Is within :
* One and a half hours drive of Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport.
* One hour, seven minutes drive of Nice Airport.
Car hire desks at both Genoa and Nice airports are comprehensive with many of the major names represented.
The drive is relatively easy as the drive section will set out. When travelling to Imperia by rail please remember to plan the journey to Genoa and Nice's main train stations. Also remember when travelling from Nice to account for the change at Ventimiglia.
Imperia is on the main rail line from Ventimiglia in the west to Genoa in the east. It is perfectly possible to travel to Imperia from France via Ventimiglia.
When travelling in from France, remember that you'll have to change at Ventimiglia on the Franco-Italian border onto a TrenItalia service in order to continue to Imperia.
Remember that there are two train stations in Imperia: Imperia Porto Marutzio and Imperia Oneglia. Imperia Porto Marutzio is closer to the port of the same name but is a far smaller station with only a taxi rank. Imperia Oneglia has a dedicated bus station but is better suited to serving Oneglia and destinations east of the river Impero.
It is very easy to drive to Imperia from both Genoa and Nice.
* Nice: drive to Impeia via the E80 and then the A10 motorway.
* Genoa: drive to Imperia via the A10 motorway.
Once you're on, its a pretty straight drive that hugs the coast and takes in some of Liguria's beautiful and stunning scenery. Naturally, there are plenty of coastal towns to stop off en route to Imperia. For more information on them, go check out the Liguria section.
A car is probably the easier option for getting around Imperia and the surrounding hinterland but remember that, being Italy, the streets will be narrow with plenty of tight turns compounded by lax parking controls. Be sure to get fully briefed on the local area and car parks. Porto Marutzio for example has an excellent public car park at the top of the hill by the city walls.
When driving inland from Imperia, be sure to take care where driving on the tight and winding country roads. Plenty of farm traffic and other heavy vehicles also use these roads.
Imperia and the surrounding region has an excellent bus network with termini at Imperia Oneglia station and Dante Square in Oneglia. Buses cover most areas and are frequent.
There is also the two train stations connecting Oneglia with Porto Marutzio but these are less frequent.
It is easy to get about Oneglia and Porto Marutzio individually on their own by foot but think twice before considering walking between one part of Imperia to the other. There is quite a distance which separates Oneglia with Porto Marutzio so it may be wiser to consider the bus, taxi, train or your own car first.