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About Portolana

An independent project by Lari. Portolana is the app I wished I had on my own cruises: a calm companion for realistic port-day plans, visible return times and less organisational stress.

Where the name comes from

Portolana is derived from historic portolan charts: hand-drawn nautical maps that helped seafarers understand coastlines, harbours, courses and safe routes. They were not abstract world maps, but practical companions for real journeys.

Portolana carries that idea into the present. The app connects historic navigation culture with modern cruise technology: day planning, routes, return time, buffer and essential port knowledge are brought together calmly — so a day ashore feels less like constant calculation and more like time to explore.

Editorial & methodology

All tipping rules and port data are curated by me — from travel experience, customer reviews, official tourism-board information and travel guides. Values are guidelines, not official rules.

What Portolana deliberately does not do

No advertising networks, no advertising tracking, no sale of personal data.
Product and diagnostic events only where they improve quality, safety or support.
No automated price scraping — prices are travellers' reported experience, not market prices.
No excursion commissions without disclosure. When we link to GetYourGuide or Viator, we say so.

Contact

Feedback, corrections, suggestions: lari@portolana.com