Searching for beach town in Amalfi area for summer holiday
 

Hello,
In mid to late August, my family (me, my husband and our three kids - ages almost 10,7 and 6) will be driving from Sicily to northern Italy. We have about a week, , so I wanted to stop at a beach area for a few days on the way up. We don't mind driving ten hours if we had to, or spending the last two days in the car. (We are ex pats in Europe so no time change or flights to contend with - just need to back with a day or two to recover before the kids have to return to school). We will be visiting family and sightseeing in Sicily so while I am keen to see a few historical sites, our plan is wander around small towns, discover new Italian playgrounds, enjoy good food and sit on a beach. Many years ago I visited Sorrento (without my husband) and loved it! I didn't make it onto Capril or to the Grotto, but did get to take a beautiful boat ride around the islands and the coast- and always said that I would return. It was touristy then, but I have heard it is even more crowded these days and especially in August, so I am thinking that may not be the best place to make our base. Our children would love to visit Pompeii and Herculeanus (and Mt Vesuvius, assuming it is open), which made me lean towards making our base on the Amalfi coast. I am open to stopping in Pompeii area for two or so days and then driving up the east or west coast and stopping somewhere else that is pretty, has good food, kid friendly, swimming (we prefer sandy beaches over rocky beaches) and is moderately priced. We are amenable to campgrounds that provide cabins or where you can rent tents as we will not have them with us. Our kids have been to Italy a few times and covered much of the northern part so we are leaning towards staying somewhere in the south. I took them to Cinque Terre in October and they enjoyed it, although it was too cold to swim so we did boat trips and hiking, not really "beach" stuff. We were in South of France this May and while they liked it - the beaches were very rocky, which made it difficult. I also would be interested to learn if there were other islands, less well known and off the beaten path compared to Capri, where we could stay without it being totally over crowded and over priced.
On that note, if my idea of enjoying a beach holiday in Italy in August is completely unreasonable - please tell me. We can switch gears and take the ferry from Sicily to the north and do something else.
Oh -I should mention we will have our car - a station wagon, so somewhere I can park or that is accessible after I park the car outside of the city center - is key.
Thank you in advance for your ideas, advice and inspiration!
c

C

The Amalfi Coast doesnt have the type of beaches you are looking for. Mostly rocks and coves. Positano does have a small sandy beach.

Guess what? Sicily does have the the beaches you want.

I would suggest researching Sicily more, and even looking at the Aeolian Islands for your beach trip.

Living in Europe, you should know that late to mid August will be horribly crowded.

Buona fortuna!

Ps, you are very very late to the game to find family lodging this late! Better hurry.

Many locals do what you plan to do and take their beach holidays in August as well, hence most beach resorts are packed. You could try Ischia which has sandy beaches (Positano does not have sand) but I would not spend too long hunting down somewhere to stay as most places will be full or hideously overpriced. As Ischia is an island, you will need to return the car or pay a lot of money to leave it in a private parking lot on the mainland. Some info is here

http://www.ischiareview.com/

Thanks Dayle. I usually wait until the last minute... most of the time it all works out, but I know I need to start organizing! We have done okay in August in more local spots than the usual Rick Stevens hot spots before. It seems like we will probably have to skip Amalfi /Sorrento this time and save it for a school holiday in May. Unfortunately we are tied to the school's schedule - as is everyone else, making planning trips off season a bit tricky. You are right about the beaches in Sicily though. I had not really thought that since we will be staying on the beach in Sicily, we can do all our beach fun there, and focus in land or further north.
Any thoughts on other neat places that would be fun for kids perhaps above Naples? Or even on the east coast? I would like to believe that all of Italy can't be an overcrowded mess... but maybe I am dreaming?

Thanks again for your reply.

Thank you blueeyedcod. We were planning on taking our own car to Sicily so we wouldn't have to rent one there (as a family of five it is often easier and more cost efficient to just take our own car), but I could look into leaving our car in Genoa, taking the ferry to Sicily and then renting a car just for our time there. Ischia does look beautiful!
Thanks again.
c

You can take your own car onto Ischia on the ferry - it costs 50 euro one way. It is a better way to see the island as the buses can be packed in summer and a car is so much more convenient with little kids.

Vietri sul mare has got the biggest beach from the amalfitan coast! It is near the highway if you want to visit Pompeii. It is 5 min. from Salerno where the boat for Capri is. Have a look at booking, go to the little town Albori (it belongs to Vietri!) it is a car free town, so your kids can run through the town, it is only 5 minutes from the centre of Vietri and in 5 minutes you're in the mountains where are the most beautifull vieuws!

I was going to suggest the areas around Castellabate/Agropoli/Paestum but I think price may be the big issue here.

I used to visit the Castellabate and rent an apartment for around €300 for a week in May or Late September. I know the price for that same apartment rose to over €1500 in August, and that the owner never had any problem letting it. It will be very hot and very crowded. I also believe that it is not uncommon to require a full two weeks rental at that time of year.

Beaches get flat and sany south of Salerno:
Castellabate, Palinuro and Marina di Camerota are among the best. Everything will be overcrowded in mid August, but good hotels (like the Kings at Palinuro) have their own stretches of beach with sunbeds and umbrellas.

I think that you can find something also cheap in the amalfitan coast, because this year there are lot more tourist than the last year. Everybody is opening a Bed & Breakfast or rent appartments. They have a lot of concurrence so they al want to be the best and they have low prices because they are new. So I think you still can find something good and cheap!

Thank you all for your helpful responses. After spending more time looking at old posts and reviewing your responses, it seems my concerns about crowding were justified... so after discussing with my family, we are going to an alt plan and will use Sicily as our base - staying with family and friends most of the time - and taking a few day trips and a few over night trips (hopefully to Aeollian Islands). The Amalfi Coast and Pompeii will have to wait until cooler weather and smaller crowds next Spring.
Thank you again... the forever last minute planner,
c.