Husband wants beach; I want Italy
 

Any ideas of great places to have a beach vacation in Italy in July?

HI S,

DH really wants to spend a fortune to go to Italy to lie on a beach?

How about going to Italy this year and the beach next year?

((I))

hi, stretch,

how about:

the lido [for venice]

viareggio [for tuscany]

the "italian riviera" [between Ventimiglia and la spezia; gets 3 stars in michelin green guide to italy]

Rimini [on the adriatic, for Ravenna, urbino]

hope that helps,

regards, ann

Amalfi Coast - Positano.

Warn your husband, however, that there aren't really many (perhaps any) Hawaii, Caribbean, or Mexico type resorts in Italy - unless you want to spend really big bucks.

Stu Dudley

Almost every attraction in Italy is not far from a nice beach:

- Rome
- Tuscany
- Venice
- Riviera
- Amalfi...

Divide your day: Sightseeing in the morning, swimming in the afternoon.

You have lots of great possibilities in Italy. Your DH can enjoy the beach as much as he wants, while you see beautiful Italian towns. A match made in heaven, non?

You could create a ' sea and beach' holiday, visiting various types of beaches up and down the Italian coast: sand, cliffs, rocks, etc. Because Italy doesn't have snorkeling beaches for the most part.

I was astounded with the beautiful clear water at the Cinque Terre, for example. If you do a trail hike there, you can see all types of beaches from above. Gorgeous views.

Have fun planning a nice diverse trip to Italy. How many nights?

Or, if you have two weeks, you could see Italian history plus Greek beaches. Fly over from Rome. . .
:)>-

I would suggest Sicilia and Calabria:you can have both beach (of incredible beauty) and history. In both region there are nice villages where you can stay.

I second zorba's recommendation. There are some stunning beaches in Sicily. One of my favorites is only fifteen minutes from Taormina....

PB

If your husband's previous beach experiences have been limited to North American/Island resorts, then you are far better off with the Sicilian option than with Italian resorts in July.

Italy in July is high season for Italian family vacations. The beaches are far more crowded and commercial (? thats not quite what I mean, but it will have to do to save this from being a novel).

Anyway, you have to rent chairs and compete with others to enjoy the sun and sand. Don't get me wrong, it can be great fun and you will often find yourself invited to join a giant multi-generation family party. But it ain't the Caymen Islands!

Sicily is less crowded, more long beach walks and less hectic social life.

Sardinia is beautiful. You can fly AirOne between Rome and Alghero, Sardinia. We split our time between the two last year because we wanted both the city and the beach. Rent a car and drive around the whole island, we had a blast.

Hi...the beach in Levanto is excellant, although it will be very crowded in July. Levanto is a great base to explore the Cinque Terra, as the 5 towns are less than 10 minutes by the train service that connects all of the towns. If you have a car, the beautiful Tuscan town of Lucca can be reached for a day trip, as well as Pisa.
The town Levanto has many great restaurants, and is a very walkable area. You can also take the many boat trips from Levanto/Cinque Terra to other beach areas along the coast. We rented an aparment near Levanto in September and enjoyed the beach every day, it was beautiful.
Good luck...Mike

We have very limited experience with Italian beaches, but the ones we've been to were kind of pebbly, not sandy like the US beaches.

Sardania or CT, can't go wrong

Thanks for all the replies. DH is NOT a good traveler, and this is really my trip - 40th birthday in July and a lot of FF miles to burn. I am attempting to compromise with his desire for beach, but am getting irked (he'd like to go back to Hawaii - my 6th time, no thank you!) I may go to plan B, slip out the door while he's not looking and go by myself!

Hi S,

>I may go to plan B, slip out the door while he's not looking and go by myself!<

A not unreasonable plan. :)

((I))

Look at Calabria and/or Puglia. We did a trip a couple of years ago where we spent 4 nights in Calabria (near Tropea) and then drove over to Puglia and spent some time there. We would visit some sights in the morning and then crash at the beach/pool in the afternoon.

We're planning a "beach" trip to Italy this summer--just hanging at the beach in Calabria this year.

Have you thought about (gasp) Greece?!?!? I know that Fodor's forum is all Italy all the time, with a glancing blow at Paris and provence.... but hey, Greece is all about ancient culture and art AAAAAND great beaches! Fly to Crete, park him on a great beach west of Chania, you visit beautiful Chania, drive to see ruins and mountains inland, come back to have dinner w. him.
OR fly to athens, switch to a Plane to Naxos, get hotel on lovely Ag. Anna beach, park husband (see above), you go explore ruins, museum, agora, shopping, views, etc, join him for sunset. Repeat.

