The Best Beaches
on the Tuscany Coast

The Tuscany coast is really two coasts wearing one name, and knowing the difference is the whole game. In the north sits Versilia, a long flat ribbon of golden sand from Marina di Carrara down through Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio, backed by the marble white Apuan Alps and lined almost without a gap by the bagni, the private beach clubs with their neat rows of umbrellas. This is the coast of la bella vita, of elegant promenades, famous markets and seafront caffe culture, where the beach is a social ritual as much as a swim. Further south the land loosens into the Maremma, a wilder country of pinewoods, coves and nature reserves around Grosseto and Monte Argentario, where the sand is free, the water clearer and the cooking heartier.

The honest read is that you come to Versilia for the scene and the towns, and to the Maremma for the beaches themselves. The Versilia water is unremarkable and almost every metre of its sand is paid private, which catches out travellers expecting clear Italian sea and open shore. The reward up here is the lunch, the shopping and the style, not the swim. Drive an hour or two south and the coast comes alive again at coves like Cala Violina and Cala del Gesso, on the long pine fringed beaches of Baratti and Feniglia, and in the wild Maremma park at Marina di Alberese. A culture wanderer reads this coast village by village and plate by plate, and below we rank the beaches that justify the trip, honest about which are scene and which are substance.

Be honest with yourself about which holiday you want, because Versilia and the Maremma reward opposite tastes. If you love a polished resort ritual, a lounger in a smart bagno, an aperitivo on an elegant promenade and a famous market to browse, Versilia is made for you and the plain water will not matter. But if you came for clear Italian sea, open natural sand and a cove you reach through the pines, Versilia will disappoint and you should point the car south. The single most common mistake here is booking Forte dei Marmi or Viareggio expecting beach beauty, then finding row after row of paid umbrellas and a flat brown sea.

Logistics shape the good version of the Maremma. The finest coves, Cala Violina, Cala del Gesso and the park beach at Marina di Alberese, take a walk through pinewood and have few or no facilities, and the flagship reserves now cap daily numbers with paid timed entry in summer, which must be checked and often booked ahead. That cap is a blessing, keeping these beaches calm and clean, but it punishes the traveller who turns up on spec in August. Plan the reserve beaches in advance, carry water and shade, and keep an easy town beach like Castiglione della Pescaia in reserve for the days you want facilities. Conditions are typical and never guaranteed, and this coast rewards a flexible plan.

This is Tuscany, so the table is never an afterthought, and the coast splits its cooking the same way it splits its beaches. In Versilia the kitchens turn to the sea, with just landed fish, spaghetti alle vongole, fritto misto and the warm chickpea focaccia of the region, eaten on a bagno terrace or in the trattorias behind the promenade. Viareggio adds its grand caffe culture, a town built for the slow seafront passeggiata, a gelato and a long coffee under the Liberty domes. The Forte dei Marmi market draws shoppers from across Tuscany, and the dinners here lean smart and seafood led.

The Maremma cooks from the land as much as the sea. This is cowboy country, the home of the butteri herdsmen, so the inland plates are hearty, wild boar ragu, the humble bread and vegetable soup acquacotta, pici pasta and pecorino, washed down with the local Morellino di Scansano red. On the coast and around the Orbetello lagoon you also get superb seafood, the prized grey mullet bottarga and smoked eel among them. The way to travel this coast is to let the region set the menu, sea facing and refined in Versilia, earthy and wine soaked in the Maremma, with the beach and the lunch always parts of the same unhurried day.

The Tuscany coast follows the Italian rhythm. August is the national holiday peak, when the bagni fill, the Maremma reserves cap out and prices climb, lively but crowded. June and September are the sweet spot, with warm water, long evenings and far easier crowds, and the Maremma coves at their best. May and early October suit the towns, the markets and the food more than the swim, the sea still cool in spring and cooling in autumn. For the quiet, clear Maremma at its loveliest, travel either side of the August crush.

The Tuscany coast is the home of the bagno, the Italian beach club, and nowhere does it more seriously than Versilia. In Forte dei Marmi and along the Versilia sand the bagni are institutions, some over a century old, with rows of loungers, cabins, a restaurant and often a pool, and the smartest spots are booked months ahead and passed down through families. Further south the Maremma keeps more free sand but still has good bagni in Punta Ala, Castiglione della Pescaia and Marina di Grosseto. Our directory keeps an honest note of where you can reserve a lounger and a table and where the beach is simply free, so you can match the day to the mood.