Italian Riviera With a Baby: Why We Stayed in Recco
Traveling the Italian Riviera with a baby sounded a little intimidating at first, but choosing the right home base made such a difference for our trip. Instead of staying in one of the busier, more touristy towns, we based ourselves in Recco. It is a smaller coastal town but still gave us easy access to places like Camogli, Portofino and Cinque Terre. It ended up being the perfect for exploring the Riviera and also having somewhere easy to come back to at the end of the day.
Traveling with a baby changes what makes a destination “perfect.”
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Why Did We Choose Recco
One of the biggest things I’ve learned about traveling with a baby is that I don’t necessarily want to stay in the destination with the longest list of things to do.
I want to stay somewhere that makes it easy to do nothing when we need to. Baby needs a longer nap? Fine. We want to grab something quick for dinner instead of committing to a whole evening out? Easy. We’ve already spent six hours sightseeing and just want to walk along the water? Done.
That was Recco.
It felt more like a real Italian coastal town than somewhere built primarily around tourism. There were restaurants, cafés, bakeries, grocery stores and the beach, but it never felt like we had to be “on” every minute of the day. And it was never flooded with tourists.
When you’re traveling with a baby, that breathing room is incredibly underrated.
Airbnb kitchen
View from our Airbnb
Recco Made Day Trips So Much Easier
The biggest reason I’d recommend Recco as a home base is its location.
From Recco, you’re positioned really well for exploring the eastern side of the Italian Riviera without packing up your entire life every couple of days.
We were able to use it as our base while visiting places like:
- Camogli
- Santa Margherita Ligure
- Portofino
- Cinque Terre
- other towns along the Ligurian coast
Recco also sits directly on the regional railway line. The regional trains connect Recco with Camogli, Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino, Rapallo and continuing down the coast toward places like Sestri Levante, Levanto, Monterosso, Vernazza, Manarola and Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre). That mattered a lot for us with a baby and our whole family.
Instead of changing hotels constantly, unpacking the crib, reorganizing bottles and baby gear, and trying to recreate some sort of bedtime routine in a new room every two nights, we could leave most of our stuff behind and just take what we needed for the day. That alone made the trip feel significantly less chaotic.
Camogli
Portofino
It Was Much More Relaxed Than Staying in Portofino
I loved visiting Portofino. It’s beautiful for a reason and definitely stroller-friendly. But I personally wouldn’t have wanted to base our entire trip there with a baby.
Portofino is somewhere I’d rather visit intentionally — walk around the harbor, shop a little, have lunch or dinner, enjoy the scenery — and then come back to somewhere calmer afterward. Recco gave us that separation.
We could experience the busy, glamorous parts of the Riviera during the day and then come back to a town where we weren’t constantly navigating crowds.
And accommodations generally give you more options once you move outside the most famous towns, which is especially important for us now when I’m looking for things like more space, a kitchen or refrigerator, somewhere to put a travel crib and ideally some separation between where the baby sleeps and where we can still hang out. Plus, we really wanted a place with a pool. That kind of practicality is becoming just as important to me as the destination itself and finding somewhere that provides it.
Portofino
Portofino
Recco Was Actually Enjoyable With a Stroller
I would definitely add some nuance here because the Italian Riviera as a whole is not what I would call effortlessly stroller-friendly. There are hills, there are stairs, there are cobblestones. And once you start visiting places like Cinque Terre, you quickly realize that a baby carrier can be your best friend.
Recco itself, though, was much easier for normal everyday walking. You can walk through town, along the waterfront and to restaurants without every outing turning into a logistical challenge. That made a huge difference because our stroller actually felt useful when we were home in Recco rather than something we were constantly folding up, carrying or regretting bringing.
I do want to add one important caveat, though: our Airbnb was up above town, and the walk to and from it involved quite a few stairs. So while Recco itself was easy with the stroller, that initial walk down into town — and especially the walk back up at the end of the day — definitely was not.
That’s something I’d pay attention to when choosing where to stay in Recco. If you’re traveling with a baby and plan on using a stroller often, I’d look closely at the location of your accommodation and whether there are stairs or a steep walk between you and the center of town.
Once we were down there, though, walking around Recco itself was much more manageable than some of the other towns we visited along the Italian Riviera.
If you’re planning the Italian Riviera with a baby, though, I would absolutely bring both a compact travel stroller and a baby carrier.
There were plenty of days when the carrier was the better choice.
Downtown Recco
Downtown Recco
Having a Beach Right There Was Such a Nice Bonus
One thing I didn’t fully appreciate before the trip was how nice it would be to have access to the water without having to turn it into an excursion.
Recco has beaches right in town, including both equipped beach areas and free pebble beaches.
With a baby, having the beach close by meant we didn’t have to plan some massive beach day. And we could sneak away to the beach while Goldie was napping and our other family were staying back!
