La Spezia Cruise Port: 7 Beaches Within Reach

There’s no beach in La Spezia itself, and none at the cruise port. Ships berth at Molo Garibaldi, a working cargo quay, with naval arsenal along the waterfront beyond. The nearest sand is round the gulf at San Terenzo and Lerici, a bus or ferry ride away, or across the water at Portovenere and Palmaria.

Why there is no beach in La Spezia city

La Spezia is a working port long before it’s a holiday town. The commercial docks and the military arsenal take up the waterfront, which is the reason the city exists at all, and the tourism board doesn’t dress it up: there are no beaches in the city.

What coastline there is doesn’t come with a towel. It’s rock, pebble, gravel and a bit of sand, and the beaches people picture when they picture La Spezia sit in the next municipalities round the gulf: Lerici, San Terenzo, Portovenere, and on up into the Cinque Terre.

That’s the bit to get your head round on a port day. Even the closest sand needs transport, so if the plan was to walk off the gangway and lie down, this is the wrong port for it.

La Spezia beaches map

Each pin shows how far that place is from the nearest cruise pier. Tap a pin for directions.

• Molo Garibaldi berthWhere ships dock
• Terminal Crociere della Spezia (Largo Fiorillo)Where ships dock
• San TerenzoSeaside village · About 5 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• LericiSeaside town · About 7 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• PortovenereSeaside village · About 6 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• PalmariaIsland · About 7 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• Venere Azzurra beachBeach · About 6 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• Baia BluBeach · About 5 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• FiascherinoBeach · About 8 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• Eco del MareBeach club · About 8 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• San Giorgio coves, LericiCoves · About 7 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• TellaroFishing village · About 9 km from Molo Garibaldi berth
• Monterosso al MareSeaside village · About 15 km from Terminal Crociere della Spezia (Largo Fiorillo)
• VernazzaSeaside village · About 12 km from Terminal Crociere della Spezia (Largo Fiorillo)
• RiomaggioreSeaside village · About 7 km from Terminal Crociere della Spezia (Largo Fiorillo)
• CornigliaSeaside village · About 10 km from Terminal Crociere della Spezia (Largo Fiorillo)
• La Spezia Centrale stationTrain station · About 1 km from Terminal Crociere della Spezia (Largo Fiorillo)

From the gangway to the sand: the time you really have

Ships tie up at Molo Garibaldi, a 450 m quay with no pedestrian exit. A shuttle takes you to the Terminal Crociere at Largo Michele Fiorillo beside Piazza Europa, a few minutes’ ride, and it’s compulsory for security, so there’s no dodging it.

Smaller ships use Molo Italia, closer to the centre. The terminal building has tourist information and a free city map.

From there it’s 20 to 25 minutes on foot into the centre along Viale Italia and the pedestrianised Via del Prione, and about 2 km to La Spezia Centrale if a train is the plan. Piazza Europa is a five-minute walk from the terminal. For the rest of the port mechanics, see a full guide to La Spezia cruise port.

The realistic beach run goes like this: shuttle, walk or short hop into town, then ATC line S or line L out to San Terenzo and Lerici, about 20 minutes depending on traffic and roughly every half hour in high season. Or walk the seafront to the Passeggiata Morin and take the ferry, which is slower, prettier, and lands you in Lerici or Portovenere with no road in sight.

Then budget the way back. The queue for the shuttle to the ship runs 30 to 45 minutes at peak, and 90 minutes in hand is the difference between a good day and a sprint down the quay. On a short call, two hours go on travel before you’ve touched the water.

The seven beaches near La Spezia, compared

Seven are worth planning a day around. They’re not interchangeable: the difference between them is sand or pebbles, free or paid, and how many steps you climb at the end.

Spiaggia libera, lido and the free beach with facilities

Italian beaches come in three sorts, and knowing which one you’re walking onto saves an argument at the entrance. A spiaggia libera is free sand with nothing on it.

A free beach with facilities charges nothing to get on and takes your money only for the sunbed and umbrella you hire. A stabilimento, or lido, is a managed club with a bar, a restaurant and sometimes parking, and you pay to be there.

In the Lerici municipality the free stretches are at San Terenzo, Venere Azzurra, Baia Blu and Marinella, with free sections sitting alongside the equipped ones at Fiascherino. Expect to pay for an umbrella and two loungers anywhere there’s a club behind the sand, more at the polished places and less at the older, simpler ones. The free sand costs nothing and gives you nothing but the ground.

One thing people get wrong: free sand is unguarded. The equipped Fiascherino beaches have a lifeguard, but free and paying stretches share the same two bays, so whether anyone’s watching depends on which strip of sand you dropped your towel on.

