TUSCANY COAST (SAN VINCENZO) OR LAKE GARDA FOR FIRST TRIP TO ITALY?

[noonar]

we are looking at campsites in these areas and would be glad to know if this part of tuscany is conveniently located for sightseeing throughout the region.

also, i realise that lake garda is pretty big. is there one part that is especially worth a visit?

we are looking at canvas holidays campsites, btw.

so, which would you go to?

Oooh lovely I get to talk about our last holiday

We spent a week at San Vincenzo earlier this year. Our approximate drive times were
Pisa (1hr)
Florence (2hrs)
San Gimignano (1 1/2hrs)
Have a look at a map with that in mind and you'll get a sense of distance, hopefully.
There's nothing to see in SV itself. Is the campsite Parc Albatros? If so, it's about 15 minutes drive south of SV. To my mind, the best places to visit were between Pisa and Florence, and south of Florence towards Siena, so SV is a little way away. However, the beach along SV is lovely, especially if you drive a further 10 mins to Bisgedi Bay (it's not called Bisgedi - that's welsh for biscuit - but something like that- I'll check...)

There are some lovely old towns within 20 mins of SV - but none of them you could spend more than an hour in wandering around after lunch. There's a couple of aquaparks and a theme park as well within less than half an hour. Piombino is grim with an enormous steelworks on the way in. I'm told the town centre is old but we didn't get that far!

Can't comment on Lake Garda but will watch this thread with interest.

HTH.

Baratti Bay.

ah, thanks! yes it is parc albatros. did you go there??

We did. Nice place, very flat, you can hire bikes. Very much a family park with a reasonable restaurant and supermarket. Good children's pool too.

The week before that we were between Pisa and Florence in San Baronto - can't remember the name of the site off hand, will check if you want it. The site itself wasn't quite as nice as Parc Albatros, though fine. However, really good location for sight seeing. The second week was much more relaxing than the first!

We went to Parc Albatros in May. Our DDs really loved the swimming pool (which I think has been further extended this year) and the playground. The site was very clean and pleasant with very stylish toilet facilities for campers. One quibble was that the walk to the beach was down quite a narrow road without pavements and then across a busy main road (I seem to remember that they are building an underpass). I also thought that the mobile homes were very packed in. However, over all, I really liked the place!

Lots of people were using the trains for sightseeing from very near Parc Albatros. There's a station only a couple of minutes away by car and you can easily go to Pisa, Florence or even Rome for the day. The trains are great and tickets are very cheap. In fact, we didn't have a car at all for our holiday and managed fine with taxis and trains.

BTW, check out this company (Dutch but they are ABTA covered). We found them much cheaper than KeyCamp etc and all their staff spoke excellent English. www.vacansoleil.co.uk/

Have a great holiday.

We have been to Lake Garda a few times and love it. We were there this summer on a small campsite outside Lazise. We flew with Ryan Air - to Milan but Brecia is the nearest, then hired a car. We hired a mobile home directly from the campsite and it was so much cheaper than through one of the travel companies (think it was about 900 euros for two weeks)

If you are interested in Lake Garda, well I personally prefer the east side of the lake. Lazise, Tori del Benaco, Malcesine are all really good with losts to do, as is Sirmione on the south end of the Lake.

this is where we stayed this year

We are deciding whether we can actually drive down this year with own tent or if it is just a bit too far!

what helpful replies. thanks so much.

patsy, was the albatros quiet at night? that is a big concern for us. good to know about trains etc.

the site we are looking at in garda is the 'eden' (with canvas holidays - as they have a kids club for the dds aged 4 and 6.) will check where exactly it is ,sarah.

The park itself was very quiet (no traffic noise etc), but the way the mobile homes are laid out (like terraced houses with a row immediately behind you) meant that we got more noise from neighbours than I had previously experienced on sites. A very animated Italian family were staying right behind us, but they weren't obnoxious just a bit loud.

Thinking about it, there were some British mobile homes which were on the edge of the site, only had fields behind them and weren't so crammed in. I think they were Canvas.

thanks patsy, thats v helpful.

Hi noonar. I've just had a look at the Eden site - tbh I'm not so keen on the west side of the lake, but I'm not sure why! DH thinks I'm bonkers - we went across to that side whilst we were there this summer and I spent the entire day asking to go back! I think it's because at some parts it's very hemmed in by mountains which make me feel a bit, well hemmed in There are lots of tunnels built into the mountains too on that side, so what you imagine may be a pleasant drive around the lake, ends up being a drive in and out of tunnels!

Are you planning to drive down? As I said in a previous post, we have always flown, but this year really wished we had our own car so the boys could have their bikes etc.

Patsy, we were at Parc Albatros in May with Vacansoleil. Maybe you're one of the people we chatted to by the playground!

sarah, thats a shame. tbh, the main reasons for choosing that particular site are because its small and has great views and reviews, and crucially, a childrens' club for the dds! we really want a kids' club, which narrows the choiced down a bit.

thanks for the tip.

Hi TheQueensPeach,

Were you there during the mad weather? It was up in the 30s when we arrived and then during our week's stay we had three days of torrential rain...

Patsy