Camping Village Viareggio — Hotel in Unione dei comuni della Versilia

Stayed here late September 2017. Stayed for six nights. The pitches are tight to get into and very small. The continental idea of regimented pitches is new to us as campers, having previously only camped in the UK . Maybe caravanners are more used to that, however, on this site caravans and their cars will not fit within one pitch. Big campervans are too long for one pitch. On the slightly bigger pitches that we found we were unable to use both awnings on our unit. I can’t imagine any of the big 8 man UK tents fitting the pitches at all, if they did there would be nowhere to park a car. There are no hedges or fences marking the pitches just poles, it looked like a car park when we drove in. No grass left, just sand. The facilities were spacious and spotless. They reminded us of ablution blocks on UK campsites 30 years ago. Plentiful free cold water for shower, washing communally and washing up. Toilets, showers, rows of sinks and washing up sinks all together. Toilets covered by a raised roof but no roofs on cubicles. Any hot showers were courtesy of tokens that, if you’re not lightening quick, stop before you finish washing. My husband found the showers too hot, the temperature was not adjustable. As soon as the tokens were accepted very hot water came out. Tokens were 2 for one Euro. The caravan / campervan chemical waste disposal point is in one of the cubicles inside the mens toilet block! There is a site shop but within a quarter mile walk there is a very welled stocked supermarket (closed on Sunday), bakery and ATM. There is a restaurant on site which is OK for pizza and pasta. I had an excellent seafood pizza the night we arrived. Being late in the season the site was almost full when we arrived. Half the site was closed off, the pool was covered and unusable. We were eaten alive by (silent) mosquitoes – thanks, possibly, to the open roofed facilities and our enforced proximity to them. It is also close to a road and a municipal childrens park that was very busy all weekend. HOWEVER within a miles (flat) walk there is a great beach that goes on for miles. There are restaurants along the beachfront. The town of Viareggio is also within walking distance – 2 miles (again flat). The town has a very long promenade with some very swish shops and restaurants. Annoyingly the pristine beach is all ‘reserved’ and fenced off. There is a train station and we went on a train to Pisa for a day trip. The day before our train trip a Scottish couple had their electric bicycles stolen from the train station, they had gone to Lucca to see the Rolling Stones in concert. Our biggest issue with this site is that the person in reception asked to see and retained my husbands passport on our arrival – I have no idea why, given that the UK is still in the EU. Even more unfathomable was my husbands willingness to hand it over. We discovered that she had not returned his passport when we left – don’t ask why - he didn’t find out until the next day (he had forgotten that he had given it to her), by which time we were on our way back and in France. He remembers her repeatedly saying to him that she ‘couldn’t find his documents’ when we checked out, we just wanted to get going. The site did not answer emails and when we eventually got them to answer their telephone they denied all knowledge of having the passport. Of course we needed his passport to re-enter the UK so had to do a mad dash detour to Marseille for an expensive temporary passport. Luckily (!) it was Friday and the British consulate was open, had it been the weekend – well it was stressful enough without contemplating an enforced extended stay. Overall I would not recommend this site. It is out-dated both with its facilities and its attitude to non-Italian visitors, the pitches are too small and close together. The staff – well, incompetent is the kindest descriptor……. Sadly it has put us off camping in...

Where to begin? The money grabbing practices including coin operated showers, the downright rude owners, or the bad state of the facilities?

This was hands down the most expensive campsite we visited in Italy, and completely not worth it. You have to pay for everything, and most things don't work. Simply showing them your ACSI card is not enough to prompt them to provide you with the 2 free shower coins you're entitled to. You have to ask, or as in our case, 4 times.

That's not enough though, as during our 2 night stay we found ourselves encountering 2 showers that accepted the coins, but didn't function. Even a shower that worked the previous day. When they do work, you get maybe 90 seconds of water, so you strip down before inserting the coin. So when the shower doesn't work, you have to get dressed, walk to the front desk, explain that the shower didn't work and ask for a replacement coin. The standard reply of “you're the only ones complaining” does not make this a more pleasant ritual.

We paid for 5 hours of WiFi, but only had a working signal for perhaps 15 minutes, so save yourself the trouble. The facilities looked okay on the surface, but they were actually quite nasty. I found black mold in several showers, some faucets didn't work, the only hot water available was through the coin operated showers, the toilets did not get cleaned often (skid marks stayed for over 24 hours, floors were dirty), etc.

Apart from the guy operating the market, not one representative so much as smiled. They all seemed terribly unhappy with the prospect of dealing with customers. Luckily that's a problem that will resolve itself if they continue down this road. We won't be coming...

Very nice campingsite. Devided in 3 sorts of campinggrounds. One of chaletcamping, one of camper / car camping and one of only tent camping. All places are overshadowed by high trees, which offers some nice protection against the hot sun. There is a small swimmingpool, campingmarket, a bar that offers various drinks and panini's and even a small restaurant. It all looks tidy and neight. There are enough showers and toilets, which are pretty hygienic for such a large place. Though the water in the showers is in between hot and cold. The price for camping even in high season, isn't extreme but you have to pay for using the hot showers. Well organised and good campingplace. It is located about 12 min walk from a nice beach. But most of the people go by bike. Do take some good chains or locks for your bike, it is pretty crowdy at the beach as everybody comes by bike.

The wifi which you pay around 5 euros for 10 hours is ok, but isn't the fastest to go around but don't depend on your cell phone, because 3G and the local area network don't have much signal around these parts. So you're lucky if have any signal at all.

Mostly italians, but also germans and the dutch stay here. So in all I would recommend this place if you want to go and see the place of Pisa and Lucca or just want to relax at the beach.They also have enough available places in the busy season.

It's a nice (family)camping. By the way, the location in goole, isn't quite right, you have to drive about 500mtr. straight on to find the camping, but you can follow the...