Most of my Italian trips over the past 15 years have been to the Adriatic or the South (including a few visits to Rome)

I've spent some time in the inland Tuscan towns and cities on the tourist trail and to the Ligurian coast as far south as Lerici and Montemarcello, but I've never been to the Maremma, Monte Argentgario, Orbetello (I remember AnnHig's (sorry the screen name is not quite right..) Italian lessons in a school in or near Orbetello and her dreamy writing about her adventures there many years ago!) Elba, Isla di Giglio, or any of the resorts on the coast of 'Tuscany. Camaiore?? Porto Ercole???

Of course, with me, most trips begin with some food idea and for decades I've wanted to visit Marina di Bibbona to eat at a restaurant there. I got as far as finding a great looking hotel, in Bibbona, RELAIS SANT ELENA, which might be a good place to begin a trip along this coast. (It's close to Pietrasanta which also sounds interesting, so that could be a day trip or even an overnight stay).

I would rent a car.

But from there, I'm lost, and I'm hoping some of you have knowledge of this area and would be willing to offer a few comments...I've read a bunch of online blogs but still don't get a real sense of what this coast is like.....would welcome any links that you all think are worthwhile....

I'd like to go in September 2026. I'd love to be able to swim in the sea, although beaches themselves are not so important. What I would love it a beautiful country hotel with a pretty pool for swimming (heated would be ideal but I'll not get into those details yet!). Or a few country hotels...or a mix of near the sea and a bit Inland......

I prefer to spend at least three nights, preferably longer, in a destination, rather than moving about every few days...
I'm okay with luxury hotels and I know prices are really crazy now but I'm not sure if I'm ready for IL PELLICANO or its ilk although I'd love to read reports from anyone who's been there recently.... (Someone close to me just mentioned heavyset men from a certain nation decked in lots of bling and little Speedos and the name of the hotel in the same sentence so I'm pretty curious....)

Not sure if Elba is worth the trip but Giglio is smaller and closer so might be interesting for 3 or 4 four nights...(??). I've almost no idea of what that island is like and don't remember reading about the island on this forum or anywhere else apart from news of that awful ship disaster a few years back....but I took a quick look online and it might be charming...

I could have about two weeks or even a bit more in the area, probably flying into Rome but maybe even into Florence if that works better, and coming home from Rome, or vice versa. (I'm even open to flying into Genoa and stopping in Liguria for a few nights before heading south.nothing is out of the question here but the focus would be the coast/islands of Tuscany.). I can work out getting there, just need to know how to plan the bulk of the time....

I know this is all very vague.....but I do want to begin thinking about next year's trips...


Of course if anyone has another idea of a stretch of coastal Italy that I ought to take a look at, I'm open to anyplace (somehow Sardinia is always in the mix but I've never pulled the lever on that island yet) but I think the Tuscan coast is one of the main areas I've still not yet visited and would like to......so please, feel free to ramble on and on, tell me the good and the bad......


Thanks a million!!

Poster yorkshire has a good report about their visit to this area. I still haven't made it there!

If you can find it, the documentary Gli Ultimi Butteri, about cowboys in the Maremma, is quite evocative. Though it won't help you with hotels it certainly features some beautiful cinematography.

Trailer:

Leely thanks so much!!

I'm going to watch it first thing in the morning.

Let's forget about IL PELLICANO; I took a quick peek for random dates this coming September and they are in the range of 3000 euro per night......good grief..what happened to the days when 700euro was a once-in-a-many years splash out???

There are some other hotels that look good around there, including HOTEL TORRE DE CALA PICCOLA...not inexpensive but nothing close to the thousands...

I'm still reeling from the prices at IL PELLICANO.....two years ago I called the GH Timeo in Taormina and they were "so happy to be able to give me a special rate" of close to $2,000 a night!! (Needless to say we did not stay there..). So now these super-luxe coastal hotels are in the multi thousands!?!

I love it when you chime in here!!

May be you tell as something bout your inerests.
The Southern part of the area is full of Etruscan stuff.
Ellba has good hiking trails and scenic beaches (a little late for beach life in September, however).

I've been to the Maremma twice, both times for short visits as part of longer trips. The part of Maremma that's in the park has very little infrastructure, but beautiful beaches. We had to leave our car outside the park on one visit. On the other visit, about 20 years ago, we spent one night in a budget hotel outside the park.

We visited the island of il Giglio once, on a day trip. This was also over 15 years ago. I loved it and would have liked to stay there at least a few days.

