Genoa International Boat Show: Dates, Tickets And Getting There

Genoa's International Boat Show, the Salone Nautico, is the city's biggest fixed-date event and one of the anchors of its autumn calendar. The organiser has confirmed two future editions: the 66th from 1 to 6 October 2026 and the 67th from 30 September to 5 October 2027. The show takes over the exhibition area around the water in a city that is itself a working port, with ferry terminals handling 2.6 million passengers a year and a cruise operation of 2.4 million, per the port's own published figures. This guide sets out the confirmed dates, the transport costs of reaching and moving around Genoa during show week, the October climate as recorded at the official Genoa Sestri station, and what else the city offers between visits to the docks. Ticket prices for the show itself are sold through the organiser's own channels, and everything printed below comes from published figures for the city, its transport and its calendar.

When Is The Genoa International Boat Show Held?

The Genoa International Boat Show is held in early October: the 66th edition runs 1 to 6 October 2026 and the 67th edition runs 30 September to 5 October 2027, dates published by the organiser, Salone Nautico, on its own site. The show lasts six days in both editions and is the only Genoa event with a confirmed 2027 date, which makes it unusually reliable for advance planning. Both editions sit either side of the first weekend of October, so a visitor can build a trip around two weekdays plus the weekend without needing to take a full week off.

The early-October slot also lands in the middle of Genoa's autumn cultural season. The autumn 2026 Rolli Days open the palaces of the UNESCO-listed Palazzi dei Rolli on 16 to 18 October 2026, about ten days after the show closes, and the Festival della Scienza runs Thursday 22 October to Sunday 1 November 2026 under the keyword "Prospettive". A show-week visitor who extends the stay into mid-October can therefore catch the festival build-up, and one who stays later can see the Rolli palaces opened to the public.

The 2026 autumn edition of the Rolli Days carried the theme "Abitare il cambiamento" and marked the twentieth anniversary of the UNESCO inscription of the Strade Nuove and the Palazzi dei Rolli, a system of 42 palaces inscribed in 2006 and drawn from rollo lists dated 1576, 1588, 1599, 1614 and 1664. Bookings for the open palaces opened on Tuesday 6 October 2026 at 09:00, which falls squarely inside the show's closing days, so a visitor in Genoa for the final weekend of the Salone Nautico could reserve palace visits before travelling home.

The table below gathers the confirmed autumn events in Genoa for 2026 and 2027:

For a wider view of the city's calendar through the year, the Genoa events calendar guide collects the fixed-date season, and the best time to visit Genoa guide weighs the October slot against the rest of the year.

How Do You Get To The Genoa Boat Show?

By train to Genova Piazza Principe or Genova Brignole, by air into Genova Cristoforo Colombo airport about 7 km west of the centre, or by ferry into the Stazioni Marittime terminals, and then by AMT urban transport at 2.00 EUR for a 110-minute ticket or 10.00 EUR for the 24-hour Met Daily that also covers the Volabus airport link. Genoa is a coastal city in Liguria on the Ligurian Sea, and its transport network is built around that narrow strip between the sea and the hills, which is why the metro, the funiculars and the public lifts matter as much as the buses.

Prefer a door-to-door ride from the terminal? Book a taxi transfer here.

The airport connection deserves a note because it has a specific rule. Volabus links the airport with Principe, De Ferrari and Brignole in about 30 minutes, but there is no single Volabus fare: the bus requires the Met Daily 24-hour ticket at 10.00 EUR, which then covers the whole AMT network, including the metro, lifts and funiculars, for 24 hours. A taxi from the airport to the centre is a fixed 25 EUR per car, rising to 30 EUR for more than four people, with 2 EUR added at night and on holidays, per the airport's own published fare table.

Visitors arriving from Milan, Turin or the Riviera come in by train to one of the two main stations, and the Genoa train stations guide explains the difference between them. Train journeys from Milan take about 1h30 to 2h with fares from about 11 EUR, and from Turin about 1h36 to 2h18, per Trenitalia figures reported through fare aggregators, so a day of travel from either city is realistic. The Milan to Genoa guide covers that corridor in detail, and the how to get to Genoa guide gathers every approach by rail, air and sea.

