Marina di Portofino

• Location: Portofino, Ligurian coast east of Genoa, at about 44 18.2 N 9 12.5 E
• Operator: Portofino Yacht Marina, Via Roma 35 and Piazza Liberta 13B, Portofino
• Scale: commune of 2.53 square kilometres with 379 residents at the end of 2021
• Berthing: a Central Quay with length bands running to an over-60m category, plus a port-side mooring in Cannone Bay
• 2026 Central Quay rates, over 60m, before VAT: EUR 2,100 low season, EUR 4,200 high season, EUR 4,700 peak
• 2026 Central Quay rates, up to 40m, before VAT: EUR 750, EUR 1,500 and EUR 1,700
• Seasons: low 1 January to 15 April and 16 October to 31 December, high 16 April to 31 May and 1 to 15 October, peak 1 June to 30 September
• Services charge: compulsory daily services charge on top, at EUR 675 for a sailing yacht over 60m and EUR 900 for a motor yacht
• Carbon neutrality contribution: charged daily by length, EUR 3.51 under 12m up to EUR 121.53 over 64m, plus VAT
• ISPS: EUR 650 plus VAT for commercial yachts over 500 GT, valid for periods of three days
• Timing: berth day runs 14:00 to 12:00, exit strictly by midday, lunch stops requested by 11:00 and charged at 50 per cent of the rate
• Marine protected area: anchoring prohibited from the Cenobio dei Dogi to the Tonnarella of Camogli and within 100m of the Chiesa di Portofino dive site, with a booked buoy system at San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa from 25 April 2026

How small this actually is

Portofino sits at 44 degrees 18 minutes north, 9 degrees 12 minutes east on the Ligurian coast east of Genoa, on a promontory that also carries Camogli and Santa Margherita Ligure. The commune covers 2.53 square kilometres and had 379 residents at the end of 2021. The natural harbour supported a fishing fleet for centuries and was described even in the days of the Republic of Genoa as too cramped to offer the merchant marine more than temporary shelter.

By 1950 tourism had replaced fishing as the town's business and the waterfront had become a continuous ring of restaurants and cafes. Nothing structural has changed since. There is no pontoon system, no marina office block and no room to build one, because the village and the hills close the bay on three sides. An owner is buying a position in a fishing harbour that happens to be the most photographed one in Italy.

The Central Quay and Cannone Bay

The harbour is worked as two products. The Central Quay is the run of alongside and stern-to positions in front of the village, and the marina's own tariff structure runs in length bands all the way to an 'over 60 metres' category, so the quay does take genuinely large yachts. The number of those positions is small enough that they are best thought of as single berths and not as a berth count.

Cannone Bay is the mooring and anchorage water immediately outside, and the tariff lists a single port-side position there. Everything larger than the quay can take, or everything that arrives when the quay is full, lies out and comes ashore by tender. Tenders run continuously between the moored yachts and the quay steps through the summer, which is the normal way to get into Portofino and not a fallback.

A published tariff, a fishing harbour and a midday exit time that is not negotiable.

Where you are not allowed to anchor

The whole promontory is a marine protected area covering the municipalities of Camogli, Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure, divided into zones A, B and C with different levels of access. Anchoring is prohibited outright in two places. The first runs from the Cenobio dei Dogi to the Tonnarella of Camogli to protect the posidonia beds. The second is a 100 metre radius around the Chiesa di Portofino dive site, which is protected for archaeological reasons.

The park runs a booked buoy system in place of free anchoring at San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte and Punta Chiappa, operational from 25 April 2026. Reservations are taken between 10:00 and 18:00 through the AMP Portofino mobile application, all buoys are deployed for vessels up to 7.5 metres with the 7.5 to 24 metre buoys rolling out, and a reservation is voided after 120 minutes if the boat has not arrived. For a superyacht that means tender and toy operations here are inside a regulated park and need planning.

How a berth is obtained, and the clock

Berthing is arranged through Portofino Yacht Marina, which operates from Via Roma 35 and Piazza Liberta 13B in the village, by telephone or through its booking system. The rate day runs from 14:00 on the day of arrival until 12:00 the next day, and the exit time is described as strictly fixed at midday.

