Wedding in Santa Margherita
by Sally
(Stafforshire)
Lerici

We are going to Santa Margherita in August for a wedding - we want to spend 4 days along the coast before the wedding.
Would you suggest Lerici or Levanto for a relaxing, quiet stay with beaches and good restaurants? We fly into Pisa so also need to know about transport to and from the airport (pisa-lerici/levanto and santa margherita to pisa) and around the area? Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks Sally

Hello Sally,
If you are looking for a quiet, relaxing stay near the seaside at a place with lots of charm, I would definitely recommend Lerici over Levanto. Lerici is smaller than Levanto and has a cosier feel while allowing you to experience the unforgettable buzz of an upmarket Italian seaside town. The area here is blessed with too many good things – gorgeous weather, inspirational views, dreamy villas and beautiful coastline, all making for an unforgettable stay. Here you have the possibility to make your holiday as relaxing or as active as you want.
If you love to take the sun, there is
a wide selection of charming beaches to relax on – from the exclusive to the reclusive. You can explore more of what the town offers in
our Guide to Lerici . Lerici is also a great base to
explore the rest of the villages in the Gulf of Poets . You can easily visit the neighboring
hamlet of Tellaro from here and if you have the time take a ferry boat from Lerici’s harbour to
the Cinque Terre too.
The town offers excellent restaurants to suit any budget. With Lerici being on the sea, you can toss a coin and it will land on a fish restaurant with a view, serving seafood classics as well as authentic local dishes. You will be spoilt for choice and taste ! There are also lots of eat-and-run places in town.
If you decide to stay in the area, let us know and we can help you to find the right accommodation as well.
Getting to Lerici from Pisa Airport is fairly easy too. But more specifically, you can take a train from Pisa airport and get off at Sarzana. Note that conveniently the railway terminal is located just outside the departure hall and is connected to Pisa Central Station by a direct train service. At Pisa Airport, you can buy your railway ticket at the information office in the arrivals hall.
At Sarzana you can either take a taxi to Lerici ( it should cost you around 20-25 euros) or a bus. If you decide to take the bus from Sarzana, you should take
Bus Line S - Direction: Fossitermi. It takes around 30 mins to get to Lerici. For your convenience I have provided below a link that shows you the exact bus route. Just click on the link below (or copy and paste the full link into your internet browser) and then click on 'Get Directions' on the left-hand side:
http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&f=d&dirflg=r&saddr=fssarzana,SP&daddr=lerici, SP&ttype=dep&time=14:33 For further reference on bus time tables, I find the below link very useful. Just use the 'Search for Bus Timetable' utility at the bottom of the page :
http://www.atcesercizio.it Our
Lerici Travel Resources section offers lots of info, so please check it out too.
On your question of getting from Pisa to Santa Margherita, a part from
hiring a car perhaps the best way to get there is by train. Santa Margherita station is situated on the Genoa to La Spezia line. So you would need to take a train from Pisa Airport to La Spezia Central Station and from there change to a local or long distance train that runs on the Genoa to La Spezia line and stops at the Santa Margherita station.
All of the trains scheduled to stop at Santa Margherita can be found on the
Ferrovie Dello Stato website.
I hope this helps and let us know if you need any further assistance.
Gianfranco
LiguriaGuide.com