The full fare picture for urban travel during the show:

A carnet of eleven 110-minute tickets at 20.00 EUR suits a small group moving together across the show days, while the Met Daily at 10.00 EUR pays for itself within five or six individual journeys and is the only ticket that unlocks Volabus. The integrated AMT plus Trenitalia ticket at 2.20 EUR covers urban travel plus limited Trenitalia segments, useful for reaching outlying stations inside the Città Metropolitana without buying a separate rail ticket.

For anyone planning to combine the show with the city's museums, the Genoa Museum Card guide explains the 2026 card rates of 24 EUR for 24 hours and 45 EUR for 48 hours across 28 city museums, a separate product from the AMT tickets above.

Where Does The Salone Nautico Take Place And What Is Around It?

The show occupies the exhibition and water areas of Genoa's port, in a city whose old harbour redevelopment by Renzo Piano for the 1992 Columbus Expo created the Porto Antico, and whose working port beyond it handled 7,619 ship calls in the latest published figures, so the fairgrounds sit directly alongside both the tourist waterfront and the live maritime terminals. The Aquarium of Genoa, opened in 1992, the Biosfera and the Bigo panoramic lift all stand in the Porto Antico, and the Aquarium's own ticket page lists fixed-date adult tickets from 26.00 EUR with dynamic pricing, open 365 days a year.

The surrounding water is genuinely working water. The Stazioni Marittime complex separates cruise traffic at Ponte dei Mille and Andrea Doria from the ferry piers at Calata Chiappella, Ponte Caracciolo and Ponte Colombo, with operators including GNV, Moby and Tirrenia sailing to Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Barcelona and Tunis. The Genoa ferries guide covers those routes, and the Genoa cruise port guide covers the arrival side.

East of the historic centre, the Waterfront di Levante project is still under construction, with the Centro del Mare building reported as targeted for 2028, so a visitor walking the full waterfront in 2026 or 2027 will meet works in progress at that end. The Lanterna lighthouse, built in 1128 and rebuilt 1543, standing 117 m above the sea and billed as the tallest lighthouse in the Mediterranean, marks the western approach. An entrance ticket for the Lanterna site is also sold through this site's ticket partners, and the Lanterna entry ticket page describes what the visit covers, with opening days published on the lighthouse's own site.

Between show sessions, a guided rickshaw circuit is one way to cover the flat and the uphill parts of the city in a single loop; the operator's listing describes a route through the historic lanes with a driver-guide, and Check availability for show-week dates. The rickshaw tour of Genoa page on this site sets out what the tour covers.

What Is The Weather Like In Genoa In Early October?

Early October in Genoa has a mean daily high of 20.0 C and a mean low of 13.8 C, with 171.3 mm of rain across the month, according to the official 1971-2000 climate normals for Genoa Sestri, the Aeronautica Militare station at the airport about 7 km west of Piazza De Ferrari. October is also the month with the highest rain total in the normals table, so a show-week packing list needs a rain layer alongside daytime clothing comfortable at around 20 C.

The same normals show September at 24.4 C high and 17.9 C low with 136.4 mm of rain, and November at 15.1 C high and 9.2 C low with 108.8 mm, which brackets the show window on either side. The dates of the 2027 edition are not yet confirmed, so visitors should check the official site for exact dates. The Genoa weather guide carries the full monthly table.

Figures are official 1971-2000 normals for Genoa Sestri; rain totals are monthly sums and say nothing about any specific week. July, by comparison, records 24.2 mm of rain in the same normals, and August a mean high of 27.7 C, which places the show window well clear of the summer heat but inside the wetter part of the autumn curve.

Where Should You Stay During The Genoa Boat Show?

Stay inside the AMT network, ideally within reach of the metro's eight stations from Brin to Brignole or near Genova Piazza Principe or Genova Brignole, because a 2.00 EUR ticket covers 110 minutes across the whole network and the 10.00 EUR Met Daily covers 24 hours including Volabus, which makes almost any central base workable for the fairgrounds. The where to stay in Genoa guide maps the districts against transport.

Budget for the city's tourist tax, the imposta di soggiorno, which the comune of Genoa sets per person per night for the first eight consecutive nights: 2.00 EUR in 1-star hotels, 2.50 EUR in 2-star, with 3, 4 and 5-star rates of 3, 4 and 5 EUR reported from the same municipal pages; hostels and campsites are 2.00 EUR and B&Bs 4.00 EUR. Under-14s are exempt. The tax is collected by the accommodation and is separate from the room rate.

