Eight Hotel Portofino

Eight Hotel Portofino

Eight Hotel Portofino sits just behind Portofino's marina, close enough that the shops in the town center are a five-minute walk and the beach and restaurants at Paraggi Bay are about ten minutes further on foot. The hotel holds to seventeen rooms across four floors, part of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, and the scale shows in the details: individually regulated air conditioning and heating in every room, satellite television, a direct dial telephone, and bathrooms fitted with both a shower and a bathtub. Guests who drive have something rare for this stretch of the coast, private parking with a valet service, worth having in a harbor town where a rental car can otherwise become a daily problem. Mornings run on a continental breakfast, and afternoons can go toward the sandy beach, where sun loungers and parasols are available for a fee, or toward diving, motor boating, canoeing and pedal boating arranged through the hotel, also fee-based. There is a sauna, a steam room and massages on request, and a meeting room that seats up to fourteen for anyone folding work into the trip. Staff move between English, Spanish, Italian, German and French without missing a beat. This suits a couple who wants to be in the middle of Portofino without a hotel large enough to lose the staff's attention, and it suits anyone who needs a car and doesn't want to hunt for a parking spot every evening. It will feel small to anyone chasing a resort with a full pool deck and several restaurants. The marina is close, the room does the actual work of comfort, and Portofino outside the window doesn't need any extra description. Seventeen rooms behind Portofino's marina, with private valet parking that solves the town's biggest headache for drivers. Days run between a sandy beach, watersports for a fee, and a sauna and steam room. Better suited to a quiet couple than a group chasing a big resort scene.