Mention San Remo and a picture is immediately conjured of fin de siecle glamour, a gently faded style, of grand hotels that have seen slightly better days, of nights at the gaming tables, after evenings spent sipping Champagne and Campari. Sanremo, to give it the correct title, was where Tchaikovsky composed Eugene Onegin and his Fourth Symphony. It was here that Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and promoter of peace, latterly lived and died, and it was here during the twenties and after that bright young things came to blow their inheritances at the Casino.
But San Remo has much to offer the present too. Set on a broad bay between two headlands, this is a colourful seaside resort with a beautifully mild climate, courtesy of the Mediterranean out front, and the Maritime Alps rising steeply behind the town. There are chic boutiques, an excellent market every Tuesday and Saturday, and a goodly number of French visitors from across the nearby border. Temperate San Remo is awash in flowers (this area of the Riviera dei Fiori grows and exports a huge quantity) and palm trees add an exotic flavour. There's a charming medieval old town (La Pigna), and offshore there is boating, diving, snorkelling and whale watching.
Interesting sights include the Russian Orthodox Church, the flower market, the Gothic Cattedrale di San Siro, the Museo Civico and the exotically planted Giardino Ormond, with olives, yuccas, date palms, jacaranca, bougainvillea and a giant Cedar of Lebanon. The main strip between the Casino and the heart of town, Coro Matteotti, is good for clothes shops, cinemas, gelaterie and cocktail bars.
To the left you'll find a selection of hotels, to get you in the mood
- see also our full listings of San Remo hotels.
