Marina di Loano

How Do You Get To Marina di Loano By Air, Rail Or Road

Genoa Airport (GOA) is the practical gateway, about 72 km (45 miles) east of Loano along the A10 motorway, with a drive time of roughly 50 minutes in normal traffic, longer in August when the coast road backs up. Nice Cote d'Azur (NCE) across the French border is the larger international hub for private aviation and long-haul connections, but it sits about 100 miles (160 km) from Loano, a drive close to two and a half to three hours depending on the border crossing and season. Loano also has its own railway station on the Genoa-Ventimiglia line, a five to ten minute walk or short taxi ride from the marina gates, useful for crew changes.

For owners arriving by helicopter, the marina operates its own helipad within the Superyacht Area, avoiding a road transfer entirely for the last leg, though flight plans and slot booking still route through the marina office. There is no scheduled commercial airport within Loano itself, and no direct motorway exit onto the marina forecourt, so cars and vans use the coast road or the A10's Pietra Ligure/Borghetto exit and then local streets. Parking is plentiful on site, the marina cites capacity for over 900 vehicles, a genuine convenience against the cramped car parks at some historic Ligurian ports such as Portofino or Santa Margherita.

How Many Berths Does Marina di Loano Have And What Size Yacht Fits

Sources vary on the exact total, worth flagging rather than smoothing over. Marina di Loano's own site states over 900 berths up to 85 m; a widely used third-party aggregator lists 997; other write-ups describe just over 1,000 positions broken down as roughly 855 pleasure berths from 6 to 77 m, up to 100 transit berths, around 107 dinghy and small-craft positions, 34 berths reserved for commercial fishing boats and a further 3 Coast Guard spots. Treat any single figure as approximate. The marina evidently recounts and rebrands categories between updates, and no two sources match exactly, though all agree the basin is unusually large by Ligurian standards.

The standalone Superyacht Area, inaugurated in April 2014, is the more precisely documented figure: a 122 metre superyacht quay with 45 berths for vessels between 55 and 85 metres, including 5 finger berths, each fitted with IPS service columns for water and power and a guaranteed 5 metre draught. Regular marina berths run to a minimum charted depth of 3.5 metres. Occupancy has been strong: the marina reported that berths in the 30 to 85 metre range ran above 95 percent occupied through the 2024-2025 winter lay-up season, a genuinely useful signal for anyone planning ahead for a winter berth reservation.

What Is The Approach Into Marina di Loano Like And What Is On The Quay

The marina lies about 50 nautical miles southwest of Genoa on the open Ligurian coast, with charted entrance coordinates around 44 deg 08.2' N, 8 deg 16.3' E. The outer breakwater, roughly 900 m long, 60 m wide and 6 m high, was engineered to keep the basin workable through the region's occasional violent Scirocco storms; local press has reported it holding through swells reported at up to 7 metres offshore without damage to boats moored inside. Cruising guides describe line handlers meeting visiting yachts on the finger pontoons with water and power leads ready, and marina staff on duty around the clock, every day of the year, with visible security patrols.

On the quay, every berth from the smallest slips to the superyacht pontoons carries shore power, fresh water, satellite TV and broadband connections, plus a black and grey water pump-out system, a genuine plus for anyone trying to avoid discharging near a Blue Flag beach. A dedicated fuel dock supplies diesel, including denatured and export grades for larger commercially registered yachts, and petrol through four pumps, three of them high pressure rated to 500 litres a minute, fast enough that a superyacht should not need to queue long. Six sanitary blocks, laundry facilities, WiFi across the whole basin and a small travel lift and crane to 3 tonnes round out the working infrastructure.

Is There A Refit Yard At Marina di Loano

The Amico name is a genuine piece of Loano's maritime history rather than a marketing add-on. The family has repaired boats on this stretch of coast since Matteo Amico opened his first yard in 1799, and the modern company, Amico & Co, was refounded in 1991 by Alberto Amico before growing into a recognised international refit specialist working across multiple Italian yards. In 2026 the group consolidated its refit yards, marina infrastructure and technical services, including the Loano site, under a single Amico Marine brand, a reorganisation worth knowing about if quoting older brochures or contracts that still reference Amico & Co or Cantiere Amico Loano by their previous names.

For an owner or captain, the practical draw is combining a berth with engine, electrical and mechanical repair work, haul-out for vessels from 6 to 50 metres, and professional in-water diving services, without moving the boat to a separate yard down the coast. This matters on the Riviera delle Palme, where the nearest comparable heavy refit capacity otherwise sits in Genoa or across the border near Nice, both a genuine transit rather than a same-basin option. It remains a smaller-scale yard than the big Genoa or La Spezia refit complexes, so very large projects on vessels well above 55 metres are still better suited elsewhere.

What Is There To Do Onshore At Marina di Loano

The Yacht Club Marina di Loano hotel sits on site with nine suites, each named for an America's Cup yacht, and a restaurant serving Ligurian and international dishes with both indoor seating and an outdoor teak terrace. Independent hotel reviews are more mixed than the marina's own materials suggest, see the Verdict and Owner Reports below, so treat it as a convenient on-site option rather than an assumed five star stay. Around the basin, porticoes and a courtyard host boutiques, shops and small businesses, and the marina lists a private beach with family and sports zones, a solarium, a swimming pool and a fully equipped gym under its Marina Beach and Marina Fitness branding, both expanded in 2024.

For evenings, the marina promotes a nightclub, several lounge bars and restaurants clustered around the Yacht Club, busiest in the July-August high season, and reviewers note it is noticeably quieter, with many shops and eateries closed, from mid-autumn through spring. A diving centre, sailing school and windsurfing instruction cover watersports for crew or owners' families staying aboard. The town of Loano itself, a short walk from the marina gates, adds a historic centre with a Roman-mosaic town hall, plus rail access on the Genoa-Ventimiglia line and day-trip options inland to the Toirano caves and the hill village of Borgio Verezzi.

Is Marina di Loano Worth Booking And What Are The Downsides

On the positive side, cruiser reports carried by Noonsite and Tripadvisor describe an excellent marina with very good facilities and well motivated, competent staff, line handlers on the pontoons with water and power ready, easy electric hookups, a launderette and even cheap bottled water delivery to the boat, alongside visible round the clock security. The Superyacht Area has drawn steady institutional recognition since its 2014 opening, and the marina highlighted over 95 percent occupancy for its 30 to 85 metre berths through the 2024-2025 winter, a strong vote of confidence from repeat superyacht clients. The Blue Flag award, held for 17 consecutive years through 2026, backs the marina's own environmental claims with an independent, annually renewed certification rather than a one-off press release.

On the downside, no daily, weekly or seasonal berth tariff is published on the marina's own website. Third-party booking aggregators show widely different reference numbers, one general Liguria estimate cites around 4,530 euros a year for a 10 metre boat, but this is not confirmed as Loano-specific, so a firm quote requires contacting the marina or a booking platform directly. Reviewers describe mooring fees as extremely high and note lower occupancy off-season, with the basin looking deserted by late October some years. Multiple visitors flag toilet and shower blocks as a genuine walk of a few hundred metres from some berths, awkward at night. Separately, the on-site Yacht Club hotel draws a wider spread of reviews than the marina facilities themselves, from praise for staff and views to complaints about maintenance and a low quality breakfast, worth knowing if booking the hotel rather than just a berth.

Für wen: Owners and captains who want a genuinely sheltered, staffed, year-round base with refit capability between Genoa and Nice, and who are prepared to request a berth quote directly rather than find one published online.