keycamp type holiday in italy, no car!

[frazzled74]

can anyone advise me a good campsite/chalets in Italy with good cheap flight connections and suitable with no car, would like a couple of places to visit by bus/train and a village, shops etc within walking distance.

Bella Italia in Lake Garda springs to mind - all within walking distance. Or we stayed at Union Lido a few years back with no car. Transfer from the airport, or you can get the bus. Plus bus/boat in to Venice. Portofelice gets good reviews too.

Thankyou ,all 3 sites look great. Im thinking of booking portofelice or union lido, who is best to book with ? Also how expensive will it be compared to the UK to eat out/icecreams /and shop for basics and wine?

I think Keycamp/canvas/Eurocamp are much of a muchness. And you can always book direct with the site, if you are not bothered about English speaking kris clubs etc. I would usually look at all to see who offers the best price/options.

My advice is always to get the biggest/highest spec mobile you an afford. It makes a real difference. Air con in Italy is vital, and decking is also good, otherwise you are likely to have your table and chairs in the dust next to your car.

With regards to pricing, I am in Belgium where food is v expensive compared to uk so I always think France and Italy are cheaper. I would say an ice cream would probably be around 2 euros. Wine will be cheap ;-)

At union lido, on top of he numerous restaurants/bars, you could get takeaway pizza and a whole or half roasted chicken with chips for reasonable prices so it filled the gap between cooking and eating out. We normally buy cereal, bread, sandwich filling, salad and something to fling on the BBQ and stock up drinks/ice lollies so it is not too awesome an expense. We tend to come back from the pool, shower, eat food and then wander out for a few drinks/ baby disco/entertainment etc. now dd is bigger we probably eat out more often. Iw oils ay we pay about 50 - 60 euros for 3 with drinks but we are not especially budget conscious.

A kids meal - say chicken nuggets or pasta with an ice cream and drink is normally between 5 and euros. 15 euros for a main course.

Portofino, thanks for adding that info, I found it really useful too. :-)

I am talking your average taverna / brasserie type place, rather than posh restaurants of course. In France you can get a reasonable fixed price menu at different price points - say 15 euros for 2 and 3 courses and upwards. This is less common in Italy. But if find they go for starters, pasta course, then main meat or fish course. 2 of the 3 is normally plenty.

I have NEVER regretted spending the extra money for a higher spec van. With Sibiu for example, whilst even the basic 2 model was perfectly adequate, it was small - no room to get dressed in the bedroom for example. Compared with the top range one we had (excellence?) where we got a washing machine, 2 bathrooms, a big living area etc. The Canvas mobiles we have had tend to fall more in the middle but we have never had any complaints.

Also, not Italy, but the best place for the car free (that i have experienced) is Vias-Plage in the Languedoc, la Carabasse or Club Farret. Everything is on hand, the beach, shops, restaurants, bars, huge funfair, mini-golf, lovely deli-takeaways selling paella, etc. 15 mins from Beziers airport. You can get the bus to Agde or Cap d'Agde, or do boat trips on the canal du midi.

thanks thats all really useful information portofino, I am now planning the next 3 years holidays !!!!

Portofino, how do you get to visa plague from uk please

Ryanair fly to Beziers. Not sure from which airports. We drove. It's a bout 10 hours from Calais.

Thanks portfolio, I have looked at the French campsite you mentioned and an airport is only 65miles away. So seems do-able to hire pick up etc.am being a scaredy cat re. Driving abroad, never done it and a bit wary.

Bloody ipad... Portofino

Which airport?

Beziers airport and a taxi is all you need.

Where would fly from?

Perpignan..... Sorry for hijack, must say it looks fantastic.

You can fly Ryaniar to Beziers from Manchester, Edinburgh, London Luton and Bristol.

We had a lovely holiday on the Cavallino Coast a couple of years ago. Easily got a bus from Venice airport to within 10 minutes walk of the campsite.

We travelled to plenty of places by bus and on hired bikes (the landscape is completely flat) and a wonderful day trip to Venice by ferry. There are loads of campsites along the beach. Highly recommend.

Our caravan was at the furthest reach of the campsite and so it was a good 10 minutes walk to the shops/restaurant/pool. I actually lost a little weight on that holiday because we walked everywhere. Was great!

We went to parc albatros in Tuscany last year and did have a car, but decided we probably didn't need it. Train takes about an hour from pisa to san vincenzo and then site is a taxi ride away. There are organised trips to Rome, pisa and tuscan places, but public transport links also good. Also heaps to do on the site and canvas run kids and family activities. We had a fantastic time and are thinking about going back.

Take the overnight train to Lake Garda, an adventure in its self.

We're going back for the 2nd year to Sant Angelo campsite, near Venice. We go with Thomson Alfresco, but keycamps etc there. Absolutely loved it last year, best holiday ever. Look at the Thomson Alfresco website, there are loads of campsites on Venetian riviera, and lake garda. We flew from Stansted to Treviso, got a preboooked taxi to the campsite (ok that wasn't cheap but didn;t want to hire a car) and got public transport into Venice, Lido do Jesolo etc etc. Fabulous.

We've been to park Albatros too. It is lovely. But there is nothing nearby. You do need a car.

Unless you are happy to stay on site, which is perfectly doable.