Lerici, Liguria

Overview

Discover Lerici: Private Tours, Experiences & Custom Travel

The town of Lerici is located on Italy's Northern Riviera on the Bay of Poets, directly across from the bay from Portovenere and the Cinque Terre national park. Lerici (pronounced LEH-ree-chee) is a jumble of pastel buildings that jockey for attention with its beaches, crescent-shaped coves and rocky cliffs that melt into the sparkling sea.

It makes a great base away from the masses of tourists that can flood the Cinque Terre in Italy. It's a favorite place for the local Italians to visit and offers pleasant, sandy beaches perfect for swimming. The sea-food restaurants here are also second to none in the area, and in July and August, the town is bustling, the beaches filled with local residents, vacationing families from northern Italy and a loyal crowd of in-the-know Milanese.

Around town, young couples flirt at waterfront cafes, children kick soccer balls beneath palm trees, and groups of white-haired men stroll along the beachfront promenade. Very few are speaking English. In Lerici, unlike many other Riviera towns, the lingua franca is still poetic Italian.

Lerici is flanked by areas all too well-known to foreign travelers. To the south, the flashy Tuscan resort towns of Versilia boast miles of sandy beaches crammed with pasty northern Europeans and bronzed Italians alike. And a few miles to the north is the , five cliff-clinging hamlets connected by narrow footpaths that are overrun with Americans.

In fact, Lerici holds much of the same appeal as its more popular neighbors, with beautiful swaths of beach and miles of hiking trails with photogenic vistas, minus the suffocating crowds. The imposing medieval castle that looms above Lerici’s main piazza is the town’s defining feature, but the scenic mile-and-a-half-long promenade that stretches along the waterfront is its most dazzling. After passing boats bobbing lazily in the harbor and tracts of enormous rocks where sunbathers lie like sea lions, the promenade winds past a string of beaches en route to a smaller stone castle that anchors the neighboring village of San Terenzo.

South of Lerici, a narrow serpentine road — convex mirrors at every turn — snakes above the coastline, past hillside olive groves and the tiny town of Fiascherino, before dead-ending in the charming village of Tellaro. The clifftop route is vaguely reminiscent of the , with stunning views of turquoise sea and rugged shoreline around each corner. Taken together, the four towns of Lerici, San Terenzo, Fiascherino and Tellaro — a Quattro Terre, if you must — form the eastern edge of the Gulf of La Spezia, also known as the Golfo dei Poeti, the Poets’ Gulf.

For centuries, this area has been a haven for Italian artists and authors seeking solitude and inspiration in the beautiful landscape. In the beginning of the 19th century, it also emerged as a destination for the European literati abroad — an enclave for poets and writers that, over the years, has included notables like Percy and Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and D. H. Lawrence. More recently, the Italian writers Mario Soldati and Attilio Bertolucci settled in the area, extending the literary tradition.

“We had a lot of painters, we had singers, we had a lot of artists who were looking for a spot to hide,” said Francesca Mozer, who, with her mother, Nicoletta, owns the exclusive Eco del Mare beach club in Lerici. The secluded property was just a modest strip of sand tucked between towering cliffs and the glittering sea when her father, François, bought it in 1952, but it eventually evolved into a glamorous retreat for wealthy Italians. For the past two years, however, the club has been closed as construction transforms it into a tiny, rustic resort with 19 cabanas, a beachside restaurant and a seven-room hotel, all scheduled to open this weekend.

The hotel will be the third in the area — Piccolo Hotel del Lido and Hotel San Terenzo are the others — to open within the last five years; all cater to an affluent clientele. Several new structures are under construction between Lerici and San Terenzo. But the prospect of more hotel rooms and short-stay apartments — and, inevitably, increased tourism — threatens the town’s subtle air of exclusivity, making some residents uneasy.

“In Lerici, they’ve been fighting not to have tourism,” Ms. Mozer said. Nevertheless, Lerici appears to be preparing itself for the coming crowds: modern benches now adorn the main piazza, and last year major renovations were completed on the waterfront promenade.

For now, though, Lerici remains a place that tourists must actively seek out. Transportation may be one barrier. Since Lerici has no train station — a challenge for the Nutella-and-hostel backpacker crowd — most tourists arrive by car, though this, too, has created an obstacle.

“Parking is a problem,” said Laura Baroni, who together with her sisters, Simonetta and Alessia, owns Enoteca Baroni, a small shop and wine bar that has occupied the same storefront on a shady pedestrian alleyway in Lerici’s historic center since 1961. “There are just 500 spaces, and after that, there’s nowhere to go,” she added, alluding to the main pay parking lot near the Venere Azzurra public beach, a 15-minute stroll from the center of town.

