Camogli - Toddlers' World

This was our first trip to Italy with Gioia, and going on the Italian attitude to children, we should have gone a long time ago. It is wonderful, and definitely the highlight of our week in Liguria. Gioia started off by making friends with a group of teenagers on the train to Camogli, and the trip ended with a kiss at Genoa Airport passport control. In between, she made friends all over the place and we learned several lovely adjectives for “bella”, “carina”, “bimba”, “bambolina” Gioia.

With lots of safe running-around space, Camogli is great for toddlers. Gioia took full advantage, going up and down arcaded “tunnels”, pursuing boats in the harbour, and giving the local cats some exercise. She also enjoyed the afternoon merry-go-round and the smaller coin-operated rocking car outside the small toy store in town.

Camogli is beautifully situated on the fringes of the Portofino peninsula. The vegetation is beautiful, with the spring fruit blossoms a particular highlight. We also enjoyed chasing dandelions and scrunching up semi-wild basil and rosemary to smell.

The food in Italy has always been a highlight for us. Camogli is well-known locally for its foccacia bread, and Liguria for its pesto. Both were much enjoyed, and in several guises and considerable quantities. The weather was also great for gelato appreciation, and the red Sicilian oranges were an unexpected hit.

Apart from a bucket and spade and some bubbles, we didn’t have time for much serious shopping. We did notice several fancy shops, particularly on the pedestrianized shore-front promenade.

With its hilly seaside location, pastel buildings, and beautiful vegetation, Camogli is a pleasant tourist destination in itself. However, perhaps because of the better-known attractions of Portofino and the towns of the Cinque Terre just down the road, it does not seem to be overrun with tourists. This suited us just fine.

Quick Tips:

It's definitely worth visiting Camogli out-of-season. We noticed more visitors in April than during our previous visit in February. I imagine that the pleasantly laid-back feel of the place could come under pressure in July and August. There were plenty of people swimming in the sea in April, although the weather was unseasonably warm during our visit.

If you are traveling with young children, local stores can provide basic requirements. There is a small supermarket, a pharmacy or two, and several produce stores and bakeries in the town. However, remember that many close on Sundays and for a few hours in the afternoon, generally from around 1:30pm to 4:30pm). Most are open until around 7:30pm.

If you are in town on a Wednesday, you can catch the market set up in the street outside the station. We enjoyed watching astute shoppers assembling their weekly orders for later home delivery, and we bought some delicious Sicilian blood-oranges to slurp through in situ.

Camogli is at the northern end of the Portofino peninsula. Boats run regularly to the church of San Fruttuoso on the peninsula, and to Genoa. Sailings are frequent in summer, intermittent in winter, and boat excursions are a fun way to spend a few hours. It is also possible to walk along pleasant, well-marked trails into the peninsula and on to San Fruttuoso.

We didn’t visit Camogli’s small-but-excellent maritime museum. We had done so on our previous visit and found it friendly and informative and well worth a look. We also didn’t make it into the beautiful baroque church that juts into the sea at the northern end of the beach.

Camogli’s black-pebble beach is long and most of it is free to access. We did see rows of deck-chairs available for hire.

Best Way To Get Around:

While in Camogli, we walked everywhere. It is worth remembering that the town is built on steep terrain and that there are several stairs to climb between the upper part of town, where the train station is located, and the beach. In the town, we did see relatively-frequent local buses heading for the nearby town of Recco

By train, Camogli is between Genoa and the Cinque Terre, trains run about every hour and take about 45 minutes from Genoa. One-way tickets from Genoa cost €1.60. Remember to validate your ticket in the yellow machine on the platform before boarding the train.

If you are planning on stopping in Camogli between Genoa and points south, it is worth checking the train timetable on the Trenitalia website.

Gioia made friends all over Liguria. She generously shared them with us, and it was fun being there with her. We should have gone to Italy a lot earlier in her life and we will definitely be back. Hopefully soon.

We really enjoyed the Italian attitude—official and civilian—to children. It all started when the Genoa airport personnel revealed the secret toddlers’ queue-jumping entrance to passport control. It ended with a kiss from passport control as we left. In between, Gioia made friends with a group of teenagers on the train to Camogli, was the recipient of endless shop freebies, and learned a lot of lovely small-person adjectives(“bimba”, “bambolina”, “carina”, “bella”). The only blot on the landscape was the free-for-all scrum to board our Ryanair flight home, but even that ended happily.

Gioia met her first new toddler friend, Livia, outside the focaceria on our first morning in town. We also met Anna-Maria blowing bubbles on via XX Settembre, and Chiara talking to the cats by the harbour. We continued to meet these friends throughout the week at the beach, outside the café, driving the bus outside the toy store, and this definitely contributed to the at-home feel to our week in Camogli. It was a real bonus for all of us.

When we arrived in Camogli, we were a little surprised not to find a playground nearby. That was before we realised that significant parts of the town are like one big playground. Plenty of traffic-free areas to run around in, arcaded “tunnels” to run through, and a merry-go-round at the beach.

And of course there is the beach itself, although Gioia didn’t like it much and we didn’t stay long. Maybe next time.

During our week in Camogli, our base was at the house of friends among the olive groves a fifteen-minute walk out of town. Each morning, we walked into town for breakfast, provisions, and running-around. In the afternoon, we would either head back into town, or enjoy the bushy environs of our home for the week. Both “town” and “country” options were pleasant and fun.

