Will be in Tuscany second half of June and would like to spend a day at the Viareggio beach. I understand that there are a number of private beaches as well as one or more public ones. In terms of crowds and facilities, is a private beach preferable to a public one or are they equivalent? If we go for private, would we have to book one ahead of time or would we be able to do so on arriving in Viareggio?
Posted by
Boston
1698 posts
At the public (free) beach there are no facilities, except maybe a cold shower for rinsing. Entry is not controlled, so some times they are crowded. At a private bagno, there are facilities like a changing room and shower and perhaps a playground and different levels of food and drink from bar snacks to a restaurant. You would get an umbrella, lounge chair, and a bit of space around them. The bagni do business in all sorts of ways - some are a club and some are oriented to weekly or to day visitors (some offer reservations in advance). Some are priced a la cart, and some priced prix fixe, to use a restaurant analogy. There are several listed on Trip Advisor here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g194946-Activities-c61-t52-Viareggio_Province_of_Lucca_Tuscany.html
You would best reserve in advance or have a destination bagno in mind as I think it would be an exhausting hike along the lungomare to find a place by chance.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15161 posts
In terms of beauty (or lack thereof since Viareggio is neither Sardinia or the Caribbean), there is no difference. Often free beach (spiaggia libera) may be next to one that is leased to a concession (in any case a beach will always be free within 5 meters from the water, even if beyond that distance it may be occupied by a concession).
The advantage of a concession is that you can use their facilities: you can rent umbrellas, chez, chairs, use their pool (if any), bathrooms, shower facilities, games (ping pong), etc. the cost for a day is really puny therefore I generally use those facilities. There is no need to book anything in advance, especially in June when they will be early empty especially on weekdays. The only month when they might be busy is from the e d of July to mid August. If you still insist on a public free beach the one south of town (Lecciona Beach) past the stadium, in front of the pine forest, is a bit nicer. There are also concessions in that area now, mostly new and fancy with pools, or further south is free. It really depends if you want to be next to the city center or not and how long you want to walk, if you are without a car.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Thank you both! This is very helpful information.
Posted by
Boston
17 posts
We are also looking at Viareggio at the end of June. Is it worth staying here as a quiet alternative to Florence, with plans to day trip to Florence, Pisa, etc?