We plan to go to Italy in September and will travel from Venice to Rome. I'm looking for recommendations on where to stay for a couple of days to relax (I would prefer sea/beach location) in a close proximity to the cities like Rome or Naples -- to visit cities in the afternoons and to spend mornings swimming in the sea. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Natasha

Hi,
went to Italy last summer with boyfriend. used Sorrentoo as a starting point. its a very relaxed place, but there are loadsa tours to go on from there. we headed to the island of Capri one of the days, which is beautiful, positano and ravello another day, and Mt Vesuvius and Pompeii another day. i t was handy for us coz it was a package deal and it was all organised for you, but to be honest we woulda preferred to do it ourselves, ie. busaboat coz we were kinda on the bus all day. i would reccomend going on the tour to Mt Vesuvius though, coz youll spend the whole day gettin there. but definately do Capri on yer own, its dead handy.hope this helps wee bit!

The resorts close to Rome aren't great due to their proximity to the Tiber estuary, and I wouldn't recommend swimming there.

The nicest between Rome and Naples IMO is Sperlonga - about 1.5 hours drive from either.

Sorrento is better than the Amalfi Coast resorts as a base for visiting Naples (- about an hour by train)- but don't expect a great beach.

Steve

In the same area that Steve mentioned, (a bit farther south but north of Naples,) is Gaeta, which is a lovely and lively small city.

We stayed in Formia , the next town south ,at the
Albergo Miramare which is a lovely smaller hotel right on the beach with a small private beach.

Speralonga was soooo crazy when we were there,
but that was in july, so I bet in September it would be quieter and it is really lovely!

You aren't that far south of Rome, only about 2 hrs. driving, and 1 hr. train.

We drove to Herculaeum for the day, and also went to Caserta to see the Palazzo Reale ,
and to Montecassino to the Abbey.
Both are stunning to see!! and well worth a visit.

If you do want to visit an island, you can go right from Gaeta to the smaller Venetone(sp ?)Islands,
or as Caroline suggested go to Naples and take a ferry.
I spent 3 days on Procida, the smallest of the 3 islands and also did a daytrip to Ischia.

Have a lovely time!

We stayed in Positano as our base on the Sorrento / Amalfi coast and I highly recommend it. Positano itself is one of the most beautiful picturesque places in the world (however I have not been anywhere btw Rome and Naples so can't make suggestions there). The hotels, villas and streets are piled up on top of each other. Many hotels have their own access to a beach. We stayed in Hotel Vittoria who gave us a huge room and private terrace (lift down to hotel's own beach). We were not peak season, it was in April, so you should similarly have a lot of choice in Sept. We found Positano quite fine as a touring base with the SITA bus service. The frequencies and durations (short in km distance but long times because the road is so narrow and winding) means you need to allow a full day for each place (eg Amalfi, Ravello), but it is a better base than these other places and if you have your own car you could be more flexible in timing.

Positano is great,but the beach there is not.