Where to stay in La Spezia

Où dormir La Spezia ?

Are you planning to visit northern Italy and Liguria for the vacations? Here’s our guide to where to stay in La Spezia!

A small town in northern Italy with a population of 92,477, La Spezia is wrapped around the « Gulf of Poets » and is the largest city in southern Liguria. With its feet in the Tyrrhenian Sea and its eyes on Tuscany, the city is home to a major merchant port and an important base for the Italian navy, as well as numerous shipyards. Thanks to its coastline and white-sand beaches, the city draws its resources from tourism, shipbuilding, steelmaking, oil and mechanical engineering. Ideally situated between Genoa, Florence and Pisa, it is also close to one of the jewels of Liguria: the Cinque Terre villages, which attract many visitors. As is often the case in Italy, accommodation in La Spezia will be expensive: the price of housing is rather high, although the supply of accommodation is abundant.

If you want to be sure of finding a room to stay in La Spezia, we recommend booking in advance, as tourist numbers take the hotels by storm in summer. Here’s where to stay in La Spezia.

The historic center

Centre historique, loger à La Spezia

Photo credit: Flickr – Richard, enjoy my life!

Centro storico is the city’s historic district. It’s located on the outskirts of the military base and the port, but its advantage is that it’s essentially pedestrianized – you’d almost think you were in the Écusson of Montpellier. Via Prione – via del Prione – is home to numerous stores and major international names, as well as boutiques of all kinds if you feel like window-shopping. In the parallel streets – Corso Cavour and via Cristoforo Colombo – you’ll find cinemas, numerous terraces and restaurants where you can savour the charms of Italian cuisine.

The community garden by the harbor will punctuate your strolls. Everything can be done on foot. At the far end of the district, on via XXVII Marzo (March 27 street), visit the Castello di San Giorgio (St. George’s Castle). It’s a pleasant neighborhood, but not the cheapest place to stay in La Spezia.

Umberto I district

Umberto I, loger à La Spezia

Photo credit: Wikimedia – Chiacalve

Perched to the north of the historic center, this neighborhood doesn’t offer much in itself, apart from the advantage of being close to La Spezia’s main train station. If you’ve got a long commute to Romaggiore to visit the Cinque Terre, then this is the place to stay in La Spezia. Once you’ve had a chance to look around the city, take the opportunity to visit Pisa, just 80 km to the south.