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The autostrada gives the most positive impression of the Riviera di Ponente ("Western Riviera"), the umbrella title for the stretch of Ligurian coast between the French border and Genoa. From its elevated viaducts, the marinas and resorts way below are mere specks in a stunning panorama of glittering sea and acres of glasshouses. If you exit the autostrada and venture down to the coastal road to see things close-up, you'll find that the Riviera towns are generally fairly functional places, occasionally sporting an attractive medieval quarter but always overflowing with hotels and apartment blocks. Yet these resorts have their good points - chiefly the sandy beaches, comparatively low prices and lack of pretentiousness. However, with a very mild and sunny climate, they have their winter devotees too - but are much less crowded out of high season. Just about every settlement along this stretch of coast is a resort of some kind, either well-developed family-targeted places like Finale Ligure , small, better-preserved villages like Noli , or grand old resorts like San Remo ; the attractive medieval town of Albenga manages happily to fall somewhere in between. Some of these places - San Remo, for example, or the border town of Ventimiglia - also make good bases for travelling into the mountain areas behind the coast, where stone villages and agricultural communes reveal the more private side of the region. Walkers can explore sections of the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri or loop through attractive and little-visited hill-towns like Baiardo, Taggia or Dolceacqua . In the large resort of Alassio , an organization of local hoteliers - the Consorzio Riviera Palmhotels - at Via Leonardo da Vinci 139 (tel 0182.648.270, fax 0182.600.961, www.palmhotels.it ) offer a booking service along the whole coast.
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