We were able to go down for a little while, head back when we needed to, and continue the day from there. That flexibility is exactly what I want when traveling with a young child.
And Then There’s the Focaccia
You cannot write about staying in Recco without talking about Focaccia di Recco.
It’s completely different from the thick focaccia most Americans probably picture. Focaccia di Recco is made with two incredibly thin layers of dough with soft cheese inside, baked until the top becomes blistered and crispy.
And it is ridiculously good. The dish is so connected to the town that “Focaccia di Recco col Formaggio” has protected IGP status and is one of Recco’s signature culinary traditions.
This is also one of those things I love about staying outside the biggest tourist destinations.
Instead of Recco feeling like our Airbnb happened to be there, we actually had something specific to Recco that became part of the trip. I don’t know if we would have every visited Recco if our Airbnb wasn’t there.
Some of my favorite travel memories are honestly those simple evenings where we weren’t doing anything impressive — just walking around town and finding something good to eat.
Recco vs. Cinque Terre With a Baby
This might be slightly controversial, but after actually doing it:
I would choose Recco as a home base with a baby over Cinque Terre every single time.
Cinque Terre is absolutely worth seeing but if you have small kids I would stay far away. Visiting with a baby is a very different experience than the dreamy Instagram version of hopping effortlessly between five colorful villages.
There are crowds, stairs, hills and a lot of getting on and off trains. And depending on your baby’s schedule and temperament, it can become exhausting fairly quickly.
I’m glad we visited and it went well but I’m also very glad we didn’t stay there and only did a day trip. With that being said, I could have definitely skipped it and enjoyed the day exploring a different spot in the Italian Riviera.
For me, Cinque Terre was probably around a 1/10 for stroller friendliness. The Italian Riviera overall was completely doable with a baby, but Cinque Terre specifically was one of the places where our carrier earned its spot in the suitcase.
Riomaggiore
Riomaggiore
What I Loved Most About Recco With a Baby
Looking back, it really came down to a few things.
Recco gave us:
- a slower place to come home to
- easy access to other Riviera towns
- restaurants and everyday conveniences nearby
- a beach without needing a dedicated beach excursion
- fewer crowds than the headline destinations
- easier everyday stroller use
- great food
- enough to do without feeling like we were wasting our trip if we spent half the day around town
And that last part might be the most important.
Traveling with a baby inevitably means slowing down.
Instead of fighting that, Recco made slowing down feel like part of the experience.
Is Recco the Prettiest Town on the Italian Riviera?
Probably not. And I actually think that’s important to say.
If I were choosing purely based on which town I wanted to photograph, wander around for three hours and post on Instagram, there are other places along the Riviera that would probably win. Camogli is prettier. Portofino is more iconic. Cinque Terre is more dramatic.
But there is a difference between the best place to visit and the best place to stay. Especially with a baby.
Recco gave us the location, convenience and slower pace that allowed us to enjoy all of those other destinations without making our entire trip harder than it needed to be.
Would I Stay in Recco Again?
Absolutely — especially with young kids. A huge part of why Recco worked so well for us was actually our Airbnb. It had everything we needed for a bigger family trip: plenty of outdoor space, enough room for our family, extended family with their babies, and friends, plus a pool and the most beautiful view.
It gave us somewhere we genuinely enjoyed spending time, which made such a difference when traveling with a baby. We didn’t feel like we had to leave the house every morning to make the trip feel worthwhile. Some of our favorite moments were simply hanging out by the pool, letting everyone relax, and enjoying the view together.
I would stay in that Airbnb over and over again.
If we went back, I think it would honestly be a toss-up between staying in Recco again or trying somewhere new like Santa Margherita Ligure. Recco was quieter, which we really appreciated, especially with a baby and a bigger group, but Santa Margherita felt a little livelier and more conveniently located for exploring some of the surrounding towns. It also has that slightly more polished resort-town feel. So while I would absolutely stay in Recco again, I’d also be tempted to try Santa Margherita for a different experience.
Either way, staying just outside the places everyone else is staying — and choosing the right accommodation — is actually the better family-travel decision. And for us and maybe you, Recco was exactly that.
Unbeatable view from our Airbnb
Pool at our Airbnb
Quick Tips for Visiting the Italian Riviera With a Baby
Bring a carrier. Even if your baby normally loves the stroller, there are places where you’ll be very happy to have it.
Bring a lightweight travel stroller too. Recco and some of the flatter Riviera towns are much easier with one.
Don’t change hotels constantly. Choosing one central base made this trip considerably easier for us.
Build in slow mornings. Not every day needs to start at 8 a.m. when you’re traveling with a baby. And schedule some naps at the accomodation!
Use the trains for coastal day trips. Recco sits on the regional rail line connecting many of the towns you’ll probably want to visit.
Don’t skip Recco’s focaccia. This one isn’t optional.
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