Let me be honest with you: Genoa was not what I expected. My first impression was that it was a bit gritty, it’s not polished or prettified for tourists the way Rome or Florence can feel. But give it a chance, and I promise you won’t regret it. Genoa was one of the most genuinely surprising cities I’ve visited in Italy. Among all the things to do in Genoa, the combination of medieval lanes, extraordinary Renaissance palaces, the best focaccia of my life, and a fishing village right on the doorstep of the city centre won me over completely. Plus it’s cheap. And the food is exceptional.
This is my complete Genoa travel guide, everything I’d tell a friend who was heading there.
GENOA ESSENTIALS
✈️ Getting There / Genoa is well connected by rail to all major Italian cities. From Milan it’s around 1.5 hours; from Rome around 3 hours. The train is my preferred way to travel within Italy, easy, scenic, and often cheaper than flying. Book tickets on Trainline for the best fares. Genoa’s Cristoforo Colombo Airport is compact and close to the city, pre-book a transfer with WelcomePickups for a stress-free arrival with a fixed-price, English-speaking driver. Search flights on Skyscanner.
🚗 Getting Around / You don’t need a car in Genoa itself, but if you’re planning day trips to Portofino or Cinque Terre, having a car for part of your trip is useful. Compare rates on DiscoverCars.
🎟️ Tours / Genoa’s historic centre is best explored on foot, but guided tours bring the history to life in a way that’s hard to replicate independently. The best ones to book in advance:
Genoa Aquarium Entrance Ticket
Genoa Old Town Walking Tour: Caruggi and Palazzi
Guided Tour of the Rolli Palaces, UNESCO Site
Rooftop Pesto and Pasta Cooking Class
🏨 Stay / I stayed at Vo.Al. Concept Guest House near Genoa’s Central Station and loved it, see the full write-up below:
Budget: B&B Argentina
Mid-range: Starhotels President
Luxury: Bristol Palace Hotel
Search all Genoa hotels
🧳 Luggage Storage / If you’re early for check-in or have time to kill after checkout, no stress, there are luggage storage points all over Genoa. Use this website to find one nearby.
📱 Connect / Stay connected the moment you land. I use Holafly, use code TRAVELWITHPAU for 5% off.
🛡️ Get Insured / Don’t skip this. I use World Nomads, it covers activities, delays, and medical emergencies.
Things to Do in Genoa
1. Get Lost in the Caruggi (Medieval Lanes)
The caruggi, Genoa’s dense network of narrow medieval alleys, are the heart and soul of the city. This is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed historic centre, one of the largest in Europe, and walking through it feels genuinely medieval: dark, atmospheric, fragrant with focaccia and coffee, with sudden piazzas opening up unexpectedly and tiny street shrines (called edicole) tucked into corners.
Some highlights within the caruggi: the beautiful Abbazia di San Matteo, the Parrocchia di Santa Maria delle Vigne, and Piazza Campetto with its elegant architecture. A practical note: the caruggi’s reputation for being rough has improved significantly, but as with any dense urban neighbourhood, common sense applies, especially late at night. If you’d rather not navigate them solo on day one, this guided caruggi walking tour is a good way to get properly oriented before exploring alone for the rest of your trip.
2. Walk the Strada Nuova, Via Garibaldi
The Strada Nuova (now known as Via Garibaldi and Via Balbi) is the monumental showpiece of 16th-century Genoa. This is where the wealth of the Maritime Republic was put on display: a street of Renaissance palaces, the Palazzi Rolli, built by Genoa’s most powerful noble families to host visiting heads of state, cardinals and ambassadors. The sheer scale and grandeur of them is genuinely astonishing.
Via Garibaldi is today a UNESCO-listed street, and the palaces are some of the finest examples of Renaissance civic architecture in Italy. Walking it even without going inside any of the museums is worthwhile for the architecture alone, but if you want proper context on how the whole Rolli system worked, this guided tour of the Rolli Palaces covers the history in a way a plaque never can.