When we first started planning our trip to Elba with kids, we knew very little about this Italian island beyond the fact that it looked like a great beach destination for families. It turns out this beautiful Italian island is well worth considering for an Elba family holiday, especially if your family likes a mix of beaches, easy hikes, bike rides and small-town exploring..
Elba, also known as Isola d’Elba, is the third largest island in Italy and sits just off the coast of Tuscany. It’s best known for its beautiful beaches, clear water and connection to Napoleon Bonaparte, who was exiled here. We had somehow missed that little piece of history before our trip, but it added an interesting layer to our time exploring Portoferraio with kids.
We included Elba in our list of the best beach destinations for families for good reason. It gave us the relaxed Italian island feel we were hoping for, but with enough family-friendly things to do that we didn’t feel like we were only spending a week at the beach. We rented bikes, explored the historic streets of Portoferraio, hiked with our kids, visited several beaches near Portoferraio and enjoyed having a slower week built into our Italy itinerary.
That said, Elba does take a bit of extra planning. We had to figure out how to get from Rome to Elba by train and ferry, where to stay on Elba with kids and whether we could get around without a car. In this guide, I’ll share what worked well for our family, and the best things to do on Elba with kids if you’re planning your own family trip to this beautiful Italian island.
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Still working on your family trip to Italy? Start with our 4-week Italy itinerary with kids, then use our suggestions to adapt it into a 2-week or 10-day Italy itinerary for families.
How to Get to Elba from Rome by Train and Ferry
It is quite easy to get to Elba from Rome by train and ferry.
From Roma Termini in Rome, we took a beautiful 3-hour train ride through the Italian countryside to Campiglia Marittima. From here, we took a short 30-minute train ride from Campiglia Marittima to the ferry terminal in Piombino Marittima.
Rome to Piombino Marittima Train Tickets
To get from Piombino Marittima to Portoferraio, Elba you can choose between several ferry companies. We chose to use Moby, which ended up having an excellent play area for our kids.
Browse ferry tickets from Piombino Marittima to Portoferraio
Where to Stay on Elba with Kids
We chose to stay in Portoferraio on Isola d’Elba with our kids as it was very convenient. Not only is it the biggest town on the island, but it was easy to get to-and-from the Elba ferry terminal.
We found a beautiful Portoferraio vacation home rental just outside of the main part of town. It was in a quiet area with easy access to beaches, town and the grocery store. We didn’t realize it until we arrived, but we were also right around the corner from a great little playground for the kids.
Our neighbour in Portoferraio was an Italian man who was wonderful to our kids. Not only did he bring them food from his garden, but he also gave our daughter a rose, which as you can see, she was thrilled about!
Visiting Elba with kids, it was nice to have the convenience of a large grocery store in Portoferraio. Plus, with nearby beaches, hiking and an interesting historic town centre, there was plenty to do in Portoferraio with kids.
If you would prefer a family-friendly Elba hotel for your trip, we personally use and recommend using Booking as their Top Picks for Families search filter makes it easy to find good family-friendly accommodation.
Things to do on Elba with Kids
The Island of Elba is an outdoor paradise. With rolling hills and the Mediterranean Sea never far from sight, you’ll love exploring all that Elba has to offer. We spent our week in Elba with kids biking, hiking and relaxing on its beautiful beaches. Here are some of our favorite kid-friendly activities on Elba:
Biking Elba Island with Kids
Instead of getting a rental car on our Elba family holiday, we chose to get around the island on rental bikes.
As the Elba ferry approached Portoferraio, we were surprised to see how big the hills on the island were! We quickly realized we probably weren’t going to bike to the far corners of Elba Island.
We had hoped to do more cycling on Elba, but we underestimated the size of the hills on the island, and therefore the time required to bike between places. With a week of hiking in Cinque Terre ahead of us, spending some lazy afternoons on the beautiful Elba beaches started to sound pretty good!
We used our bikes to get groceries and to explore the historical town center, plus we found these two really enjoyable bike rides near Portoferraio:
Bike from Portoferraio to Capo d’Enfola
Capo d’Enfola, famous for its ancient tuna fishing port, is a peak that is joined by a small strip of land to the rest of the island of Elba. Though there are several Elba beaches nearby, our plan was to bike from our apartment, then enjoy the popular hike to the top of Capo d’Enfola.
The bike ride from Portoferraio to Capo d’Enfola was approximately 5 km / 3.1 miles along a country road. Early in the morning the traffic was light, but the road did have several curves and a few big hills, so keeping to the side was important.
A few of the hills were hard work on our rental bikes, but it was worth it for the views of the Mediterranean Sea and the beautiful Elba countryside.
Bike from Portoferraio to Bagnaia
Our second Elba bike ride took us 11 km / 6.8 miles from Portoferraio to Bagnaia, a charming seaside town across the bay.
We decided to cycle to Bagnaia as the bike route looked reasonably easy. Even though we never got higher than 50 m (164 feet) above sea level, we still had to take some rest breaks along the way.
Most of our bike ride to Bagnaia was along a road, which initially made us nervous with our kids in bike seats on the back. Thankfully, Italian drivers are courteous and we never really felt in danger.
The scenery along our family bike ride to Bagnaia was beautiful, with many vineyards, ocean views and several rows of trees towering overhead lining the road.
