visit is well organised with a guide, however she claimed not to speak English except to tell me off for touching a rock and useing flash. My guide book helped & you can get the flow of descriptions ( german girl translated for us ) Need good shoes as wet in places , every one else wrapped up we had T shirts & temp was comfortable but used to scottish climate ?
This outing was an opportunity to visit a "natural museum," without the crowds we experienced in Rome and Florence. The grotto formations were spectacular, and if you are in or near Toirano, it's well worth a visit.
loved every minute of the visit! very fascinating and impressive formations, easily accessible tour and knowledgeable guide
If you've never visited a grotto this is your best chance to start. The grotto of Toirano display some really amazing rock formations and will make your mind plunge beck to millions of years ago.
When in Liguria, it is rare to wonder away from beaches and restaurants but, if you have the opportunity to visit the prehistorical caves of Toirano, you will not regret it.You'll need an afternoon. The visit itself takes a bit more than 1 hour but you'll need 15 mn to walk up to the entrance of the caves from the parking lot, and another 15 mn to walk back down.And it's a 20 mn drive to the village of Toirano once you have left the highway.I would recommend leaving children under 10 behind. It can get dark and slippery in the caves and, the guides can have a group of up to 40 people following him. Young children can slow the whole group down and once you have started the visit, there is no exit until you reach the end of the tour.I have been there 3 times and, each time, the guide has different infos about the caves ;)... part of the local charm...so, remember to pick up one of the brochures at the front desk when buying your tickets for accurate information!
A wonderful place to take kids, each cave has a different formation, the colours are wonderful. It really sparks the curiosity of every visitor how nature formed such shapes from drops od water.. Best set of caves I have ever visited. Take good walking shoes, there are something like 400 steps in the caves. Wonderful guides speaking good English. Inside temperature are 16 degrees year round so dress accordingly.
We went to see the prehistoric foot prints (about 10,000 years old) and were blown away by the mineral formations in the cave. I've been to much better known caves and they don't overshadow this one at all.
since long i wanted to visit the widely known caves of toirano. last summer i had the opportunity of listening to a beautiful concert of a ligurian group playing irish folk music (the birkin tree). it was awesome!
Nice place to visit but beware....wear sensible shoes (not flipflops!!!) it is really slippery all the way roud woth lots of slippery stairs but worth the struggle, very nice caves and surrounding areas.
We had an excellent visit to the grottos of Toirano. It was exciting and fascinating to see the footprints of the prehistoric man scattered around the grottoes. It was impressive to see the variating from one cave to the next. The stalactites and stalagmites were very interesting and it was exciting to be deep into the mountain. Our visit to the grottoes was a highlight of our 2013 vacation.