Holidays on Italian coast?

[Brokensunrise]

Looking at holidays next year and thinking about Italy - has anyone been on a beach holiday on the coast of Italy? I’ve only really been to the main cities of Rome but I love the language and the food and would also really like to be on a beach next year!

It would need to be somewhere I could get to without needing a car (I don’t drive), and therefore ideally with restaurants etc within walking distance. Has anyone been anywhere lovely that you would recommend?

Thank you!

This is assuming the Covid situation allows for travel next year obviously! I bloody hope so though......

Viareggio has great transport (train and bus) links from airports - fly into Pisa and nice restaurants. Easy to get to Florence/ Rome if you wanted to for trips out

Oh yes. If money isnt an issue...sorrento or positano are amazing on the amalfi coast. Alternatively riccione on the adriatic v family orientated. ....

Viareggio is a great location regards public transport for a beach holiday. Train from Pisa, Florence, Lucca and up to La Spezia and Cinque Terre. Plenty of shops and restaurants. But Italian beaches aren't like Spain etc, they have beach clubs which you pay to use. They have sun loungers, showers, toilets, swimming pools, WiFi, restaurants etc. You can pay by the day, week, month. There are public bits of the beach but these will usually be small.

Other areas could be the Lido island next to Venice, possibly round the coast in Puglia but that's less served by public transport.

There's Rimini which would mean a train from Bologna, we did this with a twin centre with Bologna. It's a sandy beach resort location

Some Italian 'beaches' aren't sand but rocks, or a man made structure like a pier out into the sea. You're more likely to get this around the Amalfi coast, whilst its beautiful it's not a sandy beach location.

Second sorrento / positano / ravello. We stayed in sorrento but got busses each day to these places (lovely big air conditioned coaches)

Thanks for tips so far! @VinoOlive are all beaches ones you have to pay at? I can afford a bit & aware it wouldn't be super cheap as other countries would be, but I'm not wealthy!

There are free bits of the beaches usually, for example when I went to Marina Di Pietrasanta which is the next village/town from viareggio.

Attached image from google maps, you can see all the chairs of each club, then in one image it says 'free/public beach' and it's a strip without any sun loungers. The prices will vary, we went in September and it was about €12/15 euros for the day, it was quiet as end of season so we then just took toddler DS to the free bit as we didn't need all the bells and whistles. A lot of these clubs have their own websites where you could check.

Or even further down. We have had lovely holidays flying into Lamezia and staying quite
Locally there

Lido Di Jesolo near Venice is lovely. Also don't forget some of the lakes have beaches.

There are no beaches in Sorrento, just cliffs. Positano nearby has a small sandy beach though.

Santa Margherita on the Riviera coast has a decent long beach and is a bit cheaper than Portofino and Rimini nearby. Easily reachable from Genoa airport.

Lake Como has small pebble beaches, you can pick a town to stay in and get the train and ferry from Milan

Another one recommending Viareggio. A couple of years ago we flew to Bologna, had a few days there, a couple of days in Florence, then a few days in Viareggio. It’s a really lovely place. We got the train to each destination, very easy, not expensive either. You’re a few train stops away from CinqueTerre too. The beaches are mostly private along there, generally owned by beach clubs that have a pool, showers, bar and restaurant. While they’re nice, and spotlessly clean it can add up if you go a few times. There are a few strips of public beach but they’re quite small. There are tons of restaurants and takeaways, you can go into the beach club restaurants to eat, they’re not expensive.
It seemed to me like there were a lot of Italians on holiday there, whereas around Sorrento the tourists are mostly foreign-if that makes a difference to you? A lot of Italian seaside resorts don’t have sandy beaches, but concrete or wooden platforms, so that’s worth looking into if you’d prefer sand.

Fly to naples and get a ferry fo ischia. The island bus goes all around it fab beaches and a couple of days in Naples to go to vesuvius pompeii etc

My parents visited Viareggio and they thought it was like the Italian version of Blackpool

A great alternative would be Croatia. Cheaper, less crowded but similar vibe to Italy. Absolutely stunning scenery.

Would definitely recommend Cinque Terre as there are no cars allowed in the 5 towns so it's all accessible by train or boat.

Easy to fly to Pisa and do it from there... The beaches in the towns aren't Lidos so you don't have to worry about that. They're really lovely and not as hectic and touristy as the amalfi coast.

Thanks for helpful suggestions!

@AnyFucker I’ve been to Croatia and agree it it beautiful, the water was so clear and we found quite a few quiet beaches by wandering up the coast on walks.