There is a lunch arrangement worth knowing. Between 12:00 and 15:00 a yacht may be able to stop for lunch, subject to the Port Management Office confirming availability, with the request made no later than 11:00 that morning. It cannot be reserved in advance. If it is granted, it is invoiced at 50 per cent of the reference mooring rate. In August the answer is frequently no.

What it costs, from the published card

Portofino publishes a full tariff, which makes it one of the few marinas in this guide where an owner can price a stop exactly. On the 2026 Central Quay card, before VAT, a yacht over 60 metres pays EUR 2,100 a day in low season, EUR 4,200 in high season and EUR 4,700 at the peak. The 40 metre band runs EUR 750, EUR 1,500 and EUR 1,700. The 50 metre band runs EUR 1,125, EUR 2,250 and EUR 2,500.

Low season is 1 January to 15 April and 16 October to 31 December. High season is 16 April to 31 May and 1 to 15 October. Peak is 1 June to 30 September. A mooring in Cannone Bay on the port side runs EUR 1,500 to EUR 3,500 a day across the same bands. The 2025 card put the over-60 metre quay band at EUR 1,825 to EUR 4,200, so rates rose by roughly 6 to 15 per cent depending on the length band.

The fees on top of the fee

The headline rate is not the invoice. A compulsory daily services charge applies on top, and it differs by hull type, with a yacht over 60 metres paying EUR 675 a day if she is a sailing yacht and EUR 900 if she is a motor yacht, before VAT. In the roadstead there is a garbage service charged at a single rate of EUR 120 a day, while the Cannone Bay garbage rate is zero.

Portofino has also introduced a carbon neutrality contribution, charged daily and scaled by length, running from EUR 3.51 for a boat under 12 metres up to EUR 121.53 for anything over 64 metres, with VAT added. Commercial yachts over 500 GT at anchor or moored in Cannone Bay or on the Central Quay pay an ISPS fee of EUR 650 plus VAT for periods of three days. There is a further overnight departure charge in peak season for movements between 23:00 and 08:30.

Services, and the absence of them

Portofino is a village first. Fuel and water can be arranged and waste is handled through the port office and the compulsory services charge, but there is no yard, no lift and no technical depth. Anything beyond a minor fix means a run down the coast to Genoa or to the Ligurian yards. Provisioning comes from the village and from Santa Margherita next door.

Privacy is nil and every owner who comes here knows it. The quay is a public promenade, the piazzetta terraces look straight down onto the boats from a few metres, and the harbour is the single most photographed scene on the Italian Riviera. Day boats and ferries fill the water through the middle of the day and thin out in the evening. A yacht here is on display for as long as she is alongside.

Ashore, and getting to it

The village keeps cars out of its centre, so the harbour and the piazzetta form one pedestrian space at the water's edge, with a short run of restaurants, hotels and boutiques and the walk up to the Castello Brown and the church of San Giorgio. Genoa's Cristoforo Colombo airport is the closest, roughly an hour by road, with Milan's airports two to three hours away.

For a family week the surroundings do more than the village. Santa Margherita and Rapallo sit around the headland with proper beaches and shops, San Fruttuoso abbey is reachable only by boat or on foot, and the Cinque Terre are a short cruise south-east. The promontory itself has good walking. The village alone will not hold a family for a week, and few people try.

The honest downside

There is almost no supply. The Central Quay is a handful of positions in a harbour the size of a large swimming pool, and in July and August availability is close to nil at short notice. The pricing has moved sharply, the compulsory extras are material against the headline rate, and a yacht that leaves overnight in peak season pays for the privilege. An owner planning around Portofino should treat a confirmed quay booking as the exception.

The other constraint is that this is a stop and not a base. There is no technical support, no crew infrastructure, no airport within easy reach and no capacity to hold a yacht for a season. Portofino also carries a level of day-tripper traffic that surprises people who have only seen photographs of it at eight in the morning. Owners who want the harbour usually base at a larger port nearby and bring the yacht in for a night.

Who it is for: An owner cruising the Italian Riviera who wants one or two nights in the most photographed harbour in Italy and bases the yacht elsewhere.