This guide is a contribution from G.R. Horn, one of our guests, who has contributed, to make also your stay a pleasant experience.
One of the many advantages of Genova is its proximity to a number of wonderful (and sometimes even challenging) day hikes in the Ligurian Apennines surrounding the city.
One of Italy’s most famous and beautiful long-distance hiking trails, the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri, passes by Genoa a few miles inland. Several sections of this well-marked trail can be easily managed in a few spare hours of walking time.
For all hikes listed you should purchase a good map of a scale no larger than 1:50.000. The writer of these lines used the following map which conveniently covers all listed walks: Istituto Geografico Centrale (Torino), Carta dei Sentieri e dei rifugi No. 16: Genova Varazze Ovada (1:50.000).
For public transportation timetables, see www.trenitalia.com for trains and www.orariotrasporti.regione.liguria.it for the indispensable Autolinee Liguri, or ALI for short. If you don’t have access to the web, the ALI office on Piazza Vittoria has paper versions of most schedules.