We spent most of our town afternoons on via XX Settembre. Directly in front of the train station, and one steep block up from the waterfront, via XX Settembre is Camogli’s other main tourist street. It is largely pedestrianized, with only the occasional bus and service vehicle to keep you on your toes. It is also where the weekly Wednesday market is held.

We enjoyed stumbling on the Wednesday street market, and particularly enjoyed watching the wonderful selection of fresh produce being bought up by the selective shoppers of the town. Beautiful arrays of fruit, particularly oranges, and vegetables, notably artichokes, were on display. The market started outside the train station, with the clothing and plastic household utensils stalls extending well down the street, past the barber and the supermarket, and past the square where we enjoyed our Sicilian blood oranges while looking down on the sea, and the toystore where Gioia enjoyed riding on the rocking coin-operated bus outside.

It was fun to wander up and down via Settembre, particularly when the afternoon sun made the waterfront too hot for comfort. It is also where we did most of our other-than-focacia shopping, with the town’s only supermarket (small but adequate), a couple of pharmacies, some great bakeries, a small toy store (source of bubbles), and a great fresh produce store. We quickly learned that most of these stores are closed in the afternoons, and that only one small store, a source of great fresh pesto and pasta, is open on Sundays. We learned to let the vegetable store owner select strawberries and zuccinis for us, and that the Italian words for “egg” (uovo) and “grape” (uvo) can be easily mangled and confused.

On a couple of afternoons, we ended up back on the beachfront for gelatos. Gioia had never had ice-cream before, and we wanted her first experience to be a memorable one. Sitting under the arches of the gelateria with our cup of cherry gelato, with the sea lapping on the pebbles behind us, certainly fit the bill.

Heading for home along the beachfront, we made a couple of stops at the town merry-go-round. Gioia LOVED this. So did we, with grandma running the ticket booth and nearby soccer players dodging the revolving horses and ferraris to occasionally retrieve their ball. All very friendly and small-town.

During our week in Camogli, our base was at the house of friends among the olive groves a fifteen-minute walk out of town.

Walking into Camogli in the morning, our first distraction en route was often the lush grounds of the Hotel Cenobio. Here, Gioia enjoyed counting the beautiful big pink hydraengeas and their friends. She also admired a couple of statues in the grounds, a hairy cavalier “dada” with big hat and flowing moustache, and a nubile, albeit headless, “mama”.

Leaving the hotel, and before the first focaccia stop of the morning, we would pass the big (approximately 10 feet in diameter) old frying pans that had seen better days as centrepieces of Camogli’s annual big fish fry (the “Sagra del Pesce” - the highlight of the local tourism calendar – on 13 May this year). It is still possible to make out a rusty fish painted on one of them, and this was enough for Gioia to launch into her “slippery fish” song-and-dance routine.

Just past the frying pans, the road becomes via Garibaldi, the pedestrianized beach-front promenade. There are several tourist- and local-friendly focacerias along this promenade, and this is where we would have our breakfast. Gioia was a big fan of the plain focacias with garlic and oil, while we also enjoyed a few of the more exotic options on offer. The pizzas never made it past the toddler taste test.

With the Camogli beach-front being pedestrianized, Gioia was free to run and explore at will. She enjoyed looking at the sea (“swish, swish”) through the railing, but the big highlight was the narrow covered arcades at the far end of the promenade. We spent several productive minutes running up and down these “tunnels”. Passing through the tunnel at the end of the promenade, we came to Camogli’s small harbour. Gioia enjoyed watching the boats and talking to the friendly harbourside cats and dogs. We took a detour up to the beautiful seafront church and we enjoyed climbing on the cannons that faced out to sea.

Overlooking the harbour, we stopped a couple of times for coffee and frothy milk. The pedestrianized area in front, complete with pebbled compass for running over and around, did the job and also provided a safe viewpoint for watching the boats bobbing in the harbour. The late-morning mid-week restaurants were not open and their tables provided a good venue for our picnics. It was all pleasantly friendly and low-key, like most of our time in Camogli.

During our week in Camogli, our base was at the house of friends among the olive groves a fifteen-minute walk out of town. Each morning we walked into town for breakfast, provisions, and running-around. In the afternoon, we would either head back into town, or enjoy the bushy environs of our home for the week. Both “town” and “country” options were pleasant and fun.

Being in Liguria in April meant that the vegetation was at its best. Cherry blossoms were in full flow, semi-wild flowers were all over the path up the hill, and there were plenty of dandelions (“bubble-flowers”) for Gioia to find, pick and blow. We enjoyed walking up the easy path towards S Rocco, and we loved the peaceful evenings, with the only sounds being dogs barking and church bells.

On a couple of afternoons, Gioia and I abandoned our olive grove and headed off along the marked path (two red circles, starts outside the Hotel Cenobio) that winds up the hill to San Rocco, the church that overlooks the town. While we never made it to the top, we did enjoy the walk along the way. The path is very easy and we enjoyed talking with the various friendly cats along the way. We found semi-wild rosemary and basil to smell, and we admired the creepers and mosses that grew along the flanking walls. We spotted robins and blackbirds, and the occasional seagull would fly up the valley.

The weather throughout our stay was glorious, warm days and cool, clear nights. With our home for the week being quite remote, up 98 steep steps through the olive terraces from the nearest small road, and with a “strefillo”, a rudimentary cable-car, to haul up heavier items), the nights were also beautifully quiet. We could hear only church bells (“tick tocks” to Gioia) and the occasional dog barking, quite a change from the incessant noise of London. We could have happily stayed for several weeks more.