Crete sound gorgeous! but I've never been to.

some of the places I've liked, for family vacation, in Italy:

Savona and Pesaro - nothing fancy about them but very pleasant.

La Spezia - fancy and beautiful! and pleasant

Hi Nomades,

Thanks so much for your recommendations. I am going to look into Savona and Pesaro as well as any other recommendations from others.

Have a great day,

d.

I would recommend Cadiz, in Spain, other Huelva. Both are areas in the south of Spain, with very very nice long beaches, sand.... Wonderful places, really.

Good luck with your decision!

Carmen

I like Croatia and Montenegro more than any other beach in Europe, Slovenia has very nice seaside too.

With young kids Ive done both Spain and Corsica.

the drive to spain was 12 hrs (we stopped half way nr barca in a hotel with a pool, had dinner and did the other 6 the next day)... 4 bedroom Villa plus pool was €1000 for 2 weeks... fully equipped and 10 mins from the beaches.

Corsica, we drove to genoa...stayed in a beachside hotel over night had an amazing dinner, the kids swam...then the next day the "exciting" (for the kids) ferry journey to Corsica and a drive down to Porto Vechio...again villa with pool... 5 mins from beach... corsica has historiucal napoleonic forts, mountains and some of the reputedly best beaches in Europe... worth looking at... but be careful there are lots of "nudist" beaches... not so much a problem as a suprise :-)

bon vacances

I havent been in Croatia or Montenegro. But I have to say that in Spain there are thousands of beaches. And the south is very nice. The distance... that's another thing. Maybe by plane and then to rent a car. Its only one suggestion.

:)

:) liked your comment on nudist beaches...

do you mind letting me know how you found villa in Corsica? any websites you know of?

thanks again for your help!

Istria in Croatia is full of beautiful beaches and for a family vacation I would recommend you Rabac near Labin - it is near, if you're traveling by a car and beaches are perfect for kids to play.

Also island Krk is very near and Njivice is definitely the place for a family as well - it is calm, various beaches with sand for kids to play and there are always cool events like "fisherman's night" with nice food.

Baska on Island Krk has a long sandy beach, great for kids but it can be pretty crowded. Basically on every island you can find great beaches for families with kids.

As for sightseeing and monuments, you will be lost in making decisions what to visit first - celtic, roman, greek. austrian-hungarian heritage is all over the country.

Great thing about Istria and Kvarner islands (Krk, Losinj, Cres, Rab) is that mountain area is near as well so if it's too warm, in an hour from island Krk you're in a nice breezy mountain climate.

American view on Croatian vacation: lol

http://dustinland.com/archives/archives489.html

Oh and this is so cute, I love this guy - not about beaches but there's a view on the sea lol =)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/video/2011/apr/28/croatia-walking-velebit-national-park

Best beaches so far are those between Santa Maria di Leuca and Gallipoli in Italy.

Check out marin di Ugento pictures on google: looks like the carribeans!

http://www.google.ch/search?q=marina%20di%20ugento%20pics&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:it:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=it&tab=wi&biw=1984&bih=1249

I come from the Caribbean, so the concept of beaches for us is different from the one Europeans have.

But from the beaches I've seen so far I have to say Croatia was the nicest, especially because it retains that originality that other coastal areas around the mediterranean have lost long ago.

Sibenik, Split, Trogir, Krka national park (oh I loved it!! I would love to return to Croatia!)

Hi..

sorry cant remember the exact website, buit its worth googling Corsica villas for rent.

We found a reasonable website... I think it was about 1000 euros for the week or 10 days maybe a bit less in high season.

its worth taking time to check out alot of websites, also those in England and France for Corsican Holidays / Villas.... and DONT forget to pre book the ferry crossing there and back... it gets very full.

