Portofino Boat Tours: Private Cruises Along the Italian Riviera
Family-owned since 1951. Departures from Santa Margherita Ligure. Skippers born and raised in Portofino.
- ✓ Local Skippers
- ✓ Marine Protected Area Authorized
- ✓ Since 1951
Ready to experience Portofino from the sea? Check availability for your date.
Check Availability →Why a Private Boat Tour Is the Best Way to See Portofino
Portofino’s piazzetta is one of the most photographed squares in the world — and one of the smallest. Once you’ve walked the harbour and climbed to Castello Brown, you’ve seen most of the village in a morning. The coastline around it is the secret: a Marine Protected Area closed to most traffic, a 13th-century abbey reachable only by sea or a 90-minute hike, hidden coves where the water is clear past ten metres. From land, none of it is accessible.
The boat is what changes everything.
Our dock is at Molo Umberto I, right in Portofino harbour. You walk on, we cast off, and within a few minutes you’re seeing what the owners of those moored superyachts come here to see — the cliffs of the promontory, the Cristo degli Abissi underwater statue at San Fruttuoso, the swim spot at Cala degli Inglesi, the pastel cluster of Camogli around the headland.
Four reasons our guests choose a private boat tour over the public ferry or a hike to San Fruttuoso:
- No crowds, no schedule. Your boat, your day. Stay an extra hour at the swim stop, cut another short, change the route mid-day if the wind shifts. A private boat trip in Portofino runs at your pace, not the ferry's.
- The Marine Protected Area, properly. The AMP is closed to most boats. Ours are authorised inside it, with reserved mooring at Cala degli Inglesi, San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa.
- Portofino from the sea. The iconic view — pastel houses curved around the harbour, yachts along the quay, Castello Brown above — only exists from the water. Most visitors never get it.
- Local crew, family-run. Da Vince has been working out of Portofino since 1951, still run by the same family today, and our skippers are all from the village. We know which cove holds shade at three, where the dolphins surface in September, which trattoria opens for an early lunch.
The last point isn’t marketing copy. It’s the reason guests come back, and it’s why most of our bookings — even for a one-day Portofino day trip — come from word of mouth.
Our Portofino Boat Tour Itineraries
We run three standard routes plus a fully tailored option. Every tour is private — your boat, your captain, your group only. We don’t share trips. If none of the standard itineraries fit, the last one is a blank page.
Portofino & San Fruttuoso — 3-Hour Classic
The tour we recommend for first-time visitors and anyone with a Portofino day trip planned around a half day. We cast off from Molo Umberto I and head south along the dramatic cliffs of the Portofino promontory — Punta del Capo, Cala degli Inglesi, the swim spot where the water is the deepest blue on the coast and often clear past 10 metres. Then on to San Fruttuoso, a 13th-century abbey wedged into a bay with no road access, reachable only by boat or a 90-minute hike. We anchor close enough to swim ashore, or you can stay on board with a cold drink and the chapel reflected in the water. On the way back, we slow down outside the harbour for the photograph most visitors miss: Portofino seen from the sea, the way it was always meant to be approached.
Best for: first-time visitors, families with children, half-day travellers.
Portofino & Cinque Terre — 8-Hour Full Day
The complete coastline in a single day. We leave Portofino early, run along the promontory and the Marine Protected Area, then continue south past Punta Chiappa and into open water toward La Spezia. By midday we reach Monterosso, the largest of the Cinque Terre villages and the only one with a proper sandy beach: the best swimming stop of the day. From there we coast slowly past Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore — five villages stacked into the cliffs, exactly as you’ve seen them in photographs. We stop for lunch ashore (we’ll suggest a few trattorias we trust) and turn back in the late afternoon, catching the light dropping behind the Portofino promontory on the way home. This is the only sensible way to do a boat tour from Portofino to Cinque Terre and back without trains, crowds, or parking.
Best for: travellers who want both icons in one day, without driving and without rushing.
Portofino Sunset Cruise with Aperitivo
We cast off about 90 minutes before sunset. The route is shorter and slower than the daytime tours: out along the southern face of the promontory, across the bay for the moment the sun drops behind Punta Chiappa, then a slow cruise back as the harbour lights come on. The onboard aperitivo is always included — what’s in the cooler changes through the season, but the ritual doesn’t. We come back into Molo Umberto I after dark. Portofino looks different at night: pastel facades lit from below, the piazzetta quiet, most of the day-trippers already gone. The Portofino sunset cruise is the only route we run after 6 PM, and in July and August it books out a week ahead.
