10 Days In Italy: A Day At A Venice Beach

Here’s a recap of previous posts and a list of what’s upcoming for our recent trip to Italy.

• United Airlines To Rome
• St. Regis Rome
• Vatican
• Osteria 44
• Photo Essay of Angels & Demons
• A Quiet Meal At Cul de Sac
• Trevi Fountain (Semi) Closed For Business
• A Fast Train To Venice
• Tips For Sightseeing In Rome
• St. Regis San Clemente Island, Part 1
• St. Regis San Clemente Island, Part 2
• Hotel Danieli
• Antico Pignolo
• A Quick Trip To Murano
• A Day At The Beach
• How To Ride The Vaporetto (Water Bus) In Venice
• Getting Lost In Venice
• Getting To Venice Airport
• British Airways 787 Flight Home

No, not the Venice Beach.  Just a beach in Venice.  Lido, to be exact.  After a long trip in Italy, our kids needed a break.  We hadn’t been pushing an exhaustive pace, but it’s been our experience that kids just need to be kids at times.  That generally involves a pool, beach, playground or amusement park.

In our case, the beach was our destination, probably not something frequently requested by the typical Danieli guest. However, the concierge was knowledgeable about the various options on Lido and took a few minutes to walk us through them.

Lido is only a short vaporetto ride from San Zaccaria.  There’s a whole slew of different vaporetto lines that go to Lido, including the 1, 2, 5, 6 and 10.  Once there, we walked straight down Granviale Santa Maria Elisabetta, which is the main road straight to the beaches from the dock. There are a number of restaurants and stores asking the 10-minute walk. We were able to quickly pick up some sand toys on the walk. However, this want necessary as the beach had a large toy store along with a bar and restaurant.  At the end of the road, we took a left-hand turn while most of the crowd went straight ahead to the largest of the free public beaches.  A short walk brought us to Bagni Venezia Spiagge, the beach that the Danieli had recommended.  Here’s a view from the street:

 

Upon arrival, there were a number of different options to purchase. I thought I had taken a picture of the full list but it doesn’t appear to have made the trip back home with us. I’ll do my best to describe what I remember and I’m happy to answer questions.

The simplest option was access to the bathrooms, showers and beach. This was just less than 10 Euro a person(kids are cheaper). You could also purchase a la carte services like private changing rooms, cabanas, chair and umbrella rentals. There were also a number of different bundles which were much better deals.

We chose a bundle that included a small private changing room (where we could luck up or belongings), 4 chairs and 2 umbrellas.  The changing room was really no bigger than a standard hotel room closet, big enough for my wife to step in with our two children and close the door but not much bigger.   The package was approximately 50 Euro. While that may seem like a lot for a day at the beach it was also a pretty big “discount” on a la carte pricing. While this was the only beach we went to (and can’t compare to the free beaches), the reasoning behind paying is that the paid beaches are a lot less crowded.

The beaches themselves are divided by a rope and we could see the “free” beach as we swam. No doubt, it was a lot more crowded. With our younger kids, it was comforting having our own quiet area (less than half the chair/umbrella stands were occupied). Our beach also seemed to be more family oriented.

The outdoor bar/restaurant was surprisingly well-stocked with a number of fresh cut-fruit items, sandwiches, pizza and snacks.  Plenty of bottled water, soda and beer as well.

The water at the beach was very clear and warm.  It was shallow enough for our 3-year old to wade in a decent distance and the waves were calm enough for him to play just fine.  A shaved ice cart rolled by a couple of times and we coughed up a couple of Euro for a quick cool-down.

We had received a small bracelet that allowed us access to the bathroom and shower areas.  They weren’t very crowded at all and were very clean, though it was a bit odd when a cleaning lady wandered into the men’s bathroom and indoor shower area and started cleaning while there were half a dozen male occupants.

They did offer larger changing rooms/cabanas, but I wouldn’t have spent more (approximately 120 Euro total) to get a larger cabana.  These had an inside seating area along with an outside reserved seating area, but they were located far from the water.  I suppose if they were closer to the water and I could watch my kids from there, I might consider it.  But, it seems a pretty steep price to pay.

The price was definitely worth it to us for the family oriented nature of this beach and the relative lack of crowds.  I would certainly recommend this option for families considering a day at the beach.  It was a relaxing break for the kids during our 10 day trip.

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The post 10 Days In Italy: A Day At A Venice Beach was published first on Pizza In Motion.

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