There are lots of Etruscan sites in southern Tuscany and in northern Lazio. We spent a week mainly concentrated on these sites. If you're interested in these, I can dig out some information.

Maremma restaurants

I remember reading your posts where you described every meal in detail. So I found that link for you. It’s in Italian, since I trust resources in the original language more.

i have driven through Maremma many times since we have been to Elba 12 times for vacation. (Going again in a month). A couple of years ago we finally stopped a few nights near Pitigliano since I wanted to see the free thermal baths at Saturnia. We had passed the sign for them so many times. And I had read about Pitigliano, which was gorgeous - especially the first view from the road. We enjoyed saturnia too. Our friends just bought a house near Lake Bolsena, so we met up with them. I have always wanted to go to cività di bagnoreggio, which we didnt get to do. But Elba is always our favorite for all the little cove beaches and the beautiful views. Recently we have had some excellent Maremma wines too. One is Colle Massari. Might be fun to visit a cantina. Definitely check out the thermal baths. We haven’t explored the coast much since our focus is to get to Elba. We have also done day trips to Pianosa and Capraia from Elba. It’s a beautiful area. I am sure you will enjoy it.

Palatino that's marvelous!!!

Could you talk a little bout why you love Elba so much? I could certainly look into spending part of the trip on that island..

I should have given more ideas of what kind of trip this would be: My partner is getting more creaky and I think that this trip should have a large component of relaxing around a hotel pool or taking a swim in the sea most days, walking around a village like Pietrasanta (I only mention that cause it sounds so lovely from what I've read.). I'd love to see the quarries at Carrara but that's farther north and I've not read much about that yet. (But as I said, we could begin and end the trip anywhere.)

So really it would be the relaxing and swimming (heated pool a huge plus but I know they are not easy to find), either in a pool or in the sea most days.
At least one excursion to a town for walking around, visiting food markets.
One good meal every day, mostly dinners but some lunches ok..
SCENERY!!!

We spent about 10 days on Salina last September and it was great..we did a little exploring but stayed around the hotel pool a lot. But in Tuscany there would be MUCH more to see and to explore, although the Etruscan sites are not calling my name right now (but I've read nothing about those yet).

Maybe stay a few days on Giglio....morning wander around, beach visit or some kind of water activity......dinner, go to sleep early.
I did mark down a couple of hotels on Elba a few year ago....so as I said, if that's recommended we could include it.

And Porto Ercole??? Forget the idea of IL PELLICANO but there are a couple of other hotels near that town....
The budget is good, but not to the point of thousands of euro per night!!! Not even close to that figure!!

So the biggest draws are food and scenery and pretty towns. No fancy shopping, but food shopping would be essential..just wandering round markets and food shops, trying to chat with the salespeople and probably annoy them with a million questions!!


We could rent the car for the entire time.

Maybe have three weeks (plus maybe a few days..) and stay in four different hotels ( hotels, not apartments--I like the interchange with the hotel staff and having other people around....and I'm not going to be doing a lot of cooking cause I want to go to all those great places to eat.....

Wine...I know this is a famous wine area and partner was in the business, but he has no interest in wine any longer and I have no interest in visiting any more wineries.
(I hope I don't sound like too much of a shallow philistine here..).

I do like cities but not sure if La Spezia would be a recommended overnight stop (??)
Lucca I've been to but if its on the route from an airport (??)

I've never been to Genoa and have wanted to go for a long time; maybe fly into there and take train after a few days to a place where we could pick up a rental car and delve into Tuscan coast???? (I loved Camogli but wanted to focus further south) No interest in Cinque Terre and no interest in hiking.
I can take pretty walks (not hikes) but partner will not want to, but he's ok staying around hotel when I go out and about on some mornings or afternoons.....I'm lucky with that, I know!!

I know I did not give much information....it's so hard to understand and decipher which of these coastal towns are just flat rows of stabilimenti and which have interest apart from the beach. Camaiore sounds interesting, and Capalbio....

https://www.locandarossa.com/en/

I'd love to find some upscale B&B's/rural hotels slightly inland but easy to go to swim a few times, and the hotels would have a pool and be close to good restaurants, not fancy restaurants but really GOOD ones so I could try the local fare.... So would love to read about possible hotels, mainland and on Elba and Giglio.

