Port guide: Genoa, Italy
This article is part of Traveller's ultimate guide to cruise ports. See all stories.
This Italian city has long been overlooked but has been getting increasing attention for its history, culture and fine setting. Could it be Italy's next big destination?
Who goes there
It seems cruise passengers have already cottoned on to the attractions of Genoa, since it receives 1.7 million cruise tourists annually. The northern Italian port is favoured by larger ships; small luxury ships anchor off Portofino 50 kilometres down the coast. Celebrity, Costa, Cunard, P&O Cruises UK, Princess and Royal Caribbean are among lines that visit on Mediterranean cruises. MSC homeports ships here.
Sail on in
The city, named one of the best in travel for 2025 by Lonely Planet, provides an exciting arrival. In centuries past, those on their Grand Tour raved about Genoa's blue bay and hillsides on which lemon trees grew. Today, harbour and hills are packed with industrial infrastructure and buildings, but the setting is still theatrical, and you can almost feel the city's buzz from the sea.
Berth rites
Ships dock either at Ponte dei Mille or Ponte Andrea Doria quays, which are adjacent to each other in Genoa's harbour. The terminal is a splendid 1930s building that looks like a mini-palazzo. There are good transport connections by taxi, metro (Principe station) and local bus, but you can walk to the city centre in 20 minutes.
Going ashore
Porto Antico, the old harbour along from the cruise terminal, has one of Europe's largest aquariums, which is adjacent to the eye-catching Genoa Biosphere, nicknamed La Bolla or The Bubble, a huge spherical glasshouse containing plants, birds and insects. Then head into the old-town core for magnificent architecture including the Moorish-influenced San Lorenzo Cathedral. If you're going to pick one museum, make it Galata Museo del Mare, which relates the incredible history of this former maritime power and has a full-scale reproduction of a Genoese galley.
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