Italy May holiday, campsite, tent or lodge, child-friendly for 3 and 6 year old - where to go?

[Joelijane]

Hi,
I'm yet to take my two boys abroad and would love to go to a camp site ideally in Italy, near the coast in May. I've looked into select camp/canvas and saw some reviews about the vans and cleanliness were awful. So far I've looked at Bella Italia in Veneto and Norcenni Girasole Club in Tuscany Can anyone give me some advice / recommendations please on sites they have been to and loved please? I wouldn;t sleep in a tiny crappy tent but would consider one of those bigger ones with proper beds. It's my first time going beyond a Haven in the UK! thank you

Union Lido near Venice is amazing. It's huge so has different pool complexes, lots of places to eat, great beach.
www.unionlido.com/en/collection/glamping-italy

Portofelice is also recommended. www.portofelice.it/en

Always look at the site owned accommodation and compare to Eurocamp/Canvas prices.

Bella Italia is fab

Marina de Venezia, we went there last May for half term. It was fantastic. Booked with canvas holidays in one of their safari tents, got a great deal booking early too, only paid about £350 for the accommodation

Agree. We went there about 5 years ago admittedly, but it was great! Highly recommend.

www.canvasholidays.co.uk/italy/veneto/campsite-marina-di-venezia.php

I've been to Norcenni and liked it but the accommodation was not great - I would look at booking directly with them as there were lots of other options that looked nicer.

Agree Bella Italia is fab. We went a few years ago and are booked to go back in May half term. We booked an apartment through Jet2 so worth looking at that.

@Incrediblebuttrue we stayed there and booked directly with the campsite - the accommodation was lovely!

We went to pra del torri near caorle which is along the coast from Venice. Lots of different accommodation options (we had a static caravan with eurocamp) private access to large beach, large pools including a massive pirate ship water play park, various parks, shop, various resturants and takeaways on site plus they had an inflatable play zone in the evenings

We’ve been to both, and would highly recommend either tbh. We loved Norcenni, been 3 times. Overall better for us, but Bella Italia has the benefit of the lake, Gardaland theme park plus relatively easy access to train travel if you wanted to check out Venice or other places. Or even travel without hiring a car. Norcenni requires a car, but then you have the ability to visit beautiful Tuscan towns and villages.
Accommodation: all Eurocamp until this year, when we booked direct with Norcenni. Yes, their accommodation was lovely, really high end and new. However, apart from the safari tent at Norcenni, we’ve never been disappointed in Eurocamp accommodation. Dated, but unlike other providers they have ovens 👍
Pools: both really good. From memory, we found Bella Italia more crowded, with fewer sun beds available, so maybe Norcenni has more space/pools.

Btw sign up for Norcenni’s emails and look out for Black Friday deals. That’s how I booked our accommodation, and got an incredible deal.

We’ve started at Camping Weekend twice in lake Garda and absolutely loved it. We’ve also stayed at La Pianacce (May not be spelt correctly) in Tuscany which we also loved. We booked directly with the campsite each time.

We went to Bella Italia once pre kids just the 2 of us, then again with kids when they were 4 and 3. Loved it. Plenty to do, lots of pools, on-site shop, pizza restaurant etc, and lovely little town of Peschiera a short walk away.
We flew with a £10 flight the first time and got the train across Italy from Trieste. The site is walkable from the local railway station but I'd fly to a more local airport! My sister flew in to Milan and got taxi transfers. We drove with the kids the 2nd time and stayed at eurocamp sites en route which was good and allowed us to see other places in France. Our Eurocamp accommodation was better imo than my sisters Thomson Al Fresco. We've never been disappointed with Eurocamp but I'd look to book direct for better value.

Correction- dh says my sister flew in to Verona

May can be very unpredictable in Italy. You need to consider it could rain. I wouldn't do a tent, it can become very muddy.

Union LIDO is amazing. We book with Bolero Holidays who are in the UK.