Elba
 

I am traveling to Italy next month with my husband for our one year anniversary. haven't been able to find much information about the island of Elba in Italy. Any suggestions on the best part of the island to visit and stay?

topping for khanover

I found this website for a friend who was thinking of going to Elba later this year. I don't know what, if anything, she decided.

http://www.elba.org/

Our family went to Elba every summer in the 90s so my info is a bit out of date.
We had small children and did beach stuff: Marina di Campo is by far the best beac and it's near the airport.
Hiking is good up in the hills above San Piero
Otherwise there are lots of smallish beach resorts and fishing villages. We used to get about by public bus. I think most people hire a car.
Lovely food and views.

There was at least one recent thread on Elba here; have you done a search?

Stayed in Elba about 7 years ago. Travelled by train from Rome Termini to the port of Piombino for the ferry (called Moby ferries). We stayed in Portoferrario (the capital) for the first couple of days. It's a pleasant town - the old part is lovely for a wander and you can check out the house where Napoleon was exiled. Portoferrario has a couple of beaches which were okay. We then took the bus to Marino di Campo where we rented an apartment for a week. We just wandered into an agency near the harbour area, said how much we'd like to spend, and then they showed us a couple in our price range - it was all very easy. Our apartment was really lovely - almost on the beach, with easy access to the town.

A lot of German people seem to holiday there - not a lot of English speaking tourists. Many stay in campervans in the campsites near the town. There are plenty of excellent restaurants - seafood is good - and a couple of nice bars. Like a lot of Italian resorts, closing time is early - by the time we left a restaurant at about 10.30am there were very few places open for a nightcap.

We were told a number of times that the nicest spot on the island is the town of Capoliveri (public transport from Portoferrario) but we never got there.

I'd recommend Elba if you're looking for a quiet, relaxing beach holiday. I did post a trip report on this forum when we got back, but it's so long ago that I think it's been deleted.

Just found my (very short) trip report from 2003 -
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-and-elba.cfm