That place that sparked all this interest years go was this restaurant, but this was about thirty years ago; would Bibiona be a good place to include for a few days as an overnight stop? This place might have changed a lot since I red bout this little shack-ey beach restaurant in the pines....now it's Michelin and all, but I did ahead of time some fantastic Michelin level meals in places that I thought would be "fancy" but turned out to be so homey and welcoming (I'm thinking about ULIASSI in Sepengallia, and even PASCUCCI in Fiumicino). But the best places are the more simple, family places..you know, the kind that every tourists wants to visit.... I much prefer a la carte to tasting menus...but can work al that out once I get the locations penciled in.... I do like to have breakfast at the hotel.

https://lapinetadizazzeri.it

So basically, it's all about the food, the scenery (rural and pretty towns) and the swimming in that order.

I hope the helps some.....I know I need to read A LOT MORE and sit down with a map, but I'm on the mission now, to make this a reality for next year!!

Thanks so much to all of you who are such a huge help..my life would be a lot less interesting without this forum!!!! (And I might have time to do my household chores (like the cleaning out of this apartment that's been planned for a few yers now..) if I was not thinking about the next trip all the time!!!)

Best to everyone!!!!

To respond to your question why we love Elba so much. First, Italy is my comfort zone. We discovered Elba when I wanted to go practice my Italian and I had 3 kids under 12. I chose a place where Italians would be on vacation and we stayed 3 weeks at a campsite in a little bungalow with our own kitchen, bathroom & bedrooms There was animation, which means counselors who organized daytime activities and night entertainment for the kids. The beach was a 5 minute walk. There was a pool, mini market, restaurant & bar onsite. It was idyllic. We were the only English speakers and we met some Italian families who we are still friends with 22 years later. We went back with the kids 3 more times. I am not a huge beach person, but I became one on Elba. The beaches are gorgeous and there are all differenty types of beaches. There are more than 100, so one activity is to try different ones. A good espresso or cappuccino is never far away. The bigger towns are delightful to stroll around in the evening. So I think my favorite things are 1) it is Italy 2) it is beautiful - no high rises, gorgeous views everywhere since there are green mountains in the middle. 3) Fairly undiscovered by English speakers. 4) easy to get to with several ferries every hour and only 1 hour ferry ride. 5) The water is pristine. 6) An option for everyone - now without the kids we go to another campsite without animation near a peninsola / park that we walk around every evening. 6) There are nice places to walk around in the evening to stroll and get your gelato. (Marina di Campo and Marciana Marina). Marciana Marina is a charming town but the beach there is not great. One year we stayed in Marciana Marina in a hotel and I missed the campsite atmosphere - stepping right outside. Now that we are older we drive to our favorite beach and hike down (but there is still a bar on the beach). If you go I would recommend Marina di Campo or Marciana Marina, though Marina di Campo offers a beautiful long sandy beach and hotels with pools.

Palatino82: Thanks ever so much for taking time to write such a helpful and informative response.
I'm going to think about including Elba but for now, concentrate more on the mainland.

I came up with a very vague, very general idea (I won't even call it a plan yet) that would involve beginning in Genoa (I've never been there).

Stay 4 nights in Genoa (first day/evening will be a wash due to jet lag).

Then take train to, probably Pisa.
Interesting to stay in Pisa overnight? I've never been there. I'm not fixated on seeing the Tower but if the city is interesting to wander around (??)


Rent car in Pisa and drive north to Camaiore; visit Pietrasanta. (I chose Pisa to rent car because they have a SIXT agency and I've been so happy with that company lately; Sixt does not have as many locations in Italy as some other big rental agencies, as I've been learning; if I rented from another agency, I could rent in La Spezia and drive south..

https://www.locandaalcolle.com

https://www.unaitalianhospitality.co...una-esperienze

I'm going to post a general plan, step by step, from north to south, so if anyone has comments, please let me know...I'm delving into an area I know almost nothing about except from what I'm leaning now as I do some reading....



Next stop, driving south, could be either Bibbona, or San Vicenzo:

https://www.relaissantelena.it/en

https://www.poderelemezzelune.it



https://poggioaisanti.com

I'm thinking about just driving around, going to one good meal a day, including at the restaurant on the beach, La Pineta. I read about it maybe 30 years ago and for whatever reason, I always wanted to eat there. I've not even read any reviews lately but will certainly do that..in fact, will do that right now!!

Leely, Your post about the butteri was timely. I just read that Stanley Tucci will feature a segment about them on his new Italian food program on National Geographic!

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/me-...rough-florence