Compounding the issue, nonresidents are prohibited from driving into the center of Lerici, which leaves visitors with few alternatives when the lot is full, as it often is during the summer. Though inconvenient, this restriction has limited the number of tourists and, in turn, has allowed Lerici to retain much of the authenticity that has captivated visitors for centuries.

Tucked behind the San Terenzo castle at the northern terminus of the seafront promenade, a cove of golden sand and sparkling, emerald water is hidden by the undulating coastline. Built into the rocky cliffs high above the beach is the equally secluded, treehouse-like Vertigo Bar, which opened three years ago. A serene hideaway for an afternoon aperitivo, it’s a spot that requires some effort to find, much like Lerici itself.

“It’s quiet, sometimes too quiet,” said the owner, Leandro Collini, “But,” he added, with a shrug and a smile, as he watched his children frolic with friends on the beach below, "I like it."

Plan Your Experience

Explore Lerici

Our own photographs

Lerici Through Our Eyes

Photographed during our own travels and research, these images follow the journey through Lerici, from the first view of the landscape to the small details that give the place its character.

Italy Vacation Specialists Family Holiday Destinations in italy

Tour the Cinque Terre and Tuscany with Italy Vacation Specialists vacation planners in Italy

Lerici, Italian Riviera Family Holiday Destinations in Italy

Family Travel in Italy with Italy Vacation Specialists

Experience the best of family vacations in Italy

Lerici

Map

Get your bearings before you go

Photo Gallery

Sestri Levante

Camogli

Cinque Terre

Genova - Genoa

Lerici

Portofino

Portovenere

Sestri Levante

Our Featured Properties

Stays we picked one by one

Monterosso Sea-View Apartment featured rental property in Lerici

Italy,Liguria,Cinque Terre,Monterosso Al Mare

Estate

Monterosso Sea-View Apartment

2 Beds 3

Balcony +9 more

View Details

Italy,Liguria

Villa

Villa Dei Pini Ameglia Italian Riviera

2 Beds 2 Baths 6

BBQ +15 more

View Details

Italy,Liguria,Genova - Genoa

Villa

Villa MareLuna

3 Beds 4 Baths 6

Air Conditioning +11 more

View Details

Rapallo Haven featured rental property in Lerici

Italy,Liguria,Genova - Genoa

Apartment

Rapallo Haven

3 Beds 3 Baths 6

Air Conditioning +10 more

View Details

Find it faster

Tell Us Where You Want to Go

Search our tours, places to stay and the corners of Italy we know best.

Tell Us Where You Want to Go

Getting here

The Road to Lerici

Most of our guests arrive by private car, with a driver who knows these roads and where it is worth stopping along the way. These are the journeys we arrange most often.

Lucca Tuscany Pisa Tuscany, Galileo Galilei Airport Parma Emilia-Romagna Modena Emilia-Romagna Florence Tuscany, Peretola Airport Milan Lombardia, Malpensa Airport

Inside Parma Italy with Italy Vacation Specialists

Beautiful Modena, Emilia Romagna Region Italy

Where you are going Lerici, Liguria

Starting somewhere else? Tell us where, and we will arrange the car.

Plan my transfer

Your Name*

Your Email*

Your Phone Number*

Dates for Travel (MM/DD/YYYY)

Number of Adults

Number of Kids under 12 years

Your request *

In their words

Stories That Stay With You

Here's what our guests share about their unforgettable journeys

“Dear Guiseppe and Jesse, We just returned from our most wonderful vacation to Italy and wanted to first thank you for putting together such a wonderful trip, and second to provide some feedback for the future. Hotels 1. Hotel Sovestro in San Gimignano was wond…”
Ron and Deb Crosby Read their story

“I am a travel agent from Lebanon and have organized several group tours as well as individual tours of Italy with Italy Vacation Specialists. I highly recommend them as one of the very best tour operators in Italy to work with, given their professionalism and…”
Nicole Haddad, Lebanese Travel Agent Read their story

“My husband and I just took a two week trip to Italy that was planned for us by Eleanor Kinchin-Smith. It was a fantastic trip and we could not have been more thrilled. We worked together with Ele to let her know about our interests and our style of travel. She…”
Emily and David Davison Read their story

“In September of 2018 I brought a group of 12 from Venice to Sicily and organized all of my services with the Italy Vacation Specialists. Being a travel agent and in the business, I know how complicated organizing travel arrangements can be in Italy and the IVS…”
Ann Brownell, KHM Travel Group Read their story

“I went to high school with the owner of the company who organized my honeymoon for myself and my now wife from Tokyo. We spent three short weeks seeing Piedmont and experiencing wine paradise there, then heading to Nice in France with our private driver and fl…”
Robin and Kumi Bruun, Tokyo Japan Read their story

“We're home now from the most amazing trip to Italy! I can't thank you enough for your efforts and coordination of what was without question the finest vacations I've been on to date”
Carol Carson Read their story