Genoa

Introduction

Amazing GENOA

© Aplmac

Genoa is an important port city in the northwest of Italy and is the capital of the province of Genoa and the region of Liguria. The city itself roughly has around 600,000 inhabitants, the total urban area around 900,000.

Getting There

By Plane

Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA) has some flights, but services are limited to Rome, Paris, London, Madrid, Monaco, Naples, Cagliari and Catania. New routes to Bari (from 15 January 2010) and Trapani (from May 2010) have been announced by Ryanair.

By Boat

Genoa Harbour

© Aplmac

Sicily

• Grandi Navi Veloci between Genoa and Palermo.

Sardinia

• Grandi Navi Veloci between Genoa and Porto Torres and seasonal between Genoa and Olbia.
• Moby Lines between Genoa and Olbia.
• Tirrenia Ferries between Genoa and Porto Torres, Olbia, Arbatax and Cagliari.

Spain

• GNV between Genoa and Barcelona.

Morocco

• GNV operates services between Genoa and Tangier, in northern Morocco.
• Comanav has services between Tangier and Genoa as well.

Tunesia

• GNV has ferries from Genoa to Tunis.
• Grimaldi Lines offers the same route.
• Cotunav has crossings between Tunis and Genoa.
• SNCM between Genoa and Tunis.

Sleep

Upscale

Keep Connected

Internet

Almost all towns and cities in Italy have internet cafes. A growing number of budget hostels and nicer hotels have free Wifi. By law all public-access internet points must keep records of web sites viewed by customers, and even the customer's ID: expect to be refused access if you don't provide identification. Hotels providing Internet access are not required to record IDs if the connection is provided in the guest's room, although if the connection is offered in the main public hall then IDs are required. Publicly available wireless access without user identification is illegal, so open Wi-Fi hotspots (like the ones you might expect to find in a mall or cafée) all have some form of (generally one-time) registration.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

The main networks are TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile, part of Telecom Italia, formerly state controlled), Vodafone, Wind, and 3 (only UMTS cellphones). Best advice is to buy a prepaid SIM card (from € 10 upwards) and a cheap mobile phone (€ 19 upwards) to put it in (if you don't have a cellphone already that you can use). It will be much more practical. All land line numbers start with 0. Mobile numbers start with 3. Numbers starting with 89 are high-fee services. In case of emergency call the appropriate number from the list below. Such calls are usually free and calls to 112, 113 (police), 115 (fire), 118 (health) can be made from payphones for free without the need of inserting coins. 112 (standard emergency number in GSM specification) can be dialed in any case for free from any mobile phone.

Post

Post Italiane is the national postal services of Italy and has quite an efficient network of postal offices and reliable postal services. Standard letters and postcards (up to 20 grams) cost €0.39 to send within Europe and the Mediterranean countries outside Europe and €0.41 to all other destinations throughout the country. Up to 50 grams, prices start at €0.52 for Europe, €0.62 for other areas. Packages start at €1.55 within Europe, and around €2.50 for other countries. Post office business hours in Italy are from 8:30am to 2:00pm from Monday to Friday, with closing times at Saturday and the last day of the month at 12 noon. In general, larger post offices in bigger cities and in tourist areas keep longer hours than those in local towns. Also note that business hours in the south might be different than the north, with longer hours at night, especially in summer! If you want to send packages you might try faster and more reliable/efficient private courier companies like TNT, UPS or DHL.