Italy holiday help

[Curlysusie]

can anyone help?! Started going round in circles looking for a relatively inexpensive break for family of 4. Want to go somewhere in Italy where we can have sometime at the coast/pool but the rest exploring the area. Puglia looked ideal but we don’t want to drive abroad. Looked at sanremo but some posts say there isn’t much to do, looked at the coast near Venice but some people on here really don’t rate it.
any other ideas? Ideally want to spend less than £3000 inc flights for a week and prob not eurocamp

many thanks

we’re flying to Milan with Ryanair - flights for 3 of us with bags we’re £800
spending first couple of days in Milan, then heading to Lake Garda, staying in airbnbs in both - those costing about £1,600. this all for first week in July so budget of £3k seems doable
for similarish money last year we did 3 nights in venice and 4 in Rome, and we loved having more space as DD is 15. just check where you are going has air on, as will likely be hot!

Placemarking - l love ltaly and always i teredted ti hear about new places to add to my list

Have you thought about Pisa? It's a direct flight from Manchester Airport, you could stay within sight of the leaning tower at Camping Village Torre Pendente - chalets and log cabins, not tents, it has a swimming pool and a supermarket within walking distance. You can get a bus out to the beach at Marina di Pisa, also visit Lucca by bus, and get a train to Florence for the day.

A few people have mentioned Rimini, I’d suggest also looking at Riccione and Misano Adriatico which are smaller towns further along the coast. Very family friendly resorts and easily accessible via train from Rimini or Bologna. Trains in Italy are super cheap!

Just on the beaches. As you may know, the majority of the beaches in Italy during summer are split into ‘lidos’ (ie establishments with cafe/restaurants, parking, sunbeds etc). For these you pay anything between €25-50 a day for 2 sunbeds and an umbrella, depending on season, location and type of lido.

Most ‘free’ beaches will be a sliver in between lidos. At least, they are our way in Puglia. Mostly filled with locals, who will lug their chairs, umbrellas etc with them. I couldn’t stay on a free beach without all our kit, as it’s simply too hot for me. Private beaches are very rare.

I much prefer rock swimming, which is much more likely to be free, unless a lido has rights over a section, in which case they’ll construct temporary decking.

We also went to Lido Di Ostia last summer. Super easy to get to from Rome airport. Also very easy to travel into Rome on the train.

Both the airport transfer bus and the train were so reasonable

The beach is stunning and perfect for kids as the rocks out to sea mean the water is really calm and it stays shallow a long way

Lots of lovely restaurants and bars too. We were 2 adults and a 9yo and we’d all happily go back

Thanks for all the help everyone. I spent all of last night on Google. Loads of ideas for this trip and hopefully future trips x

I'm very keen on that area.

The sea at Ventimiglia itself is a bit meh, but you could try a couple of miles either east or west- Latte, or whatever's on the other side (can't remember!) There are trains all along the coast- from Toulon to Pisa basically- and also the recently reopened Ligne des Merveilles/Linea dei Meraviglie, which has a French and an Italian branch. There are some beautiful mountain villages on it- Saorge, if you're feeling adventurous! And you can also get the bus to lovely villages like Dolceacqua.

I would also consider a resort quite close to Genova, which I really rate as a city, and which has a lot for kids- the aquarium, the maritime museum, the lighthouse, endless boat trips, free funiculars etc etc.

I should say also that I'm not mega keen on the Adriatic coast- it's pretty flat and dare I say ugly compared to a lot of the rest of Italy!

That said, the area around Venice- with its endless lagoons (yes, there is more than one!) and little towns with Venetian architecture- can have a beauty of its own if you get off the beaten track.