After 4-5 days if that beach palls, you can hop to another island with historic/archeolotical interest AND good beaches and spend a second week.

We are in the inital stages of planning a 2008 trip to Sicily. I am having great fun reading all information on this forum and making notes because my husband has a similar "beach" request.

To PBProvence:

How far from Taormina is the nice beach you mentioned? What other areas should I search for decent/mid-range hotels?

To Travelerjan:

I second your opinion of the great beaches in Greece especially in Naxos - we were there summer of 2006 and they were spectacular!!

Helen - What is he looking for? White beach, black, yellow, pebble, rock, cliff, busy, deserted, strand, short, nude ooppps?

To TravMimi:
We've been to those kind of beaches in those in Greece. But, if anyone can suggest an area in Sicily that has a beach and easy access to sites would be greatly appreciated.

All those types of beaches are in Sicily so it would help to know which type your husband likes.

Go where you want to go and give him the FF miles to Biarritz. Compare notes if he comes back.

About halfway between Agrigento and Sciacca is a small beach town called Eraclea Minoa. It has some of its own Greek ruins (small potatoes compared to Agrigento and Selinunte), but it also has a long wide sandy beach which is virtually deserted except for some Sicilian vacationers. It's close to SS115, so it's very convenient to Agrigento, Selinunte, Marsala and Trapani. Off the beach is a pine forest which provides some shelter from the Sicilian sun. Keep in mind that this is truly off the beaten path and except for two bars located on the beach, there is nothing around for miles.

I think Puglia has some of mainland italy's best beaches, and recently they have great little hotels to go with them...and good food. Just avoid August for any beach holiday when every single Italian seeks out a beach. My wife wrote an article on the new Puglia destinations for Conde Nast Traveler a year ago:
http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/...rticleId=10310

My favorite spot was Masseria Torre Coccaro.

It's not Italy, but it's close! I'd suggest Corsica. The most beautiful, white-sand, turquoise beach I've ever seen exists at Palombaggia (sp?) - I'll get back there one day! Cute towns, great food, lots of Italian tourists, Bonifacio is just a ferry-boat ride away from Sardinia (which is nice but I think with more large resorts). Just a suggestion.

You can have a spectacular beach vacation in Italy on the island of Elba, a mere 3 hour car drive + 1 hour ferry from Rome, or one hour south of Pisa, plus the ferry.
I have spent four vacations there with my family, staying for three weeks each time. We went in July. it is high season, but certainly not overcrowded.
We stayed in Marina di Campo which has a lovely sandy beach.

Hi all, while we are on the beach topic. My teenagers and I are planning to look for a beach(gasp...in August!)(I know..every Italian etc).We had thought about the Adriatic coast but decided it would be too crowded and are now considering Sardinia. (But maybe Corsica ?) Does any airline fly inexpensively from Milano or must we train and boat?

What did you end up deciding? I'd like to know because we have the EXACT same issue in our house. I want to enjoy the beauty of Italy, explore, learn more about the culture, the history... but my dear husband just wants to SWIM. Yes, I know he can do it here at a lake or pool in Colorado. We're also traveling with our 6 & 8 year old children to add insult to injury (haha)

Our itinerary for 3 weeks is as follows- (each for 3 days)

Rome- major sightseeing!

Chianti- driving around Tuscany & visiting hill towns, eating & drinking. We're staying in a agriturismo with a pool

Lerici- BEACH holiday; near CT so we can hike but mostly swimming for the family

Venice for 2 nights then night train to Naples

Sorrento- to do some more sightseeing in Amalfi, Pompeii, Capri, etc. We also have a pool here and will skip Naples

How does that sound? I hope it's not too unrealistic because we're leaving in 2 weeks...

Missy

Well my DH (dumb husband) wants a topless beach in Italy, so I guess I'll do what he wants!

In as much as any beach in Italy is topless, they are all topless...which is to say, Europeans simply don't make as much of nudity as North Americans do-so while women are discrete (you will rarely see them playing beach volleyball topless), you will see younger and older women alike, sunbathing topless. Tell your husband to keep his eyes in his head...Italian women are totally grossed out by obvious oglers and their partners are likely to take offense.