The secret that is not a secret: Eco del Mare and the private coves

The quietest-looking coves on this coast are often businesses. Eco del Mare sits in a small cove at Località Maramozza on the Lerici to Tellaro road, 140 steps down from the road, run as a club with a restaurant that takes bookings only; the Comune di Lerici lists it among the lidi that operate by prior arrangement with the operator. Book through them and don’t turn up hoping for a day ticket.

Baia Blu is the same lesson in friendlier form: a free beach with lounger hire at one end and the long-established La Baia Blu club with restaurant, bar and two pools at the other. The two are physically separate, so at the club entrance keep left and follow the signs for the free beach, with free parking above.

What’s free and quiet is smaller than the internet suggests. The San Giorgio coves below Lerici castle are three sandy inlets reached through the tunnel, but part of the access is closed for safety and in summer usually only the first beach is open, so read the signs before you commit to the descent.

Steps, shade and mobility: which coves to skip

The staircases are what wreck a port day. Fiascherino’s two beaches sit at the bottom of long stairways from the road to Tellaro, and it’s uphill all the way back; the first two bays coming from Tellaro need about a hundred steps each. Eco del Mare is 140 steps down, and Cala del Pozzale on Palmaria is a steep path.

If anyone in the party has a pushchair, a bad knee or a tendency to wilt in the heat, take San Terenzo instead. The beach runs the whole length of the village on fine pale sand, the seabed shelves gently enough for children to paddle, a breakwater offshore keeps the water calm even when it’s windy elsewhere, and the bars and restaurants are about two minutes from the sand. You can walk in without special footwear.

Underfoot elsewhere: coarse sand and pebbles at Fiascherino and Tellaro, pebbles and small coves between Lerici and Tellaro, rock and pebble at Portovenere and Palmaria where the shallows are full of stones. For the stairway beaches, walking shoes you can also get wet earn their luggage space; smooth-soled sandals are the wrong tool on a hundred stone steps.

Can you swim in La Spezia? Water quality in the gulf

Swimming in La Spezia is good at the Lerici beaches and noticeably poorer in the inner gulf, where the water is enclosed and worked hard by ferries, pleasure boats and naval traffic. The best of it is to the west towards Portovenere and outside the gulf, and you can see the difference from the shore.

Lerici holds Blue Flag status, and Fiascherino, Venere Azzurra, Colombo and Baia Blu are listed among the region’s excellent beaches. ARPAL monitoring has recorded excellent water quality along the whole Lerici coast, and Venere Azzurra’s own Blue Flag has come back after years of problems, awarded on water quality grounds. A new access ramp has gone in there too.

What that doesn’t mean is that every entry is easy. Portovenere and Palmaria are rock and pebble, and you pick your way in rather than stride; at Spiaggia del Secco there are stones in the shallows. Swimming bans and red flags go up on rough days elsewhere along this coast, at Monterosso among others, so read the flag before you commit.

Getting back: last bus, last boat and the Sunday timetable

ATC splits its timetables into weekdays and holidays, and that gap is exactly what catches people out on a Sunday. Line S runs from La Spezia FS Piazzale through San Terenzo and Venere Azzurra to Lerici and on to Sarzana; line L covers La Spezia to Lerici. Read the board at the stop for the day you’re travelling rather than assuming the half-hourly rhythm holds.

The Lerici to Tellaro evening service isn’t fully regular, and the last buses can run earlier than you’d expect, especially out of season.

The ferries are the opposite risk. Navigazione Golfo dei Poeti runs line 01 inside the gulf and line 02 up the coast, and sailings can be cancelled or landings skipped when the swell is up, with notices from about 08:00.

The full line runs from late March to early November, and in March and from early November into December only a single round trip runs. Buy tickets online up to the day before, with pre-sale opening on 1 February, at the offices in La Spezia, Portovenere and Lerici, or from the crew at San Terenzo, Tellaro, Cadimare, Fezzano, Le Grazie, Pozzale and Terrizzo where there’s no office or it’s shut.

Don’t count on a taxi waiting at Lerici or San Terenzo, and don’t build the afternoon around hailing one. The safe plan is the bus out and either the bus or the boat back, with 90 minutes in hand.

Crowds, the Lerici traffic zone and when the secret holds

The quiet is real, but only early or out of season. In July and August the free sand at Lerici’s beaches is claimed by about 9am, so be there before then or book an umbrella and sunbed at the establishment behind you.

Driving into the middle of it is the other trap. Lerici capoluogo and San Terenzo are a restricted traffic zone from 15 June to 31 August, between 10:00 and 18:30 and again from 01:00 to 05:00, with cameras at the gates and fines to match.

