With many thanks to Nick Neve for sharing this with us for our combined benefits.

Paradise for Worlds 2013 – Marina di Grosseto
Harbour is closest end of town – club is far end

We flew from Stansted airport to Pisa and hired a car. The drive to Marina di Grosseto was 2 hours and the navigation simple: head South on the motorway, turn off at the first signpost for ‘Grosseto’ and follow the signs for ‘Marina’.

The club is at the North end of the village and the yacht marina at the South end. The distance between is a 15 minute walk (teenager pace). I was immediately taken with the place. The village is a ribbon development along the coast so almost everything is close to the beach. The offshore breeze carried an intoxicating pine scent from the forests inland and there are numerous beachfront restaurants and cafes. Despite being low season (October) it was clean, surprisingly warm, and with a beautiful wide pedestrian promenade.

We booked a room and stayed overnight, sleeping with the balcony window open. We weren’t troubled by mosquitos but did get up in the night to shut the window and turn on the aircon. The estate agent talked about August temperatures of 38C so I suspect sailors will need vast quantities of rehydration and that sun-glasses (sun hats?), sunblock and UV rashvests will be important.

We visited three estate agents. Each one knew about the Feva event and each mentioned a discounted rate. Each one had a variety of apartments, mostly 4, 5 or 6 bed. These are generally available for check in after 14:00 on Saturday with checkout by 11:00 on the following Saturday. We didn’t visit the campsite. The agents wanted a 35% deposit with booking, the remainder payable on arrival, and suggested we book in February. One also mentioned a €100 refundable damage deposit. The apartment rents included water and electricity but some excluded bed linen, which was available at a further €10 per person. Another apartment included linen and one also a mid-week cleaner and linen change.

We visited three different apartment blocks. All had air-conditioning, showers, washing machine (laundry), self-catering kitchens and a balcony. Prices quoted:

• €600 for 4 bed apartment, excluding linen
• €650 for 5 bed apartment, excluding linen

These in Via Firenze, near the centre of the village. From there it took my children 12 minutes to ‘stroll’ to the sailing club.

Another agent quoted, for a different apartment block:

• €700 for a 4 bed and €800 for a 6 bed, including linen and a cleaner.

Most apartments were quite spacious and I felt we could easily include extra children if we brought camp beds, though my own children felt they would want a ‘real bed’ if they were sailing hard all day.

The accommodation was typically 1 x double bedded room (camera matrimoniale), with sofa bed (single or double: divano letto matrimoniale is a double sofa bed) in the main room, and either a single-bedded room or a room with 2 (bunk) beds. One agent discussed putting an extra single bed in one of the rooms to help us accommodate numbers. The main room was generally a kitchen/diner with breakfast bar and a table.

I am currently investigating boat transport. We might put kit bags in the boats and then fly with Ryan Air. An alternative is to take the train: Eurostar (13:31) to Gare du Nord (16:47), evening meal in Paris, then a Thello sleeper from Paris Bercy (18:45) to Florence (07:13) and local trains to Grosseto. There are regular buses travelling the few kilometres from Grosseto to Marina di Grosseto. We travelled this way to Garda for the 2009 Europeans and it was a great journey. Good train information is available on www.seat61.com/Italy.htm

The town is (I believe) putting together a Feva package with special contact details which will be put on the Feva website via Golly Tucker. I feel it would be unfair to single out just the estate agents I happened to visit by chance, so I prefer that Feva parents wait for the official information. Rest assured there were countless holiday apartments and numerous ‘Agente Immobiliare’ offices offering places to rent.