Costal town/beach couple of hours from Pisa?

[Chocbuttonsandredwine]

We’ve got flights booked for the beginning of Sept to Pisa with a rough itinerary of Bologna/Florence and a farm stay, however I’m really feeling twitchy about not having a bit of beach/sea on holiday, so am thinking of changing the plan slightly.

We’ve got 10 days, and haven’t booked car yet (planning to get train to Bologna and Florence) so am pretty flexible: it’s just dp and I too. Budget healthy, although I’m aware availability isn’t great. Had looked at Cimque Terre but hotels all look awful.

just not really sure what to do, and as this is our holiday worried about messing it up. Had thought about trying to change flights to somewhere else but think that’s probably stupid. And expensive.

any ideas would be most welcome.

I would go for a villa or hotel with pool instead. Italian beaches in that area are often just rows of umbrellas and so not that natural.

Viareggio is very close to Pisa and has a long sandy beach. It’s a popular beach resort. It’s years since I was there though so can’t recommend any specific hotels.

Many years ago, an Italian friend recommended a small town called Rapallo as his fav place. Rapallo is on the coast, not far from Genoa; I seem to remember that there was, at that time, a train between Rapallo and Pisa. Googlemaps says it's about 1+1/2hours drive between the two.

We took his recommendation and spent a few days in Rapallo and it was lovely. Very Italian, far less touristy than the better known places down the coast, it just had a lovely feel about it (and of course was cheaper for being lesser known).

It was a long time ago and I'm sure things will have changed, but it might be worth checking.

Might be worth heading east from Bologna if you don't mind a longer journey back - the coast that side is more beach (in the Ravenna area) and less of the spectacular cliffs of the Cinque Terre - which are lovely but driving round there can be a bit hairy. It would be a longer trip back but you could get a train over.

We were just in that area and went to Viareggio, which was a nice beach. Further south we went to Biratta beach which is a cove and that was gorgeous. Both beaches v busy

We’ve booked a farm stay at a place with a pool in the Chianti region as a back up so this is what I want to hear 😊

As it stands currently
2 nights Bologna
2 nights Florence
2 nights Siena
4 nights Farm stay (with pool)

Should I just stick with this? I’m so indecisive, and get terrible wobbles a few weeks before. The amount of holidays I’ve changed last minute is a joke 🙄

Rimini? It's a bit further than 2 hours though.

Oh blimey just stick with what you've decided, that's a great itinerary! Jealous! Echo PP that beaches on that side of Italy are not what you go there for really - you'll have a great time relaxing by the pool after exploring those three cities.

Love you. This is exactly the sort of cheerleading I need 😂

Came in to day head east from Bologna to Ravenna but with that itinerary don’t bother. Save Ravenna and the beach for another time.
That’s a great trip you have planned.

I can really recommend the Hotel Vis a Vis in Sestri Levante. Short walk to town and beach and stunning views. Easy to visit the Cinque Terre and Portofino/Rapallo etc by train.

Agree, your itinerary looks marvellous!

If you did want a beach, my own suggestion would be Castiglione della Pescaia which is less than 2 hours down the coast from Pisa. Nice beach and beautiful old town.

An hour an a half from Siena is Follonica - which itself is about 90 mins from Pisa.

You could either go to the beach for the day, or a night on the way to/from Siena?

Loano/ Finalborgo area nice