Finale Ligure, Italy

Our first stop in Italy was a really lovely typical Italian campsite at Finale Ligure. II Villaggio di Giuelle (ACSI site). It was a 20-minute walk to the village shops and seafront. The site had tents and smaller camper vans pitched next to the bigger motorhomes which gave the site a lovely comfortable, cosy feel. Some of the sites lately have been mainly motorhomes and caravans who tend to stay in the vans a lot. Having the smaller vehicles and tents meant that they were outside cooking and sitting chatting more. The pitches were grass too which was so nice because a lot of the sites recently have been gravel pitches. Grass pitches were something we had missed.

We enjoyed sitting outside Rosie listening to the birds and looking around at the surrounding mountains. Also, there is more of a community feel with the tents and smaller campers around even though they are all different nationalities. There were quite a lot of orange and lemon trees on the site so when it was quiet one morning we knocked a few down with a broom to eat and use in our drinks.

The swimming pool on the site was massive, in fact, it was an Olympic size pool with plenty of sunbeds available on different levels. Next to the pool was a really nice bar and restaurant and a small shop selling essentials. Although it was a campsite around the pool and bar area were apartments which were unusual but nice.

One thing I did find strange at this site though was that they gave you an armband when you booked in and took your credit card details so anything you bought at the shop was credited to the armband and taken off your card at the end of the stay. This was the only way you could pay as they didn’t accept cash in the shop or for the wifi which cost 3 euros per day.

The toilet block was spotlessly clean. There were a few continental toilets (hole in the floor type) but there were plenty of normal ones too.

This is another site we would definitely like to stay on again and would recommend.

We took a walk outside the site the next day not really expecting to find too much other than countryside but after about 15-20 minutes we came into an old village with lots of little shops, bars and restaurants. Just a little further on we found ourselves on the seafront. We sat in a beach cafe drinking coffee and enjoying the sun it was so peaceful there as being a weekday out of season it was very quiet.

Finale Ligure is known for its white sand beaches and its views. It is located directly adjacent to the Rock of Caprazoppa, a steep limestone mountain on the southwest, and much of the town extends uphill slopes. The boardwalk is lined with palm trees.

The town of Finale Ligure is nominally divided into three “boroughs”, Finale Ligure Marina is the main seaside port of the town, most frequented by tourists, while Finale Pia is the traditional centre of the town, where a Benedictine abbey still stands. Finalborgo, the third borough and located further inland, consists of an old walled medieval town.

The town is surrounded by mountains of up to 1380 metres whose craggy foothills end in the blue mediterranean sea.