I am looking to take my family to italy. We want to stay at a nice hotel on the beach. Two ideas I have are Portofino or Forte del Marmi but I am open to ideas. We prefer sandy beaches. Thank you in advance.

Hi G,

There are very few sandy beaches in Italy and definitely no beach at all at Portofino. There is a rock beach at Santa Margherita Ligure, literally large solid rocks to sunbathe on.

Don't know from personal experience about Morte del Marmi.

Buona fortuna!

ggfinds -- try the other coast! I remember the beautiful sandy beaches that we walked on in Vieste. The water is a beautiful blue as well.

For sand in Liguria, go to Sestri Levante. It has not one but TWO sand beaches. It also has a couple of four star hotels and the entire town is extremely family friendly (unlike Portofino, which I don't think has a sand beach anyway).

Otherwise, head down the Tuscan coast. There are several four star resorts around Livorno, Ansendonia, Porto Santo Stefano, etc.

Is there is something else you would like to do in Italy other than go to the beach? Liguria offers the attractions of the Cinque Terre and the acquarium in Genoa, plus many pleasant ferry rides hither and yon.

On the Tuscan coast, you can get to Pisa and many other historic sites, plus hop over to some islands.

Do you plan on renting a car?

I think the best beaches are those way down south in places such as Tropea.

ekscrunchy,

Have you been to Sestri Levante?

http://tinyurl.com/ehrat

Thank you for all these great tips. I do want to go to Florence or maybe Rome to show the kids. I have been to Italy several times but I want this trip to be very relaxing.

Portofino has no beach to speak of unless you want to sit in the harbor area in front of all the tourists. It's very crowded and rather pricey too. Nearby Rapallo has a beach, but it's a private beach, so you have to pay. We didn't see a single "great" beach with sand at any of the places we visited on the northern riveria. Up there, it's more about the views, boating and lounging by the pool, I think.

it's true that not a lot of tourists go to Sestri Levante, but it has a beach to rival what you'd expect to find in California, plus a sandy cove which is perfect for small children.

nessundorma -- there's the rub. The beaches on the east coast of Italy are more like the beaches on the east coast of the USA -- white, soft, sand and if you go far enough south, beautiful blue water.

But aren't most of the beaches on the east coast of Italy covered wall-to-wall with northern and eastern Europeans in high season?

Perhaps not those far down on the boot, but I personally would not want to be caught dead within 100 miles of Rimini.

Eloise -- I'm not sure, but having been to beaches on both coasts, I was just chiming in that the east coast beaches are sandier -- which is what the OP was looking for.

We were in Vieste and San Benedetto in mid-May, so I'm not sure about the crowds during high season.

By chance we stayed a couple of days in Sestra Levanti in May of 2006. Two sandy beaches. Several very nice hotels facing the beach with a number of restaurants. Some private beach areas belonging to the better hotels. There were kayak rentals and a ferry. We then took the train to Cinque Terre which is a whole lot better than driving the roads. The beach at La Spezia south of there is all rock. Probably not good for youngsters.

Monterosso in Cinque Terre has a lovely sandy beach. It costs about 6 to 8 euros per chair. there is a public beach but it is very crowded.

No, I have not been to Sestri Levante but have made note of it for the future...thanks!

How about the Sottomarina at Chioggia, near Venice?

http://www.venezia.net/venice/chioggia.htm

Hello ggfinds, on the east coast of Italy the Hotel Carlton in Pescara is quite lovely. It is an ocean front hotel right across the street from a very long sandy beach which also has seafood restaurants along the beach. I realize that you might not be interested about the east coast of Italy, which is along the Adriatic but it is a wonderful spot to enjoy summer time in Italy.

ggfinds, I also meant to say if you Google this hotel you can see their website, photos and prices etc. Best regards.

For really nice beaches - white soft sand, blue shallow waters, you get the picture - you will have to go all the way south to Calabria. Tropea, and further south Capo Vaticano, Santa Maria di Ricadi (my favorite), Palmi, Gioia Tauro, ... And these beaches are certainly not 'covered wall-to-wall with northern and eastern Europeans in high season'.

My family of 2 teenage girls and one boy spent 3 weeks in Fore De Marmi 2 summers ago and we loved it. We rented a lovely villa about 5 blocks from the beach and used our bikes to get everywhere. FdM is a lovely resort town with great restaurants and boutiques and a good wide beach. We rented a tenda at a beach club that had its own restaurant and could not have been more happy with our experience. Please let me know if you need any other info.