Best for: couples, anniversaries, proposals. We’ve had more than a few “yes” moments on this route — tell us in advance and we’ll set things up discreetly.
Tailored Private Itinerary
The starting point is your day, not our list. Late lunch in Camogli’s old fishing port. A private aperitivo anchored above the Cristo degli Abissi. Pick-up from a yacht moored in the bay, transfer to a restaurant ashore, return after dark. We’ve designed days for proposals, family birthdays, photographers, and guests who simply wanted to read on deck. If you want to build something out of the ordinary, start the conversation.
Best for: special occasions, repeat visitors, anyone who’d rather build the day from scratch.
Our Portofino Boat Tour Itineraries
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7 hours
from € 1.475
San Fruttuoso full day tour
Explore San Fruttuoso with a private boat tour, surrounded by crystal-clear waters and stunning landscapese.
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3.5 hours
from € 1.090
San Fruttuoso half day tour
Discover San Fruttuoso with a private half-day tour. Cruise along the Ligurian coast, explore the Abbey, swim in crystal-clear waters, and snorkel near the Christ of the Abyss.
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7 hours
from € 2.013
Cinque Terre full day tour
Discover the Cinque Terre with a private boat tour, exploring colorful villages, exclusive bays, and crystal-clear waters.
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1.5 hours
from € 855
Sunset tour
Experience an exclusive Sunset Tour. Cruise along the coast of Portofino at sunset, surrounded by breathtaking colors and calm waters.
What's Included on Our Boat Tours
We keep our pricing honest: what you pay is what the day costs, with no add-ons revealed at the dock. Here’s what’s on board when you step aboard.
Included in every Portofino boat tour:
- ✓ A local skipper from Portofino. All our captains are from the village. They speak English and Italian.
- ✓ Onboard aperitivo. Always included. The selection changes through the season — bring an appetite, leave the planning to us.
- ✓ Snorkeling equipment. Masks, fins, and snorkels in adult and child sizes.
- ✓ Comfort on board. Bimini top for shade, beach towels, swim ladder, freshwater on-deck shower, minibar with chilled drinks.
- ✓ All AMP mooring fees. Buoy access at San Fruttuoso, Cala degli Inglesi and Punta Chiappa is included — no surprise charges at the end of the day.
- ✓ Fuel and insurance. All operational costs covered.
Not included:
- Lunch ashore at San Fruttuoso or in the Cinque Terre villages. We’ll suggest trattorias we know before your tour.
- Gratuity for the skipper, if you’d like to leave one — appreciated, never expected.
Everything else — the day, the route, the pace — is built around what you tell us when you book.
Portofino vs Cinque Terre: Which Day Trip Is Right for You?
Portofino is the elegant half-day — the harbour itself, exclusive shops and restaurants, swim stops in the Marine Protected Area, the whole experience comfortable in a single morning or afternoon.
Cinque Terre is the full-day adventure — five villages perched on cliffs, longer distances, much more time at sea. With a private boat from Da Vince, you can combine both in our full-day itinerary; with a half day, you choose one.
| Portofino & nearby | Cinque Terre | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of villages | 1 + San Fruttuoso Abbey | 5 |
| Best for | Elegance, dining, short visit | Panoramas, photography, full day |
| Boat tour duration | Half-day | Full day |
| Crowds | Manageable | High June–September |
| From Portofino harbour | At your doorstep | ~1h 15min each way by sea |
| Time ashore | 1–2 stops, leisurely | 1–2 villages with lunch |
| Best swim spots | Cala degli Inglesi, San Fruttuoso | Monterosso beach, open coast |
Choose Portofino & the Marine Protected Area if you have a half day, want to eat well in a piazzetta with a view, prefer clear-water swimming in protected coves, or you’ve already seen Cinque Terre and want something quieter.
Choose Cinque Terre if you have a full day, want as many photographs as possible, prefer a more rugged coastline, or this is your first trip to the Italian Riviera and you want the postcard.
Choose both if you have a full day and you’d rather see the whole coast in one go than pick between them. That’s our full-day itinerary — Portofino and the Marine Protected Area in the morning, lunch in a Cinque Terre village, a slow cruise home. Most travellers who book it are doing the Italian Riviera once and want to do it properly.
Whichever you pick, our Portofino boat tours run only with your group on board — the route can shift mid-day if conditions or appetites change. We’ve had Cinque Terre days where the swell turned us back to San Fruttuoso for an extra swim. We’ve had Portofino half-days that lingered until sunset because nobody wanted to leave. The boat is yours.
Ready to experience Portofino from the sea? Check availability for your date.
Check Availability →