Best beaches in Tuscany: a family adventure in Maremma

The word “Maremma” instinctively mix up pictures of wonderful natural settings: the best beaches in Tuscany of extremely fine sand, lush pinewoods and crystal-clear seas and – on the other side – dense woodland, marshland teeming with amazing wildlife and luxuriant, fertile hills.

We spent there two weeks, exploring here and there, and immediately fell in love with this part of Tuscany. So if you are planning a holiday along the Maremma coastline, mark these locations down and enjoy the best beaches in Tuscany for kids!

Best beaches in Tuscany along the Maremma coastline

During our summer in Maremma, we stayed close to the village of Marina di Grosseto in a wonderful camping under an immense pinewood. This was a great point of departure for a daily trip along the coastline.

Cala Violina beach

All good things require effort, but this is one of the most beautiful sandy bays in Italy and if you wanna visit it, collect your stuff, hike a bit and enjoy the view. Cala Violina has received so many environmental awards during the years, that you can’t miss it. You can reach the beach in 30 minutes’ drive from the city of Castiglione della Pescaia and once you arrive at the free parking area, you have to walk for 1.5km through the superb and refreshing pinewood. The path leads to the “Violin cove”, which took its name from the particular rustling sound made by bare feet treading on its sand. The colour of the almost white beach is due to tiny grains of quartz. Choose this beach if you love the unspoiled nature as on site there are very few services or comforts.

Facilities on site: a kiosk in the pinewood for water and food supply.

Le Rocchette beach

Among all the best beaches of Tuscany, Le Rocchette is finally one of the most crowded and famous. It stands in the North of Castiglione della Pescaia and you have to turn left at the Rocchette fork. On the North side, the beach features beautiful little gravel coves. To the South of the shore, there are beaches of golden sands with crystal clear water which is relatively cool in temperature due to the currents present.

How to get there: you can reach Le Rocchette driving North from Castiglione della Pescaia towards Punta Ala and the beach is just 8km far from Castiglione. During high season the beach is very crowded so we highly recommend to leave the car in the parking lot at 10€ all day. The risk of a fine is very high when you leave your vehicle, however, you can.
From the parking lot, you follow the easy path and in 5 minutes you are at the beach.

Facilities on site: Beach resorts, bars, restaurant and playground in front of the sea. Daily rent for the sunbed or beach chairs is slightly higher than the other beach resorts (30€ vs. 26€/28€). Between one resort and the other, there are large public beaches.

The beautiful shore of Le Rocchette beach in Maremma

The dune beach

A beautiful golden beach stretches for several km from Castiglione della Pescaia towards Marina di Grosseto. Behind it sand dunes formations alternate with highly-scened pinewoods.
We discovered it by bike, riding from Marina di Grosseto to North. This beach is really fabulous: miles and miles of free and wild shore (the only resort you can find there is Le Marze Camping that owns an area of the dune beach).
The beach is extremely calm, clean and invites to relax. We loved it and it’s a perfect destination for kids, as the sea has shallow water.

Isn’t this lovely?

How to get there: we came here by chance, and it’s a quite hidden place so we recommend using the bike to arrive there. Leave Marina di Grosseto on the back and ride along the bike lane that runs close to the main road. Once you overtake Le Marze Camping, you’ll find a small fence on your left. Go straight and enjoy the beach.

Facilities on site: the dune beach is completely wild and free, so collect your beach stuff (lunch included) and be prepared to relax. A beach peddler – with ice creams and water – can be met twice in a day.

Principina a Mare beach

This beach extends about 4 km southwards as far as the mouth of Ombrone river, where the National Park of Maremma begins. Here Mediterranean scrub, sand dunes and marshland become a distinct feature of the environmental, giving it a wild awe-inspiring feel. You get the feeling this is an almost primordial return to a place where sea and land meet. Go there if you are a birdwatcher lover!!

How to get there: The best way to get to Principina a Mare beach is by bike from Marina di Grosseto: follow the bike lane towards South for 4km, riding in the pinewoods.

Facilities on site: This beach is extremely wide and long and it’s perfect for babies or toddler. It’s a fine, gold and sandy beach with shallow water. Public beach alternates to resorts with bar, restaurants and even playground.

Marina di Grosseto beach

A large sandy beach with an average width of 50 metres runs along the front of the town. Here the seabed descends gradually making it safe for kids to play in. Excellent water sports facilities.

Facilities on site: Marina di Grosseto offers everything you wish. Bars, bakeries, restaurants, sports activities (windsurfing, paddling and sailing), playground, dog beach. It’s the best beach in Tuscany if you require fun, music and entertainment for your holidays.

Marina di Alberese beach

The beach of Marina di Alberese is the most famous of Maremma Park. In these places, tourists can breathe the real nature of Maremma and it’s striking because they feel so uncannily wild: the fine sand seems to be decorated with old tree trunks, now bleached by the sun and salt, transported to the mouth of Ombrone river. A series of old lookout towers keep watch from high up on the Uccellina Hills, looking above the Mediterranean vegetation.

Be careful: The most southerly part of the beach is a popular destination for nudists, but close to this area there is the best part of this beach, so… for those who love to discover and never stop at the first step, we recommend to walk a bit on the left side of the beach and stop before the nudist’s area.

How to get to the beach: Marina di Alberese beach is inside the protected area of the park. This means that access is limited to certain numbers of private cars per day and that you have to pay a daily fee (ticket at the Visitor Center of the Maremma Park) to get to the beach. For this reason, we suggest you leave the car at the Visitor Centre and get to the sea or by bike ( 8km of the bike lane) or by free shuttle.

Facilities on site: No beach resorts and neither sunbed renting on site. During high season, there is a small kiosk in the pinewood and a picnic area as well.

Practical information to plan your holidays in Maremma

Do you know where Maremma is?

Maremma is a large area in the South of Tuscany, on the border to Lazio region. It stands 180km far from Rome and 150km from Florence, and the best way to get there is definitely by car. Grosseto is the biggest city, but the cutest that worth a visit are Castiglione della Pescaia, Capalbio and Punta Ala.
Not only coastline, Maremma has a beautiful, wild and unspoiled territory that stands on gentle hills.

Where to stay in Maremma

We stayed for two weeks in a great camping in Marina di Grosseto that we highly recommend: Camping Il Sole is a great “base” being in the heart of the coastline. Cheap, clean, quiet, beautiful pinewood and many services for families.

Other daily trips in Maremma

Hiking, MTB, relax, art, history, natural park and great food. This is what you can find during a holiday in Maremma! So do not stop at the best beaches in Tuscany and explore Pitigliano, the queen of Tufa town and relax at Saturnia Baths with kids.