Splendido, A Belmond Hotel

Portofino is a very small harbour that has spent a century absorbing a very large amount of glamour, and the Splendido is where most of it has stayed. The building began as a sixteenth-century Benedictine monastery, became a private villa, and opened as a hotel in 1901.

It sits high on the hillside above the village, reached by a switchback drive through pine and olive, and the separation is the point. You look down on the harbour rather than sitting in it, which on an August afternoon is worth a great deal.

The Gardens and the Pool

The gardens are terraced down the slope in the Ligurian manner, all bougainvillea, lemon and clipped hedge, and they are maintained to an obsessive standard. Walking them in the early morning, before anyone else is up, is one of the quiet pleasures of the place.

The saltwater pool sits on a terrace with the bay laid out below. It is not enormous and on peak days the loungers go early, which is the one genuine constraint on an otherwise faultless operation.

Rooms, and the Sister Hotel

Rooms are classically Italian rather than fashionably minimal, with painted furniture, tiled floors and, in the best of them, a private terrace over the water. The sea-view rooms justify their premium unusually well because the view is the entire reason to be up the hill.

Belmond also runs Splendido Mare down on the harbour front, which is a different and much smaller hotel. If you want to be in the village rather than above it, that is the one to book, and the two properties share facilities.

Getting About

The hotel runs a shuttle down to the harbour continuously, which you will use more than you expect, since the walk back up is genuinely steep. Boats can be arranged for the Cinque Terre, San Fruttuoso abbey, or simply an afternoon swimming off the point.

Book a table at the harbour restaurants in advance in summer. Portofino has very few of them and the whole coast tries to eat there in August.

A new chapter behind the familiar façade

Splendido has emerged from a major Belmond restoration with fewer keys than older guidebooks report: the current hotel lists 53 rooms and suites. Martin Brudnizki's work keeps the Ligurian palette—sun-faded pink, green shutters, botanical pattern—while loosening some of the former grand-hotel stiffness. The Dior Spa is another important change. This is still a summer residence above a fishing harbour, but no longer one relying on nostalgia alone to justify the rate.

The room decision begins with altitude and outlook. Signature suites run from 55 to 127 square metres, yet a smaller terrace directly over the bay can be more emotionally useful than interior acreage. Confirm whether a promised sea view includes the harbour, open water or foliage, and remember that the building's historic plan creates steps and long routes. The hotel lists two restaurants and a cocktail bar; reserve the principal terrace for one evening, then use the complimentary shuttle to eat by the piazzetta at sister property Splendido Mare.

Portofino's beauty is real and its summer pressure equally so. Day boats, narrow roads and a tiny harbour can make simple outings slow. The hotel is best treated as the destination, with one boat day and one walk into the regional park, rather than headquarters for a frantic Ligurian itinerary. Come in June or September when the pool is persuasive but the village still has room to breathe.

The renovation has changed the old advice

Travellers returning after the restoration should not assume a favourite room number, restaurant name or route works exactly as before. The reduced 53-key inventory, Dior Spa and renewed public rooms have altered the balance of the house while retaining the famous pool and garden descent. Ask what is new rather than demanding a reproduction of memory. Splendido's achievement will be measured by whether it can let a new generation inhabit Portofino without turning the past into décor.

The Verdict

The definitive Italian Riviera hotel, and one of the few places whose reputation and reality actually match. Come in late May or September, take a sea-view room, and do not attempt to walk up from the village after dinner.