The Portofino List
Five editorial picks, ranked by the only filter that matters: why you are dining.
DaV Mare
The Cerea family's harbour-front Portofino room — the three-Michelin-star Da Vittorio Bergamo running a Ligurian fish trattoria directly on the Piazzetta.
La Terrazza
The Splendido's cliff-top terrace — Portofino's most photographed dining setting, with the entire harbour spread out 150 metres below.
Cracco Portofino
Carlo Cracco's Piazzetta outpost — the two-Michelin-star Milan chef cooking modern Italian directly on the Portofino harbour.
Da Puny
The Piazzetta institution — Portofino's celebrity-favourite Ligurian fish restaurant, in continuous family ownership since 1958.
Da i Gemelli
The Calata Marconi family seafood institution — the canonical Portofino lunch when Da Puny is booked out and the budget-aware harbour-front pick.
Best for First Date in Portofino
Intimate, conversation-friendly rooms. Impressive without being intimidating. The tables where first impressions are made.
Da Puny
The Piazzetta institution — Portofino's celebrity-favourite Ligurian fish restaurant, in continuous family ownership since 1958.
Da i Gemelli
The Calata Marconi family seafood institution — the canonical Portofino lunch when Da Puny is booked out and the budget-aware harbour-front pick.
Best for Business Dinner in Portofino
Power tables, private rooms, considered wine lists. Where the deal gets done.
DaV Mare
The Cerea family's harbour-front Portofino room — the three-Michelin-star Da Vittorio Bergamo running a Ligurian fish trattoria directly on the Piazzetta.
La Terrazza
The Splendido's cliff-top terrace — Portofino's most photographed dining setting, with the entire harbour spread out 150 metres below.
The Top Five in Portofino
Ranked against a single question: if you had one night in Portofino, where would you go?
DaV Mare
The Cerea family's harbour-front Portofino room — the three-Michelin-star Da Vittorio Bergamo running a Ligurian fish trattoria directly on the Piazzetta.
La Terrazza
The Splendido's cliff-top terrace — Portofino's most photographed dining setting, with the entire harbour spread out 150 metres below.
Cracco Portofino
Carlo Cracco's Piazzetta outpost — the two-Michelin-star Milan chef cooking modern Italian directly on the Portofino harbour.
Da Puny
The Piazzetta institution — Portofino's celebrity-favourite Ligurian fish restaurant, in continuous family ownership since 1958.
Da i Gemelli
The Calata Marconi family seafood institution — the canonical Portofino lunch when Da Puny is booked out and the budget-aware harbour-front pick.
The Portofino Dining Guide
Portofino sits on a pine-and-olive-clad headland on the eastern flank of the Ligurian Gulf, halfway between Genoa and the Tuscan border, and is — by any reasonable measure — the most photographed fishing harbour in continental Europe. The village holds about 380 year-round residents, the Piazzetta of pastel-painted four-storey houses around the harbour-mouth, and the cluster of Belmond hotels (the cliff-top Splendido, opened in 1901, and the harbour-front Splendido Mare) that make Portofino the Italian Riviera's most institutionally luxurious destination.
The dining is correspondingly serious. The Cerea family — proprietors of the three-Michelin-star Da Vittorio in Bergamo — run DaV Mare at the Splendido Mare; Carlo Cracco (two Michelin stars in Milan) runs Cracco Portofino directly on the Piazzetta; the Belmond Splendido cliff-top hotel runs La Terrazza and the Splendido Grill across two terraces; and Ristorante Puny — a celebrity-favourite institution since 1958 — runs the canonical Ligurian fish lunch directly on the harbour. The village is small enough that all five rooms are within a 10-minute walk.
Neighbourhoods
Reservations & Practical Notes
DaV Mare, La Terrazza and Cracco Portofino must be booked four to six weeks ahead in summer (June–September); two to three weeks shoulder. Da Puny takes phone-only reservations and books two to three days ahead; the famous mid-October closing is around the village's most reliable late-season window. Dress is Riviera-elegant — linen rather than tailored, sandals are acceptable everywhere except La Terrazza which enforces smart-elegant. Tipping is not expected in Italy; a 5–10 per cent round-up is polite for exceptional service.
For a deeper editorial read, see our ongoing Editorial coverage — including pieces on the Impress Clients, Proposal and First Date occasion guides.