On the way there we stopped at a grat little hotel near Genoa... 15 mins from the ferry port...superb fish restaurant.... the way back we took an afternoon ferry, and on arrival in Genoa we drove 4 hrs straight back to Gva... (kids were asleep then anyway)

With corsica its well worth taking the car... there is so much to see, and its a lot bigger than one imagines, The beaches were flat and sandy and clean, water was clean, restaurants child friendly, and if it rains on one of the days, or youre all sunburnt and need a day off, take a drive into the mountains and see mountain salt lakes, and wild boar etc etc... beautiful scenery.

The one bit of advice I would say about any of these European Beaches....they may be gorgeous in Italy etc... but check that you dont have to walk down a cliff face or down 200 stairs to get there... with kids and all the gear its a HUGE thing to remember to make life and the holiday easier.

Corsica is flat on the coast (mountains being inland) so its not an issue especially on the east coast. Porto Veccio is gorgeous, but a fair drive down the island so take a morning ferry if you go down that way...(plan on 5 hrs...dodgy roads... but seeing as it coastal , you can stop for a swim and a bit of lunch before arrival at the villa).

www.ownersdirect.co.uk might be useful... it was a website like this I used.

plus read alot about which beaches to visit in places like this :

http://www.corsica-isula.com/downloads/Corsican_Beaches.pdf

Good luck

please also check Antalya, Alanya, Fethiye,Bodrum and Marmaris in Turkey. South side of Turkey is full of surprises with high quality and reasonable prices :)

have fun

Thanks again for all your help, much appreciated!

one more question, any special reason you went through Genoa and not Nice? seems like there's a faster ferry...

cheers,

d.

i think it was timings and availabilty...

have a look at departure times from both Nice, and Genoa... and also length of cruise...and destination port (there are two or three ports in Corsica)...and plan in accordance with where you will be staying "en Corse"... and obviously space availabilty on the boat.

c

Hi there

I work in Zurich and today i arrived in Crete

I think you should go for it ( was your first thought , first thought is always the right decision)

Its really worthy to see it and exept the nice beaches http://www.google.gr/search?q=elafonisi+crete+greece&hl=en&client=safari&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=XDtBUZHYEonJ0AXav4CoAg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=320&bih=416

There more things to feel in a place like Crete, such as the warm smiling people

I have leved 35 years hier before i move to Zurich so for any info and i mean everything you can ask me

Best Regards

Nenelaos

THE GOOD FOOD !!!! Cooked in the best olive oil in the world as the sience says

Snd of course the mountains and the sea ione 

Chia beach in Sardinia

A slice of the Caribbean a little closer to home, with towering dunes, crystalline waters flanked by juniper trees and traces of the ancient Phoenician city of Bithia, on which Chia now stands.

Several places on Cyprus. Has beautiful beaches and places to visit.

Crete is also very beautiful.

Come on!!! Seriously???

Not because I'm coming from Greece  but Greece has really really nice beaches

Creta Santorini Skopelos Chalkidiki... .... The list is endless!!!!

Thanks so much for all the info. Didn't expect so many replies two years later :)

In the meantime, we have been to Corsica (love love loved it!), the south of Spain, and Chalkidiki.

This time we are going to Kenya for a month, can't wait!

Have a great summer xox

Kenya??

Please tell me impressions!! When are you going to go there??

In two weeks woohoo :)

Oh nice!!

Well Enjoy it s much as you can and have fun !!!

I wish all the best!!

Paphos in Cyprus thats a dream place, just google it and they are friendly.

Thanks so much!

Plenty of great beaches also on Geneva lake if your beach vacation is over or not coming this year :)

please see an iphone app i just launched:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lake-geneva-beach-guide/id666030358?l=hu&ls=1&mt=8

All 114 beaches of the lake, pictures, webcams, beach descrition, water temperature etc. I hope you find it useful! Feel free to join us on FB as well!

https://www.facebook.com/BeachGuideLakeGeneva 

I appreciate your work. This is really a good app. I want to know more about the flexibility this app provides.