Good Italian beaches
 

While in Italy in July I'll be in the areas of Cinque Terre, Florence, Rome & Venice. I have 3 extra days I would like to spend near water. Are there any great spots convenient to the areas I'll be touring? I was leaning towards Capri.

I was in Italy this June/July. Positano was wonderful...hard, large pebbles to walk on to get wet but lovely. Capri was quite dreadful and very much over rated...very small pebbly beaches and crowded areas to swim.<BR>Manarola on the CT was great, walk down the boat ramp to swim or push off from the rocks..watch the fish scales though!<BR>Look on the CT site for easier swimming beaches, it is a lovely area.

I searched for posts on Capri. The concensus seems to be that it does get overcrowded during high season. Many people have taken day trips to Capri while staying in Sorrento. This may make sense for me since it would give me an early start for Pompeii in addition to giving me choices for side trips to the Amalfi Coast. Some have suggested to avoid the seedy Naples train station on the way to Sorrento and instead go through Salerno.

Like everyone says, Capri is pretty crowded in high season, and has few sandy beaches. You may want to check out it's neighbor, Ischia -- there are many more sandy beaches there, and is a bit less crowded with American tourists (though there are plenty o' European tourists).<BR><BR>If you just want to be near the water, not really in it, I would say check out the Amalfi Coast.<BR><BR>The beaches near Venice and Rome are really only so-so. I hear the Tuscan beaches are nice (near Florence), but have no first-hand knowledge.

The beaches south of Rome, in the Province of Latina, are not bad: around Gaeta/Formia, Terracina, Minturno, San Felice Circeo. Formia is one hour by train south of Roma Termini Station. The Island of Ponza (reachable from Formia or Anzio) would be a treat. Other good beaches are south of Naples, in the Province of Salerno, such as Agropoli and Palinuro, but this is a longer trip from Rome. Finally, there are some nice beaches on the Tuscan coast, south of Livorno and north of Civitavecchia.

if you are going to chinque terra then head down the coast to viareggio if you want beaches. there are interesting side trips from there to lucca and carrara