Italy - has anyone been on a beach holiday with teens?

[Icystars]

And can recommend. We haven’t been to Italy before and been told it’s not really a beach type holiday. Having a browse now but does anyone have any refs? Two early teens will be with us too

Beaches in Italy are rammed in the summer. The Italians love the beach. It’s not somewhere I’d choose for a beach holiday. Now the cities …

We took ours to a huge holiday park north of Venice - Pra delle torri, right on a lovely beach, lots of activities, onsite facilities etc but easy to day trip to Venice, Trevino, trieste etc. We drove from the U.K. stopping in a few places each way, I highly recommend Bavaria and also Europa parc.

Yes this is our thinking. We haven’t ever been before so would be nice to go but maybe a city break instead another time.

Thank you. I’ll take a look.

Beaches can be pretty limited and often accessed by private beachclubs.

Ok. I think we will save Italy for the cities. Trouble is when and which one? I would love to go over Easter / May but doubt we’d afford that and a summer holiday.

My auntie took me to Italy when I was 15 (21 years ago). We stayed in Lido di Jesolo in the Venetian Riviera. Beautiful beach and we did some nice day trips to Venice and Lake Garda.

Perhaps head further South to near Paestum and Acciaroli - that’s where some Italians go. Paestum is really interesting and you are not too far away from Pompei and Herculaneum.

We went to a Eurocamp site in Ca Savio with teens and it was fab, although it was a at least 10 years ago. We had a large mobile home. The camp site was right next to the beach. We had a hire car, it was a 5 min drive to Punta Sanbioni where we could get the ferry to Venice, Burano and Murano.Am sure there was a bus if you don't have a car.
The little town was not particularly pretty but there were some fabulous restaurants, much better value than eating in Venice. In Italy, the campsite restaurants are way better than in other countries.

I love Italy - but not resorts- totally crammed in season and Italians don't do 'space' also lots of private beaches and concrete bathing platforms-

My experience with teens is that beach holidays only work if there is something to do like surfing or sea camp type activities. We had two brilliant holidays in Portofino where our younger teens did did kayaking and sailing etc . After that it was surf holidays but not in Italy.

The island of Elba is lovely if you want a beach holiday in Italy. More 'natural' beaches, very few private ones. Public ones lovely and clean. Small island bit lots to do there. Also surprisingly cheap.

Italian lakes may also be an option. Swimming and beaches at the lakes and other things to do.

I lived just outside Rome for 7 years. Lots of day trips and holidays to beaches and cities.

Elba and Lake Garda were the best.

I'd probably do lake rather than sea with teens too. (I live in an Italian beach resort and ship out in the summer 😂)

There are public beaches all over Italy, but a lot are not very nice.

Most Italians who are beach lovers will take out a subscription to their nearest privately run beach or go there for a month in August.

The private beaches assign you a spot (kind of like your cemetery plot I always think) and that's the bit you have to lie in. You can get day tickets. You get a choice of paying for sunloungers and an umbrella or just entry when you can sit in any vacant spot (if the people who've booked it out for the summer don't come for the day for example) These beaches are definitely nicer as they're clean, there are toilets and showers, bars etc. There'll probably be music.

The best beaches in Italy are probably on the islands, the very south of Puglia etc. I'm in Puglia and everyone goes to the Salento area, stays in resort hotels with private beaches. Though fun loving teens would undoubtedly love Rimini, Lido di Jesolo etc which are the teen/young adult nightclub centres of the north nowadays.

We are going to stay at Pompei in the summer with our teens. The hotel has a pool. We are planning on taking the circumvesuviana train route (?sp!!) to sorrento, Naples etc as the beaches aren't a beach holiday sort of place!

What about the Italian lakes? We did a week at Lake Garda driving from the uk stopping on the way there and back. Had a week at a holiday park in a chalet with a view of the lake. The holiday park had it’s own little beach with a pier. The kids spent hours throwing themselves off it into the lake. We had a lovely day out in Verona and explored some of the lakeside towns. We are beach holiday people generally but my teens said it was their favourite holiday ever.

Are you beach babies or water babies?

I love swimming but hate beaches - we would rent villas near a city/coast with a nice pool.

I second Elba, the beaches were lovely! And there's a shipwreck you can swim to, it's like pirates of the Caribbean if you stick your head below water, so many fish swimming round it!

The Lakes are lovely for swimming and sunbathing. We were at Lake Maggiore one August and it was busy but not rammed.

If you want beaches in summer I thoroughly recommend Pula in Croatia. Lovely town and a ton of beaches to try. Istria used to be in Italy.

Sardinia might be worth looking at. Iirc Neilson or Mark Warner operate a beachclub resort there with lots of watersports and activities.

I second this. We had a brilliant 10 days on the Istrian coast last year.

Thanks all. I think we’ll find somewhere else for the summer beach hol and look at Italy for a city break one day as I’d really like to go to Italy.

You can get a ferry from Pula to Venice, so you could combine the two. And there are also beaches at the Lido and Pellestrina.

https://www.europeanwaterways.com/blog/top-10-islands-venetian-lagoon/

Ah, just reading that has made my heart ache for the Venetian islands and I've already been three times.

I’m now looking at a city break in Italy in April (Easter hols) depending on money but am so keen to go to Italy.

Which city would you recommend and any hotels you would recommend too?

thanks.

I may put up a separate thread.

There are all the obvious ones like Rome and Florence but I loved Verona (bus to Lake Garda, amphitheatre, Roman theatre, river walks, piazzas).