to and shelters from the north, around €50–80 a night. For a lunch stop, anchor on the sand in the lee of Isola Gallinara and dinghy the crew ashore.

Imperia
5
Day 5

Albenga → Imperia

Imperia is really two towns that were married off in the 1920s, Oneglia and Porto Maurizio, sitting either side of a small river with the marina in the middle. The fifteen-mile run down from Albenga is straightforward, a beam reach on the afternoon breeze most days. Porto Maurizio is the one to walk. Climb into the Parasio, the old quarter stacked up the hill in tight lanes, and look back down at the boats. Over in Oneglia, the Museo dell'Olivo tells the story of the taggiasca olive, the small dark fruit behind Liguria's best oil. Buy a tin to take home. Dinner is sardenaira, the local onion-and-anchovy focaccia, eaten near the port.

Things to do

Climb the hilltop Parasio in Porto Maurizio

Museo dell'Olivo and the taggiasca story

Swim the golden sand at Spiaggia d'Oro

Sardenaira near the Oneglia port

Mooring tip

Marina di Imperia berths you stern-to between the two halves of town, fully sheltered, €80–130 in peak. Slot capacity holds up even in August, so a same-day call usually lands a berth.

Vado Ligure
6
Day 6

Imperia → Vado Ligure

This is the big mileage day, twenty-four back east, so an early line-off pays. Take the whole coast in reverse: Imperia falling astern, then the long green run past Alassio and Finale toward Savona's roadstead. On a good afternoon the breeze sits behind you and it is a fast, easy reach. Vado Ligure is no one's postcard. It is a real port of fishing boats and cargo cranes, and the yacht berths are almost an afterthought, which keeps them cheap and calm. Before you tie up, it is worth a detour to the Bergeggi marine reserve just west of the harbour, where the tender can nose into sea caves for a snorkel. Ashore, hire a bike and roll along the seafront, then eat plain, good seafood at a family-run trattoria near the fish quay.

Things to do

Snorkel the Bergeggi marine reserve caves

Anchor swim at Baia dei Saraceni

Hire a bike along the seafront

Fresh seafood by the Vado fish quay

Mooring tip

Vado Ligure takes you stern-to for a modest €40–60 a night and shelters from the north. If it feels too industrial, Marina di Savona is only three miles north with more comforts.

Cogoleto
7
Day 7

Vado Ligure → Cogoleto

The final run is an easy twenty miles, and there is no reason to hurry it. Break the leg at Cogoleto, a low-key seaside town that likes to claim a thread of the Columbus family story. Anchor off and swim beneath the old Punta Martinetto watchtower, or just drift for an hour before the last push. Back at Genoa the Lanterna comes up first, the medieval lighthouse that has guided crews in for centuries. Top up fuel at the entrance berth before you turn into Marina Porto Antico. There is time, if you are quick with the lines, to lose yourself once more in the caruggi, the old town's shadowed alleys, and eat pesto the way it was meant to taste, in the city that invented it.

Things to do

Swim below the Punta Martinetto watchtower

Refuel and moor at Marina Porto Antico

Pesto genovese in the caruggi alleys

See the medieval Lanterna lighthouse

Mooring tip

Marina Porto Antico in the heart of Genoa berths you stern-to, €100–150 on peak nights and sheltered from the north. Hit the fuel berth at the harbour entrance before you moor, and give them your return time in advance.

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