La Spezia with children: the advantage is precisely that it is not a village

Guides recommend the Cinque Terre villages to parents. Then you arrive with a pushchair and discover they are built on a cliff, that the streets are stairs, that the trains in August are packed and that the nearest supermarket is two villages away.

La Spezia solves all of that for one reason, and it is the reason it usually gets looked down on: it is not a village, it is an ordinary city.

What that means in practice

The centre is flat and laid out on a grid, built quickly in the nineteenth century for people coming to work. There is not a staircase, there are no uphill alleys, and the main street — Via del Prione — is pedestrian from end to end.

Then there are the things that count with children and that nobody puts in guides: pharmacies, supermarkets, an emergency room, shops open in September too. A village of three hundred people has none of them, and when you need them you need them.

The museum that works: the one with ships

The Naval Technical Museum, beside the arsenal, is the thing to do first.

Children need no explanation: they are ships, models of ships, instruments for making ships go. And there is a true story underneath, which older ones can be told in one sentence — this city exists because in 1869 the Navy's arsenal was put here, and in eighty years the population went from fifteen thousand to a hundred and twenty-three thousand.

A city that multiplied by eight because the fleet arrived is an idea that lands at any age.

The castle, which is a climb but is a castle

Castello San Giorgio stands on the Poggio hill and you get there uphill — the only real slope of the day. In exchange it is a thirteenth-century castle with the Archaeological Museum inside, and from the top you see the whole gulf.

The pitch that works: it is the oldest thing in the city, six hundred years older than everything below it.

The sea, which here is an excursion and not a beach

This has to be said plainly because it is the usual cause of a day gone wrong: there are no beaches in the city of La Spezia. The waterfront is port and arsenal.

With children that means swimming is an outing: you take a boat or a bus and go to Lerici or across the gulf. It is not a problem — the boat is the most fun part of the day in itself — but it should be planned rather than discovered in the morning. The full picture is in beaches and sea at La Spezia.

The Cinque Terre with children: an honest thing to say

La Spezia is the best base for the Cinque Terre, and precisely for that reason the thing guides do not say is worth saying: with small children the Cinque Terre in high season are hard work. Packed trains, narrow platforms, vertical villages, queues.

Sleeping in La Spezia makes it manageable because you can decide in the morning, come back when you like, and have a base with services. How the trains work is in Cinque Terre by train.

If the children are small, the calmer alternative is across the water: Lerici has a beach and no stairs.

How the day fits together

1. Morning: the Naval Technical Museum, while attention is fresh.
2. Midday: Via del Prione on foot, pedestrian and traffic-free, and the climb to the castle if you fancy it.
3. Afternoon: the boat, which moves you and entertains at the same time.

The rest of the city is in what to see in La Spezia, and how to get here in getting to La Spezia.

What is NOT here

• No beach in the city. It is what catches out anyone who did not read first.
• No aquarium and no theme park. The naval museum is a museum, not an attraction.
• The castle is uphill. A pushchair manages it, but it is the only real gradient in town.

Frequently asked questions

Is La Spezia suitable for children?

Yes, for a practical reason: it is a flat city on a grid, with a pedestrian main street and with pharmacies, supermarkets and services the villages do not have. It is the opposite of the Cinque Terre towns, which are vertical.

What can you do at La Spezia with children?

The Naval Technical Museum beside the arsenal, the thirteenth-century Castello San Giorgio with the Archaeological Museum, and the pedestrian walk along Via del Prione. For the sea you need a boat or a bus.

Can you get around La Spezia with a pushchair?

Yes: the centre is flat and regular, and Via del Prione is pedestrian. The only real climb is the one to the castle, on the Poggio hill.

Is La Spezia a good base with children for visiting the Cinque Terre?

Yes, and it is the best reason to choose it: you leave by train from the station in town, come back when you like, and have a base with every service. With small children, in high season, the Cinque Terre are hard work and being able to return early matters.

Are there beaches for children at La Spezia?

Not in the city: the waterfront is port and arsenal. The gulf's beaches are reached by boat or bus, and with small children the Lerici shore is the simplest.