San Terenzo’s Via Milano zone is camera-controlled around the clock through the summer. Without a permit, use the paid car parks at La Vallata, Bagnara and Via Milano, with a shuttle bus linking them to the two villages.

Why the Cinque Terre beaches are not the answer

Monterosso is the only Cinque Terre village with a proper, normally-sized sandy beach. Everything else up there is coves and rocks: Vernazza has a small sandy harbour beach, Riomaggiore and Corniglia are pebbles and rock, and Corniglia has no landing stage at all, so no ferry calls.

Fegina, in front of Monterosso station, is the longest beach of the five, sand mixed with fine shingle and deepening gradually. Most of the seafront is clubs, with free stretches in front of the station, at Gigante and Portiglione, and Tragagià in the old town, but in July and August the free stretches are full by about 9.30am.

The train is the practical route and the fast one. The Cinque Terre Express from La Spezia Centrale takes about 25 minutes to Monterosso, and every beach is two to 15 minutes on foot from the station; here’s getting to La Spezia Centrale from the cruise port.

Add the shuttle and that walk, and you spend well over an hour of a port day on the round trip for sand that’s busier than the beach across the gulf.

If the villages are the point rather than the swimming, go anyway: the secret swim spots in the Cinque Terre are rock coves and harbour corners, not beaches, and they reward the train ride more than the sand does.

What to wear and pack for a La Spezia beach day

For a La Spezia beach day, pack what you’d take to any Mediterranean beach, then add footwear that grips wet stone and a layer for the boat ride. Everything on a free stretch is what you carried down, and at the coves there’s nothing to buy, so water, cash for a lounger, a towel and shade travel with you or aren’t there at all.

Cotton and linen in the villages, a hat and a shirt over swimwear for the ferry queue, and footwear with a back strap for the stepped paths. None of the Lerici beaches is a place for a smooth-soled sandal, and the free stretches are unguarded, so keep an eye on children near the breakwaters.

On the crossing, a dry bag that keeps your phone and towel dry earns its place when the spray comes over the bow.

For more inspiration, see these casual cruise outfit ideas for women and cruise outfit ideas for men.

Best photo spots near the La Spezia beaches

Baia Blu, San Terenzo and Fiascherino are the three worth carrying a camera down the steps for. Baia Blu is one of the most photographed spots in the gulf, a narrow inlet between two points with water clear enough to show the bottom.

San Terenzo does the work for you: the village runs the length of the beach, the colours of the houses come off the water, and the castle sits above it.

Fiascherino frames the islands of Tino and Palmaria on the horizon, with sunset behind Portovenere in the evening and morning sun on the second bay. If you go up to Monterosso, the flat rocks below Torre Aurora at the end of Fegina are the sunset spot in the village.

When the beach plan does not fit

Some port calls have no room for a beach. Under about five or six hours alongside, the maths fails: shuttle, transfer, swim, transfer and shuttle queue eat the day, and you spend it watching the clock.

The same applies if the ship is tendering rather than berthing, if the sea is up enough for the ferries to be cancelled, or if you’re in La Spezia on a Sunday or public holiday when the bus timetable thins out. On those days take the boat to Portovenere instead and swim off the rocks around Byron’s Grotto, or sunbathe on the jetty opposite the coloured houses. It’s a shorter, more forgiving trip than any beach that needs a bus.

If you’d rather see the city, a one day itinerary for La Spezia fills the time without a swim.

La Spezia beach FAQs

Does La Spezia have a beach?

No, there’s no beach in La Spezia itself. The city’s waterfront is commercial dock and naval arsenal, and the shoreline is rock, pebble and gravel rather than sand. The nearest sand is at San Terenzo, about 10 km round the gulf.

Which beach near La Spezia is best for children?

San Terenzo. The sand is fine and pale, the seabed shelves gently, a breakwater keeps the water calm even when it’s windy elsewhere, and the village’s bars and restaurants are two minutes from the beach.

How many cruise ships can be in La Spezia at once?

Two. Molo Garibaldi is a 450 m mole used on one side only, so a maximum of two cruise ships can be alongside; when the berths are full, ships may tender instead.

Does Corniglia have a beach?

Corniglia has no landing stage, so no ferry calls there, and its shoreline is pebbles and rock. The nearest proper sand in the Cinque Terre is at Monterosso.

What is the closest beach to La Spezia cruise port?

San Terenzo, roughly 10 km away, reached on ATC line S or line L from La Spezia FS Piazzale in about 20 minutes depending on traffic. The ferry to Lerici is the scenic alternative.