Just when I thought I had it all planned...
 

I don't. We (hubby and I, 18 year old son and friend) are heading to Italy and Germany in July. After Rome, we were going to head to the beach - Sestri Levante to be exact - thanks to recommendations of you all. Today I found out that getting from Rome to Sestri Levante isn't as easy as I'd imagined and worse yet - getting from there to Berlin (our next stop) is even more difficult. Can you all help with a beach location that is a reasonable distance from Rome and still has that Meditteranean experience? Thank you so much! Who would have thought planning this trip would be so completely complicated!

Sestri Levante is a 4.5 hour train north of Rome, in the direction of Germany. What are you looking for that would be "easier" between Rome and Berlin?

Sestri Levante is on a train line that easily connects to airports in Milan, Pisa, Florence and Genoa. I believe it also possible to take a train from Sestri Levante that connects with a train to Munich that originates in Rome.

Do you simply want to stay near Rome so you can fly out of Rome?

For that, you can go to Sperlonga (south of Rome) or even Fregene (just outside Rome's airport).

Or you could take public transport an hour or so north of Rome, to places near Monte Argentario, but if you are coming back to Rome to fly, it consumes the same amount of time as going to Sestri Levante.

If you can fly from Naples to Berlin, you could also go south to Sorrento.

Anywhere on the Mediterranean has that "Mediterranean experience."

it's not clear why taking a train from Sestri Levante to an airport with a flight to Berlin (like Milan) is so difficult.

Mabye the simplest solution would be to stay in Fregene, which is very close to Rome's airport (FCO).

Would this place work for you?

http://www.laconchigliafregene.it/

Change your itinerary. I would pick Sperlonga as the best beach I have found in Italy--or nearby Gaeta. Then, I would go back to Rome or Naples and fly to Berlin--too far otherwise. Why Berlin? That will not be easy.

Out of curiousity, I just looked to see which Italian airports had flights to Berlin, and the cheapest flight I found was out of Milan Malpensa.

I have nothing against bob's suggestion of Sperlonga -- I also suggested it -- or Gaeta, but I'm just humanly puzzled about why Sestri Levante is regarded are more difficult than those two options for getting to Berlin if you are relying on public transportation to get you to an airport.

I would also go to Sperlonga or Gaeta, then back to Rome. EasyJet flies to Berlin from Ciampino for about 30 euros.

The reason is that I've been told that it's a several hour with a couple of transfers train trip from Rome to Sestri Levante, and then to fly from Genoa or Pisa to Berlin, I'd have to fly through London or someother non-direct location. With only two weeks, I'm trying to minimize the days that we are doing nothing but travelling while still getting the most out of the trip. Maybe the travel agent I'm working with hasn't checked all of the flights, but the multi train transfer trip to Sestri L. is really what made me start to re-think the location. I'm going to start looking into Sperlonga, Fregene and Gaeta. Thanks so much!

The problem seems to be that you are using a travel agent... If you go to bahn.de and do your own research you will find that you can travel by train from Rome to Sestri Levante with only one change.

I haven't checked, but I suspect that if you use whichbudget.com you will also find some other cheap airlines that will get you to Berlin. You could also travel by train to Milan with one or no change to take the flight mentioned above.

Leaving Rome, you only need to make one train change through a very simple train station.

Alitalia flies to Berlin out of Malpensa for about 60e.

Leaving Sestri Levante, you can reach Milano in 2.5 hours without a train change. At the train station, you can catch the airport shuttle bus, a 50 minute ride.

Everyone I know who has been to Sperlonga or Gaeta has gone there by car, so I don't know you get there from Rome using public transportation, or how from Sperlonga you get to one of Rome's airports.

To get to Fregene, there is a bus that leaves from Lepanto Metro stop in Rome. It is easy to get a taxi from Fregene to Rome's FCO airport. I don't know what you would need to do if you needed to get to Ciampino for a flight to Berlin.

Sorry -- to be clear, I should have typed:

"Leaving Rome, you only need to make one train change through a very simple train station to reach Sestri Levante."