The tax applies only to the first eight consecutive nights, and the exemption list published by the comune also covers certified disabled visitors, students under 26 enrolled at the University of Genoa, and medical patients with companions, among others. None of these rates are room rates; they are the municipal surcharge added on top.

What Else Can You Do In Genoa During Boat Show Week?

Show week leaves room for the Aquarium of Genoa, open 365 days a year with fixed-date adult tickets from 26.00 EUR, the Musei di Strada Nuova, the UNESCO-listed Palazzi dei Rolli, the caruggi of a medieval old town covering 113 hectares and described by the city's tourism site as one of the largest medieval historic centres in Europe, and the Zecca-Righi funicular running daily 06:40 to 24:00 up to the Spianata Castelletto viewpoint. All of that sits inside the same AMT ticket zone as the fair site.

The transport quirks are worth knowing in advance. The metro runs 7 km with 8 stations, Brin to Brignole; the extensions to Canepari and Martinez are not open, with Canepari reported as targeted for June 2027 and Martinez for December 2028. Fourteen public lifts and the Sant'Anna funicular charge 1.20 EUR a ride. The Genoa public transport guide and the lifts and funiculars guide give the detail.

On the food side, the what to eat in Genoa guide covers pesto genovese, made with Basilico Genovese PDO basil, focaccia, farinata, trofie and pansoti, with dedicated pages for pesto genovese and focaccia. The things to do in Genoa page rounds up the sights.

Can You Combine The Boat Show With A Day Trip On The Water?

Yes: Portofino sits about 25 km from Piazza De Ferrari in a straight line, Camogli about 18 km, San Fruttuoso about 22 km and the Cinque Terre about 67 km, and a Two Gulfs boat tour from Genoa Porto Antico calls at Camogli, San Fruttuoso and Portofino with about 30 minutes between stops, running from March 2026 on listed dates. Golfo Paradiso, the operator, departs from Calata Mandraccio at 11:00, with reported full-day fares of about 29 EUR and half-day fares of 21 to 26 EUR.

The Camogli to San Fruttuoso boat runs year round, with fares of about 12 EUR return reported, and the abbey at San Fruttuoso, run by FAI, charges 10 EUR full entry with seasonal hours. The San Fruttuoso guide and the boat ride to Portofino answer page cover the water routes, and the question of getting to Portofino and the Cinque Terre run have their own pages.

Distances are straight-line kilometres; the sources licensed here give no drive times. A boat-based day trip from the Porto Antico pairs naturally with a show visit, since the departure point at Calata Mandraccio sits inside the same harbour basin as the exhibition water, and the Portofino boat tour from Genoa page describes a booked alternative with free time ashore.

How Busy Is Genoa During The Show, And Is It Still Worth The City Break?

Genoa during the show remains a functioning city of 566,247 residents in the comune and 820,691 in the metropolitan city, reported from ISTAT figures at 1 January 2026, layered with a port handling 2.4 million cruise and 2.6 million ferry passengers a year, and the show adds a maritime-industry crowd concentrated around the exhibition water rather than the old town, which spreads its 113 hectares of medieval lanes widely enough that the city does not reduce to one district. The same week leaves the Aquarium, the Strada Nuove museums and the funicular viewpoints running on their normal published schedules.

The Strada Nuova museums, Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Doria-Tursi, hold Paganini's 1743 violin "Il Cannone", built in Cremona by Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, and operate a winter timetable from 28 September 2026 to 18 April 2027 of daily opening 10:00 to 18:30, with the Monday exception that only Palazzo Rosso can be visited. The combined ticket with the Museo di Sant'Agostino is 14 EUR full and 9 EUR reduced. Palazzo Ducale runs exhibitions through the period, including World Press Photo to 8 December 2026 and a show of Renoir, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec and Cézanne from 15 October 2026.

Common Questions About The Genoa Boat Show

The Salone Nautico gives Genoa a six-day focal point each early October, and the city around it, from the UNESCO-listed Palazzi dei Rolli to the boat routes toward Portofino, runs on its published schedules through the same week. The Genoa Travel Guide homepage collects the full set of planning pages, including how to get to Genoa and the Genoa airport guide.