Family of 4 ( 13 & 17 girls ) traveling June 2012. We were planning on spending 2 nights in Vernazza but since The Gulf of Poets came on my radar now I am not sure. The girls would love to dip their toes in to the Mediterranean. Has anyone stayed in Lerici, Levanto or Portovenere? A sandy beach would be nice.
Posted by
Italy
247 posts
Lerici has a fantastic beach, actually a Bandiere Blu award winning beach. http://www.bandierablu.org/public/doc/bb/2010/bandiere_blu_2010_spiagge.pdf There are also private beaches along the coast from Lerici to Tellaro like Eco del Mare, and even beaches at Fiascherino and San Terenzo, but the road between Lerici and Tellaro had a landslide and it will take months to repair, but ferry service will run between Lerici and Tellaro. http://www.ecodelmare.it/ There's no train station in Lerici but good bus service from Lerici to La Spezia and Sarzana. Ferries run in season from the Cinque Terre to Lerici.
http://www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it/ Levanto has a nice beach and easy access to the Cinque Terre by train, so it could possibly be a good compromise. You wouldn't go to Portovenere for a good beach. It's mostly rocks and just a little sand at the port.
Posted by
Wiesbaden, Germany
791 posts
Vernazza does have a sandy beach but it's very small and is overcrowded in the summer. In the CT, Monterosso is the only one with a large sandy beach and it's pretty big.