We are flying with miles, crazy itinerary again.
We leave June 9th arrive in Barcelona and fly to Venice on the 11th.

I need recommendations on a small apartment in Venice. I've read about Venice and I would like to stay close to beaches to be able to take my daughter if we don't want to explore a day. Is it Lido a good place or too expensive?

I considered taking my 2 kids to Sardegna, but as we travel from Barcelona it would be very expensive and a long trip.

I've allocated 1 week to Venice, 1 week to Sorrento, 1 week to Cinque Terre (Monterosso). From our apartments we will do day trips to what we couldn't do two years ago and redo the old.

One does not go to Venice to go to the beach. Those on the Lido (a fairly lengthy boat ride from Venice proper, minimum 20 minutes on the boat, wait fo the boat may be 10 minutes or can be up to an hour if there is something going on at the convention center on the Lido) are poor qaulity and the water is not the best.

If you want to visit Venice, that's fine - then separately go to a seside resort with decent beaches for relaxing.

NY thanks.
Where is good place to stay in Venice to avoid vaporetto? We don't mind to walk.

If you think you might want some escapes from Venice, to other islands or train trips to Verona, etc., look for an apartment in Cannaregio. That way, you will be reasonably close to the train station, and reasonably close to the boats that leave for the islands. You'll also have no problem walking everyplace else. There is no reason to avoid the vaporetto except the one that goes up and down the Grand Canal can be extremely crowded, and the ones that go to the islands or the Lido may not always be in service, so you don't want to stay any place but the mainland in Venice.

http://www.veniceclick.net/Guide/Cannaregio.htm

Venice is a fairly expensive destination. To get the most from the money you will be spending there, you should invest now in a good guide book that is only about Venice.

Leaving Venice, you are facing some very long and expensive train trips to get to Sorrento, and to get from Sorrento to Monterosso al Mare. You should cost compare with flying.

If you are basically going for a nature-fun-in-the-sun-in-Italy vacation, your trip would be cheaper and easier if you went to one of the lakes after Venice and before heading to the Riviera. Your kids might appreciate Lago di Garda best. I also think there is very little reason to pay the higher cost of staying in Monterosso al Mare for a week when you could probably find something cheaper in Moneglia, Bonassola or Sestri Levante (the last of which has more for kids to do).

You've described the itinerary as 'crazy,' and I'm tempted to agree. The expensive Italian waterside locations you've picked are all hard to get to, are far apart, and two of them offer not much more than what you could experience in a thousand other places on the planet with less effort, less money and better beach amenities. It's fun to hang out in Italy (I do it all the time!) but it is hard to understand all this travel and expense, especially if your kids are too young to care if the beach is in Italy or Virginia.

Monterosso was hit with severe flooding in Oct - you may want to check the state of the town to ensure it is somewhere you can/want to stay. Perhaps someone can provide an update...

I remember how bad Vernazza was hit, but I believe Monterosso should be okay by the end of June.

I've been looking at Dorsoduro in Venice, we have a whole day to travel from that area to the night train to Naples. I don't know if we will go to the Lake area as we went to Como in our last trip and I remember wanting to visit Maggiore area, but I'm not sure if we will for two days before going to Naples.

We are staying in Sorrento area for 7 days. 2 years ago when we traveled, Zep may remember, my son and I got the swine flu and had to stay in our room for 5 days, missing 5 days from the 10 days in the South, it was a miracle my daughter didn't catch it, as it was the worse flu we've ever had.

We were in Italy for 30 days, so we know Sorrento, Rome, Rapallo, Monterosso, Como area well, we are only unfamiliar with Venice.