Sperlonga Beach

After living in Rome for 6 weeks, Ryan and I decided enough was enough - it was time to get out of the house. We've been so busy every weekend getting things for the house, and getting our life set up here, that we felt like we didn't have the time to go exploring. Let alone have the energy to figure out where to go and how to get there. The other American families have lived here longer than us, and therefore have done more exploring - so we turned to them for help as to what to do and where to go. We talked about doing a few different things, but decided on going to the beach. One, it's starting to warm up, and two, now is a good time to go because once it's summer time the beaches are jam packed full of people. Ryan hates going to the beach, but since he loves me so much, he agreed to it. Now, Rome is on the coast, so there are beaches very close by - but not all beaches are created equally, and we chose one a little far away. Plus, this is Europe and nude beaches are a real thing. We wanted to go to a nice beach that we could stay at all day, the kids could play, and was family friendly. The Wood's family found out about Sperlonga Beach from some Italians that work on the temple, and recommended it to us. I made sure to purchase beach towels and toys, water bottles and snacks,so Saturday morning all we had to to was eat breakfast and were out the door. The kids were so excited, but 20 minutes into our 2 hour drive were already asking if we were at the beach yet! Thank goodness for Google Maps, or we may have never made it to where we wanted to go. I guess Sperlonga has a few beaches, but we wanted the one the locals go to - not the touristy beach. The great thing in Italy is you can rent a cabana for the day.

It has a shade, 2 beach loungers, a chair and provides showers and bathrooms, all for 20 euros a day. We loved it because it meant we didn't have to buy or carry all that stuff with us. Worth every penny. All along the beach there are sections of rows of cabanas- each owned individually. There are spaces in between each section of cabanas - that's considered the public beach. The nice thing is, each little section of cabanas is considered a private beach for those who rent the cabanas - and only those who are using the cabanas can use the beach in front of it. Like I said, we wanted to go before the summer, when EVERYONE goes to the beach - so yesterday it was not crowded at all. The kids played in the water (it was a bit cold for me) dug in the sand, collected sea shells, tried to ride the waves and built sand castles. They had not been to a beach in 2 years, and have asked about it every summer. Needless to say - they did not waste one minute of the time there. Ryan spent most of the day under the shade of the cabana reading his book and I enjoyed watching the kids play. It was a perfect day.