my husband and i are going back to Italy with our 21 and 23 YO daughters. As part of our itinerary we are looking to spend 5 nights on the Adriatic and my girls are really interested in hitting the beach to relax after college graduation. We plan to visit Venice and Fano (Grandparent's hometown) and have narrowed in on Rimini or Pesaro for our beach vacation the last week or July. Any suggestions on where to stay (either town or actual hotel)?
Posted by
4961 posts
I actually loved the beach in Fano--clean, white pebbles, clear water, really accessible for swimming. The town is adorable.
Senigallia is a fantastic town, we barely even made it onto the beach there, but is is so neat because it's a traditional walled old town right next to a sandy beach. Superb dining there too.
My ideal was the beaches of the Monte Conera area. We drove to Sirolo and hiked down to the beach (in season there are buses), where you also find the smooth pebbles and clear seas of the Adriatic. It feels very natural, but there are services like kayak rental.
Book asap--I had trouble finding a spot in this area for May. We stayed in Senigallia--it would make a really ideal base. I am assuming you will have a car, but this town is on the train line so you can use both, which may be nice in July.
I only drove through Pesaro and saw Rimini off in the distance from San Bartolo park--I highly recommend a drive through there. We wanted to walk down to its beaches, but some trails were closed and so we just enjoyed a scenic hike.
But, you must describe your vision of "best beach"--some want the whole experience of umbrellas, etc., whereas for me, I want to hike to it and find few people.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16052 posts
The most beautiful segment of the coast in the Marche region is the Mount Conero area (Sirolo, Numana, Portonovo) just south of Ancona. If you are looking for places more to the north, then Senigallia, Pesaro, Fano, Gabicce Mare are all nice. Across the border from Gabicce Mare, into the Romagna region, Cattolica is also very popular with families with kids. Further north, Rimini is popular but is not my favorite, kind of run down nowadays compared to the past (Rimini has the highest crime per capita in Italy). Riccione is more upscale, and I would prefer it to Rimini.
Posted by
11569 posts
And farther south is Puglia. Look at Polignano a Mare for a nice waterfront.
Posted by
CA, USA
1245 posts
Pesaro has a nice pedestrian-only core, a wide grassy strip above the beach, good restaurants, lots of umbrella rentals in-season (and July is in-season). We stayed there a few years ago and enjoyed it.
We haven't stayed in Rimini but it is larger than Pesaro and has a reputation as a bit of a party place. So your daughters might enjoy it more ;-) Also worth considering is Riccione (see https://www.italymagazine.com/riccione )
To help sort thru you can spend some time on YouTube. There are plenty of walking tours and some drone videos people have uploaded so you can get a sense of what each town offers.