It is not summer without the sea and without sunbathing, but to each enjoy their own patch of sun in the midst of a minimal (well-deserved) comfort, lying on a deckchair or sunbed with the colorful skyline of umbrellas cutting the line of the sea in front of you, you will have to be careful. The basic rates (daily, weekly, seasonal are the parameters sampled for our survey in the establishments along the Tuscan coast, based on the prices published on their sites or reported by the managers) oscillate between minimum and maximum prices which vary based on the services offered and to the period, low or high season: and they can make a difference to the pockets of beachgoers. But it is above all the services and catering that make the difference.
Beach resorts are keen to underline that rates have not particularly increased since the Covid era. An umbrella with two deckchairs (some establishments “officially” also include a sunbed, or prefer the deckchair plus sunbed formula) can cost for a day from a minimum of 15-20 euros to a maximum of 60: The price is influenced by the location in which the bathroom is located and, indeed, the services offered within the establishment.
From the boundless beaches of the Maremma to those of Versilia: the onslaught of tourists has begun anyway, and as for bookings, the first were customers who opted for the seasonal pass: mostly local people or owners of second homes by the sea. An army of people who will constantly move during the summer, on red-sticker weekends and at the end of weeks and fortnights. With 397 kilometers of coastline, Tuscany is the second region in Italy for the number of beach establishments: over nine hundred (914 to be exact, according to the Mondo bathing portal). Similar situations are encountered in every locality on the coast. For example «in Lido and Versilia – he explains Marco Daddio, president of the Lido di Camaiore beach association – the prices of the bathrooms are standardized: between 25 and 40 euros per day. For just the umbrella with two deckchairs you can find it for twenty euros, if you add a sunbed then the rate varies between 25 and 35. The basic seasonal rate is around 1,500. Since the pandemic, rates have not been adjusted, except in those beach establishments where new swimming pools have been built or other investments have been made. Obviously the beach rates increase if specific services are requested, such as terry towels or a cabin with hot water.”
Tailor-made packages
In several places on the coast, there are beach establishments which, for bookings that go beyond the daily basis, prefer to create ad hoc packages for the customer. As happens in Viareggio. «Here, rather than publishing prices on the website or Facebook page, it is traditional to call or email the bathroom to find out about prices and conditions – he explains Tommaso Magnani, president of the Viareggio seaside association –. Depending on the duration of the booking there are various discount formulas. Here we like to make estimates tailor-made for the customer. What if prices have increased? Compared to last year only small adjustments. And then in any case the price you pay in the bathroom varies depending on the services that are requested. In view of the auctions according to the Bolkestein directive, however, I think that prices will increase in general, because if a beach resort wants to participate in the auction, to be competitive and win it, it will have to add services, and this will increase prices for the customer. It will also be a problem for the most popular locations, such as those in the Livorno area. This is what will happen, even if it is a paradox because in reality already now, with the current offer, a customer can choose which one is best for him.”
The curiosity
Among the variables that can increase the expense of a day, a week or a season at the seaside, you can really indulge yourself. They range from a subscription to use the swimming pool to a subscription for the hydromassage in the Jacuzzi tub: ten euros per person for those who want to enjoy it all to themselves for a day, four euros if four people fit into the tub.
Dear restaurants
However, what can cost a lot is to treat yourself, during your day at the seaside, to a lunch in the restaurant in the bathroom. There, the costs, the beach resorts themselves confirm, have indeed increased, following the surge in raw materials and inflation. «Today a kilo of clams costs between 18 and 19 euros, five years ago you paid ten – Daddio always explains -. And on sugary non-alcoholic drinks we will soon also have to deal with the sugar tax that the government wants to introduce”, he underlines, referring to the plan to tax this type of drink to limit its consumption (those who administer them will have to pay 5 cents per litre, which will become 10 in 2026). «The fact – continues Daddio – is that the management of restaurants in beach establishments is changing. People’s spending capacity has reduced and often those who go to the seaside, even to a beach resort, bring food from home. And so, we end up working much more with the beach than with the restaurant; and the bar, where you go to get a drink, a coffee or an ice cream, works more than the restaurant.”
