Viareggio or Castiglioncello

For large town with large sand beaches, vibrant day and night life and lots of people around (basically a larger Miami Beach) go to Viareggio.

For a quaint and quieter little town with nice views of with pretty hills and cliffs jutting to the sea and cleaner waters in the small beach coves and cliffs, go to Castiglioncello.

The distance is about the same.

Roberto - we are staying outside of Lucca, so I think each of these are about the same distance by car. (It sounds like Viareggio is not what we’re looking for). Would you recommend Castiglioncello or going north to one of these?
Framura
Bonassola
Mongolia
Lerici
Portovenere

Thanks!

Portovenere is by far my favorite in your list. I highly recommend it.

Lerici is also nice, on the other side of the gulf. If you have a car, Montemarcello is a famous hill town above Lerici that is also worth a visit. Actually you could even visit Porto Venere, Lerici, and Montemarcello in a day, if you have a car. Without a car you might juggle a few buses but maybe still doable. In my youth there used to be a ferry connecting Lerici to Portovenere, not sure about now. For sure don’t miss Portovenere.

Bonassola is nice but then it’s kind too far from Lucca. Framura is even farther and there isn’t much to it, if you go that far then you might as well go to the Cinque Terre which is closer. And frankly Castiglioncello is just as good as Bonassola, and closer.

The only Mongolia I know is a country north of China. That would definitely be a very long trip from Lucca.

Haha, autocorrect got me again! It was meant to be Moneglia, but it sounds like my map app might not have been working correctly for a few of these during my search - didn’t realize how far they were.
Thank you so much for your insights!

Lerici-Tellaro-Montemarcello is a really lovely area.
The Baratti area is also nice--just slightly longer drive.

Lerici and Tellaro and Portovenere are all lovely.
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2020/03/massa-carrara-in-may-zanego-tellaro.html
But parking could be a very big challenge in July!

Thank you for the input and for more suggestions. I am definitely looking for something more quaint and not a "Miami Beach" vibe so that helps alot!

Do you feel that the other suggestions are worth a little bit further drive than Castiglioncello?

North of Viareggio you can consider the towns in Liguria discussed above (Lerici, Portovenere,Montemarcello), if you don't want to go all the way to Cinque Terre.

Near Castiglioncello there is Quercianella, but there isn't much to it. It is nice for swimming as the water is clear, but it is very rocky, basically cliffs, so you have to be careful. You need aqua shoes and be a decent swimmer because it's deep.

Further south there are spots, but the towns are modern flattish small towns with flat sandy beaches, like Marina di Cecina, Marina di Bibbona, Marina di Castagneto Carducci, San Vincenzo.

Near Marina di Bibbona there is also a town called "La California" (founded by an Italian who went back and forth between the Golden State and Italy, and made money during the gold rush, and later was appointed Honorary Consul to the Italian Consulate of San Francisco in the XIX century. It's a modern town, so nothing interesting to see, but just a curiosity. The town even holds mock US elections every four years and sends the results to the US Consulate of Florence, but I don't think their vote counts (LOL). At least for now, last month the Livorno satirical newspaper "Il Vernacoliere" wrote that because of the name, President Trump intends to invade it and annex it back.

Near San Vincenzo there is the Gulf of Baratti, which is a nice beach spot. Above the gulf of Baratti, on top of the hill, there is the ancient Etruscan village of Populonia, which is a really pretty and quaint hamlet. Still in the area (but not exactly on the beach) there are some quaint famous hilltowns, like Suvereto, Campiglia Marittima and, further down, Massa Marittima. In spite of the name, they are on top of hills, so I don't know how they got the name Marittima (Maritime).

There are more nice places further south in the Maremma area (Castiglion della Pescaia, Talamone, Porto Santo Stefano, Porto Ercole, the last two on the Mt. Argentario Peninsula), but maybe it's a bit too far for a day trip, since it's at least a couple of hours down from Lucca.

I stayed for several days in Porto Venere a few years ago and while my pictures will make you want to stay there I ultimately found it too touristy with the groups of people being ferried to CT stopping off there in transit. Or maybe I should say too small for as many tourists that came through.

I would, however, return to the San Terenzo, Lerici, Tellaro area on the south side of the bay for a longer stay given the chance. San Terenzo has the sandy beaches is connected by a long beachfront walkway all the way to Lerici which has the marina and beachfront promenade.

It's Italy in the summer but the south side of the bay felt like Italians taking to the beach for the summer versus cruise ship tourists on group outings with earpieces and badges. PV and Lerici are connected by an occasional ferry that runs back and forth across the bay.

My $.02,
=Tod

I just love this forum! Especially since I have never been to Italy! Thank you all so much for taking the time to write....and for the interesting extra info and trivia. It is much appreciated!

To reply to your question about comparing the other destinations - Castiglioncello is 'ok'; Lerici is something special!