Finale Ligure is a seaside town with two personalities. On the coast, Finale Marina is a classic Ligurian resort, with a long beach, a palm-lined promenade and colourful houses. A few hundred metres inland, Finalborgo is a medieval town enclosed by walls, with narrow streets, old churches and the ruins of Castel Gavone on the hill above. The two are linked by a short road, and it is worth visiting both.
Behind the town, limestone cliffs rise from the woods, and Finale has become one of the great climbing and mountain-biking centres of Europe. The crags are full of routes, and the trails through the hills attract riders from all over the world. On any given day, the town is full of people in climbing harnesses and muddy cycling gear.
The beach at Finale is long and sandy, and the sea is clear and calm in summer. There are public sections and private beach clubs, and the water is generally clean. Varigotti, a little east, is a former fishing village with pastel houses right on the beach, one of the prettiest spots on the Riviera.
The Via Aurelia, the old Roman coast road, runs through Finale, and it is a scenic but busy ride, with tunnels, bends and views over the sea. Inland, small roads climb into the hills, with tight bends and steep gradients, and the scenery changes quickly from coast to mountains.
For lunch, find a bakery in Finalborgo and ask for farinata, a thin chickpea pancake baked in a wood oven in great copper pans, eaten hot with black pepper. It costs little, weighs nothing in the stomach and keeps you sharp for the Aurelia's tunnels. Fuel is on the main road out of town.