Liguria Italy - France in June

[scrumbrum12]

How does this sound for a trip in mid June with teens after exams who have asked for Italy, lemon groves, pretty villages, basketball in evening. Strolls rather than hikes. I want train travel, they don’t want too many bases.

Fly to Pisa
Train to base 1 Sestri Levante
Day trips to Cinque Terra villages and maybe Portofino
Coastal train to base 2 Menton - chill for a couple of days
Fly home Nice

I am slightly worried about heatwaves after a nightmare last August when I got heatstroke in Malta (which is where we often go in summer) and felt awful (but also possibly made worse from side effects of nee asthma inhalor ) but kids and husband want some sun to fuel there mediterranean blood!

thanks

Sestri Levante is lovely and good starting point for the days out you mention - boat trips will also be possible as well as the local trains. I would do Antibes/Juan Les Pins vs Menton. Beaches are better, lovely seafront walks.

did a similar trip in 2020 with teens, but Covid scuppered our plans to travel home via France

pisa was great, we actually enjoyed the museum with all the Egyptian things - good aircon for a hot day!
then we stayed in Levanto - amazing bakery with the best focaccia & farinata, lovely boat trip to see the cinque terra from the sea, and I think I remember a walk through cool old railway tunnels to the next beach along the coast. I think there was a cool bar in Levanto for aperitivos - Barolo? With fabulous free snacks!
then Finale Ligure which also has a nice old town set back from the coast

Portofino to San Frutuosso is a fairly straightforward walk, but continuing on to Camogli is not for the faint hearted.

Have you done it? I nearly did, with the DC, but it rained that day. Our AirBnB host was full of the horrors and difficulty of that walk, but I didn't know how seriously to take him.

I did it from camogli and the section across the bare rock before San Frutuosso was scary. No path, traversing a slope of 15-29 degrees steepening towards the sea and the only aid was a thick strand of wire pegged into the rock and coming loose at various points. Of course that was fifteen years ago, I’m sure the authorities are much more safety conscious now 😉