The great turning point for the village, now a fully-fledged town, came with the arrival of the railways in around 1872. From a tiny village atop the promontory of Sant'Ampelio and a fishing bay in the hamlet of Arziglia, the new Bordighera spread out to the open plain (bordered by the massif of capo Ampelio as far as the valley of the Roia) to embrace its new inhabitants who built eclectic palazzi and villas of all shapes and sizes surrounded by gardens and parks. The town is crossed by wide roads and avenues, including the picturesque Via dei Colli and, halfway up the hillside, Via Romana, flanked by villas, mansions and comfortable hotels. From here one can reach the old part of the town and admire its powerful late-medieval walls, the monumental gates, etc.
Beyond the railway line, an elegant promenade runs almost the entire length of the beaches.

Bordighera's excellent position - protected to the north by high ground and facing south over the sea - means that the temperature is stable all year round, with many hours of sunshine during the Summer. The town's vocation as a peaceful, restful holiday destination which affords a very warm welcome (hotels, residential areas and apartments of all standards) was first discovered by English visitors in the late 1800s. At certain times of the year, these long-term holiday-makers outnumbered local inhabitants.

It is no coincidence, then, that Bordighera was the site of Italy's first tennis club, set up in 1878 at the behest of the large British community. In 1888 the English scholar Clarence Bicknell founded the museum of Ligurian palaeontology which now bears his name (the extensive collection includes impressions of stone carvings from the Valle delle Meraviglie on the slopes of mount Bego). The museum on Via Romana houses an international library with over 20,000 volumes and the International Institute of Ligurian Studies, the driving force behind the cultural life of the entire region. France was the original home of the architect who oversaw urban development in Bordighera from 1870 onwards. Charles Garnier built his villa right at the edge of the sea, influencing the style of the town's most exclusive residences for years to come.

A distinguishing feature of Bordighera and the whole of the surrounding area is its extraordinarily lush vegetation and abundance of palm trees. A particularly fine example is the Winter garden, a vast collection of palms, olives, citrus trees and other Mediterranean flora. Then there are greenhouses full of stunning multi-coloured flowers, stretching beyond Bordighera to the outskirts and inland. As a result of its increasingly prestigious reputation, Bordighera was the favoured destination of Queen Margaret of Savoy. The Queen stayed in a delightful villa on Via Romana for long periods of time and died in the town in 1926.

Today Bordighera is a popular holiday resort. It is famous for its ability to offer the very best of all worlds with an infectious charm and a touch of English-style humour.