I'm investigating areas for our summer holidays (family with 2 DS aged 11 and 13) and I'm thinking Italy might fit the bill. We like beautiful less developed beaches (not so fussed about them having facilities), pottering around pretty old towns, harbourside eating, swimming, and the boys love jumping off rocks into the sea. We're not at all interested in theme parks, museums, kids 'attractions' or any of that sort of thing, though the option to rent a paddleboard, boat or jetski would be good and I love pootling around pretty coves and islands in a boat. We're not keen on brits abroad type places. I like to visit at least one large historic town or small city, though I don't fancy trailing around any of the larger Italian cities in the middle of the summer.
It'll be August but we're ok with the heat. We tend to do a sort of small road trip hiring a car and staying in about three or four different towns and will usually cover around 400 miles+ in a fortnight, usually staying in a mixture of accommodations - maybe a villa with a pool for a week, a few nights in a couple of posh hotels and an airb&b for a night or two. We need to be able to fly in from Gatwick and often we fly into one airport and out of another. Our budget is healthy. Any suggestions for areas to look at please?