After the post The 10 most beautiful Ligurian beaches I had to write another one where I explain how you should behave on them 🙂 It sounds ridiculous but it is true. The Ligurian beaches (and also the Italian ones) are really very particular and it is worth to know what you should and should not do there. So let’s see their rules 🙂
The best places on the beach are close to the sea.
At the Ligurian beach you feel really very hot. And you always try to refresh you a little bit. You can do it! Close to sea-shore. There you can always find a gentle wind that makes you feel fantastic. It means that when you stay distant from the shore, you will feel really hot. That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised that the line close to the sea is always very busy 😉 What is more, during the day sand/gravel/rocks heat up … and it is almost impossible to walk on them barefoot. And when you stay close to the sea, you don’t have to walk too much.
Turn your shoes upside down.
It is connected with the first point. When you get off your shoes and leave them in the sun they become fiery! In this way you cannot move from your beach towel 😉 So remember, the first thing you do when you arrive on the beach is to turn your shoes upside down!
Sun protection – sun cream and a beach umbrella.
As you all know, too much sunbathing is not healthy for your skin. As almost everybody knows the sun in Italy is very strong and it is important to be careful with it. However, many of us don’t think about it until getting sunburned 😉 (As I did many times before 😉 ) So remember !!! The sun from 12.00 pm- 4.00 pm in Liguria is very strong. Even local, super tanned inhabitants prefer to stay in the shadow or at home during the hottest hours of the day. A good idea is to have a beach umbrella. You can hide under it during the hottest hours. Another extremely important thing is sun cream! Use it ALWAYS! The sun in Liguria scorches very fast!
Different moment of the day – different sunbathers.
The day on the beach can be divided into three parts:
8.00 am -11.30 am. This is the time of families with children and persons that avoid the strong sun. The beaches are quite calm, you find fewer persons and the cleaner sea.
11.30 am – 4.00 pm. The hours of the strongest sun. The families with children and the “morning sunbathers” go home. Some of them leave their beach towels or beach umbrellas (in this way they “book” their place for afternoon sunbathing 😉 ). Remain: fans of hot weather (however, almost everybody with beach umbrella) and tourists 😉 In general there are not many persons on the beach.
4.00 pm – 8.00 pm. The sun becomes lighter. The “morning sunbathers” come back and arrive also numerous teenagers. They never go to the beach in the morning. The teenagers love playing volleyball on the water edge. The risk you will be hit by a ball is quite high … What is more, in the afternoon the beaches become very crowded.
Different day of the week.
During weekends the Ligurian beaches are swarmed by tourists, weekend tourists, locals that don’t work during weekends and inhabitants of Genoa, Milan and Turin that have their second home here. In these days even the most isolated beach becomes full of people. HOWEVER, from Monday to Friday the situation is much better … even in high season.
Cocco Bello !!!
It is a very characteristic element of the Italian/Ligurian beaches. That are peddlers that sell coconuts on the beach! They walk along the beach and scream: “COCCO BELLO, COCCOOOO”. Very often they invent poems to encourage customers to buy a coconut. I really recommend you to try it! It is very fresh, ready to eat and costs only 1 €.
Peddlers with EVERYTHING.
Apart from coconuts peddlers (that are always Italian), you will see also numerous African and Asian peddlers that sell really everything!!! Books, clothes, bags, beach umbrellas, lighters, beach towels, air mattress, bracelets, sunglasses … everything you could need on the beach and you’ve forgotten to buy before coming there. They speak in many languages and are a part of Ligurian beach landscape. If you don’t want to buy anything it is enough you say NO and they stop insisting.
Rent a deck chair and a beach umbrella.
You don’t have to bring them with you. They are rent out in every private beach (20€ – 50€ per day) and in a majority of public beaches (5€-10€ per day). At the public beach you can also choose to rent only a sun umbrella or only a deck chair.
The Ligurian Sea is very salty.
Really! The first time when I swam in it I thought that the salt would burn out my eyes 🙂 My advice: if you are not used to a very salty sea, use goggles! And when you go out of water? You will be covered by the salt 🙂 I don’t care about this but if it annoyed you, you can take a shower with sweet water. It removes all salt from your body. The showers are free of charge.
Pebble beach.
In Liguria, you can find all types of beaches … from rocky, pebble and gravel to sandy (more info here). However, the most of them are the rocky and pebble beaches. They can be really comfortable (but you have to find an ergonomic rock). If the rocks are too hard, you can use a foam mattress. What is more, you don’t have problems with sand that sticks to everything (I hate it 🙂 )
WARNING!!! The stones and rocks on sea bottom are very often slippery. So it is a good idea to use plastic shoes for swimming.
Ok, with all that information you are ready to go to Ligurian beach!
Get fun!