Bagnaia was an easy stop with kids because the area we visited was pedestrian-only. This allowed our the kids, especially our toddler, to run around without worry. The Bagnaia beach wasn’t that impressive compared to some of the nicer beaches on the Island of Elba.
We rewarded the kids with some play time at the Bagnaia playground. Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with some cappuccinos and croissants at a waterfront Bagnaia cafe before conquering the hills on the return bike ride to Portoferraio.
Hiking Elba with Kids
Between cycling around Elba and playing at the kid-friendly Elba beaches, we didn’t have much time left over for hiking. But we love hiking with our kids, and the Island of Elba is so beautiful that we simply had to do a few good hikes on Elba with our kids.
Hike Capo d’Enfola
Hiking Capo d’Enfola was the second part of our Elba biking & hiking adventure. This short kid-friendly Elba hike can easily be done with small children.
Along the way to the peak of Capo d’Enfola we were treated to great views of the sea and the countryside. Our April family holiday to Elba meant plenty of spring flowers along the path adding to the beauty of the Mediterranean bush and sea views.
Near the top, we found remnants of WWII defence structures to explore. Finally, as you approach the top of Capo d’Enfola, there is a path which circles the summit of the hill. There were some decent views in spots, but it was mostly treed in along this path.
The Capo d’Enfola hike is approximately 5 km / 3.1 miles return. Our 3-year-old walked most of the way up, with some complaining, but eventually ended up on my shoulders. As hiking with kids sometimes goes, we cut the hike short when our little guy had clearly had enough.
Before you head out, read our best tips for hiking with kids and see what we actually pack in our guide to hiking gear for kids.
Best Beaches on Elba with Kids
We knew the weather in Elba in April wouldn’t be perfect for beach time, but we had a great time anyway. Visiting the uncrowded beaches on Elba with our kids was one of the highlights of our family vacation!
As is common around parts of Europe, most beaches on Elba are not sand beaches, they are covered with pebbles of various sizes. Although they are hard to walk on without water shoes, they are great for kids who like to throw rocks in the water or search for ones with interesting colours.
As an added bonus, each of the Elba beaches we visited with kids was within walking distance of our Portoferraio apartment!
Sottobomba Beach
You reach the stunning Sottobomba Beach by walking down a steep staircase. There’s not a lot of distance between the towering cliffs and the water but the beach is long.
At 4 pm on a sunny April afternoon, the beach was near empty. The mix of sand and pebbles made it hard to walk on without shoes, but that’s a small price to pay for such a beautiful destination.
Capo Bianco Beach
Capo Bianco Beach is deeper and wider than Sottobomba Beach and is one of the most popular beaches near Portoferraio.
Capo Bianco Beach is filled with beautiful small white rocks with blue specks. These rocks are smooth and easy to walk on.
Seccione Beach
Seccione Beach was a bit hard to find, but we eventually found a set of stairs further down the highway than we had thought it should be. We didn’t actually see any signs for the beach, so you need to look for cars parked on the side of the road and a few visible steps leading down to the beach.
It’s a long way down from the road to Seccione Beach, with approximately 120 steps. It’s nice and secluded with only a few other people on the beach.
Seccione Beach has patches of actual sand and bigger rocks, making it a little harder to walk on in places. This Elba beach has a beautiful setting with a towering rock rising above the east side of the beach.
Padulella Beach
The Padulella Beach is right around the corner from Capo Bianco Beach and is one of the most popular Island of Elba beaches.
Padulella is a small beach, making it feel more crowded than the other Elba beaches. We recommend bringing water shoes as the beach has some larger rocks mixed with small patches of actual sand.
The water at Padulella Beach had small waves, but it got deeper faster than the other beaches. It was still okay for the kids to go in a little bit, but we watched them closely.
The nicest thing about Padulella Beach was the varying colors in the water and the really nice view of Forte Falcone across the water in Portoferraio.
Portoferraio Historic Town Center
On our last day on the Island of Elba, the weather had turned a bit chilly and we had to return our rental bikes. It was the perfect opportunity to go into Portoferraio and spend some time exploring the historic town center.
Portoferraio’s U-shaped harbour was stunning, filled with sailboats moored all around and colorful buildings providing an interesting background.
We wandered through the town centre to Piazza della Repubblica then up the stairs to the Napoleonic Mills House.
The long set of stairs was probably the highlight for the kids though it took some encouragement to get our toddler to keep going.
The medieval part of Portoferraio, with its city walls, forts and narrow streets, is a lot of fun to explore with kids. You can simply wander and see where you end up.
After a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable week on the Island of Elba, we took an early morning ferry back to the mainland to head to the next destination on our Italy itinerary with kids.
Follow Along on our Family Trip to Italy
We hope you enjoyed reading about our Elba family holiday, we had an excellent time! If you’d like to follow along on our month-long family trip to Italy, we arrived in Elba after a week in Rome with kids. After Elba, our next stop was Cinque Terre with kids, where we enjoyed some of the most beautiful family hikes we’ve ever done.
Our Travel Journal for Kids
Based on our family travels, our kids helped us design this Travel Journal for Active Kids! This engaging travel journal encourages kids to document their adventures, spark creativity, and stay entertained on the go – grab yours now on Amazon!
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