City break then beach in Italy

[elizabethcharlotte]

We love Italy and are hoping to go back next year. We've previously been to Rome, Venice, Verona, Pesciera and the Amalfi coast. Ideally we would like to fly and travel by train rather than hire a car.
Any suggestions please for some sight seeing followed by relaxing by a pool?

Following. I fancy this idea.

Pisa then Viareggio?

Genoa or Turin or Milan then Portofino

Genoa or Parma or Pisa or Florence then Cinque Terre

Palermo then Cefalu

Bari or Matera or Brindisi then Polignano a Mare

Florence or Bologna then Rimini

Reggio Calabria then Scilla or Tropea

Thank you! Lots of ideas to investigate. Have you been to these places? Any favourites?

Sicily is lovely, not sure about public transport though

There's a direct train from Palermo to Cefalu, about thirty minutes I think.

I think our favourite would be Palermo then Cefalù both of which we did as part of a tour of Sicily but as PP says, public transport is a bit ropy on Sicily. The train lines are basically just around the coast so it can take a long time to get from one part of the island to the other. The connections with Palermo are fine we found. It takes about an hour or so to get between Palermo and Cefalù.

I’m bias towards coastal towns, so I’d recommend all of those on my list. It does depend on when you’re going though.

Definitely Palermo then Cefalu. There is a direct train.

Or Pisa/Florence then Isola D’Elba

Naples then Ischia

Or Ortygia with Taormina/Mazzaro/Giardini Naxos on Sicily

Or Sestri Levante or similar in Liguria with trips to Portofino and the Cinque Terre villages.

If you found the right suburb of Genoa- or neighbouring town along the Riviera- you could combine both in one. Transport links are brilliant along that coast as well, there are loads of trains. Somewhere like Camogli or Santa Margherita Ligure? 🤔

Good suggestions on here. Of the combinations I’m familiar with, the easiest if relying on public transport would be Genoa plus any number of places on the Ligurian coastline (very easy by train and you don’t need to fly to Genoa in the first place as it’s got great links with Milan) and Naples plus the Bay of Naples.

Puglia is amazing, but we found it difficult relying on public transport and gave up and rented a car halfway through the trip. Arrived at too many train stations to find that the town centre was on top of a hill some distance away, which was not fun with luggage in July.

We once stayed in a lovely coastal resort called San Vincenzo. Had a long sandy beach and lots of great restaurants. And it was reasonably cheap, as it catered to Italians more than international tourists. We spent a few nights in Florence initially, and then travelled south by train, changing at Livorno. We also took a day trip from there to Isola d’Elba, which was beautiful, and worth a longer stay.

Catania then Naxos/Isola Bella/Mazzaro. There are trains and buses and you also have the options to visit Mount Etna and take the cable car up to Taormina.

I previously stayed in San remo on the liguria coast flying to Nice, not far from Genoa. It was an old town area and we stayed in a lovely old fashioned hotel with a pool opposite a beach stuffed with umbrellas. Went sightseeing in nearby castle towns. Food was divine. It was nearly 20 years ago so I don't know what it's like now but we had a lovely time.

Fly into Milan, train to Turin, then train to Diano Marina (stay at the Majestic), fly back from Nice.
Diano is virtually on the French border and there is a coast bus all the way along to Nice stopping in San Remo, Menton and Monte Carlo. It's a very pleasant seaside town, lots of lovely restaurants. Can also get the bus to Dolce Aqua, very interesting place.

Naples then onto Sorrento. You can do Pompeii as well. It's all on the same train line.

Such brilliant ideas! I'd never thought about going to Sicily but now I'm really excited to research there.

I cannot rate Sicily highly enough, beautiful coastline, amazing countryside, historic towns, Vulcanoes, beautiful islands to visit (Stromboli, Panarea) and fantastic food. I love Palermo but Taormina is also great. I find Sardinia really overrated in comparison (same for Puglia actually).

Avoid August as it’s super hot and high season. September or May/June is good.
cefalu gets very busy from mid June (schools break up earlier in Italy). From there you can also take boats to the Aeolian Islands for an excursion.

watch White Lotus season 2 which was all filmed in Sicily.

We once did Parma and then Lerici near the Cinque Terre, pretty sure we did trains between them as was before we had a car and kids.

We plan to take kids to Italy next year by train so noting all the good ideas here...

We did this this year. Palermo is... an experience... Not sure I'd recommend it 😅 Cefalu and San Vito lo Capo are just stunningly beautiful though!

I'd second Florence/Ravenna/Bologna and then Rimini though.

Sorry for jumping on thread but how is public transport in italy for wheelchairs? My youngest is 3 and uses a wheelchair. Obviously he can be lifted in and off trains etc just now and he can walk a little.