San Remo - Italian Riviera

San Remo, an Italian city in Italian Riviera in the region Liguria, is situated very near France, with just a dozen kilometers from the border. Comparing to French Riviera, Italian Riviera is not very popular but still equally charming as French cities such as Nice, Cannes and Antibes. San Remo is not very visited by foreign tourists, thus less illegal immigrants selling touristic souvenirs, something I appreciate a lot. 

First of all, the train station. San Remo train station is very unique. It is basically inside a cave. The platforms are even deeper inside. From the entrance, there is a 500 meters walk before you reach the platforms. And with the moving walkway, the train station itself looks certainly like an airport. 

San Remo train station.

The long walk to the platforms.

The old city of San Remo is called La Pigna. Standing on a small hill, La Pigna is quite small but very beautiful and charming. Taking a stroll inside La Pigna, and you won't be able to stop yourself from taking photos, one after another. Your camera will run out of memory in no time. The following photos were taken in La Pigna.

 

Riviera, of course we must mention its beautiful beaches. San Remo's largest beach is covered with fine sand, but comes with an entrance fee, around 3 to 4 euros. The other beaches in San Remo have very rocky shore, but they are free. 

Sunbathing

San Remo has a casino. I thought I could bring my family to a western casino and expect something to amaze us. But we found nothing but disappointment. No table games at all, there were only gaming machines, mostly slot machines. The casino building is certainly worth visiting though.

Another thing to mention about San Remo is its cycling paths. The paths are very well paved and very enjoyable to cycle on, and there were many bicycle rental shops there. So we also did a short cycle tour in San Remo.

If you get bored with San Remo already, you can get out by train to the nearby towns like Ventimiglia or Bordighera, both are very nice to visit. Train service is very frequent and cheap. In fact, you don't even have to buy the ticket. The journey is so short that the ticket controller won't have time to check you. You can even go through the border and visit some small towns in between Menton and Nice like Cap d'Ail, and also Monaco. All of them are easily accessible by train.