The Venetian Riviera discovery guide

The Riviera exists for families, and it is extremely good at it: kilometres of shallow, gently shelving sand, lifeguards along the whole front, and an entire industry of water parks, playgrounds and children's clubs behind it.

Cavallino-Treporti is the open-air capital of Europe -- the greatest concentration of campsites and holiday villages on the continent, on a peninsula with the sea on one side and the lagoon on the other.

The decisive argument, though, is Venice. The boat from Punta Sabbioni reaches San Marco in around 35 minutes, and Burano and Murano are just as close. Nowhere else can you spend a morning in the Basilica and an afternoon on a beach.

Jesolo adds a nightlife and shopping scene -- Via Bafile is among the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe -- and Bibione pairs its beach with thermal waters. Eraclea Mare, backed by pine forest and the Laguna del Mort, is the quiet one.

June and early September are the sweet spot: warm sea, everything open, and far fewer people than the peak.

July and August are the peak in earnest, with Italian, German and Austrian holidays overlapping. Beaches, roads and restaurants are full, and prices are at their highest.

May and late September are pleasant and cheap, though the sea is cool and some businesses are closed.

Winter is largely shut. Jesolo has a well-known sand-nativity exhibition over Christmas, but otherwise this is a coast with the shutters down from November to April.

If you travel slowly: a week or two is the normal pattern, and the way to make it more than a beach holiday is to use the boat -- Venice, Burano, Torcello and Murano are all day trips from the same pier.

If you want the essentials: a day on the beach and a day in Venice. That is what the Riviera is for.

If you're after local character: the lagoon side of Cavallino-Treporti, where market gardens, fishing valleys and the old Venetian fortifications sit ten minutes behind the campsites.

If you want to go past the obvious: cycle. The whole coast is flat and threaded with cycle routes, and the ride along the lagoon edge from Punta Sabbioni through Treporti and Lio Piccolo is a different world from the seafront -- salt marsh, causeways, and almost nobody on it.

This coast is the Veneto's clearest case of tourism reshaping a landscape. The dune systems and coastal pine woods that once ran the whole length of it survive only in fragments -- at Cavallino, Eraclea Mare and Bibione -- and those fragments are fenced and protected for good reason. Stay off the dunes; they are what holds the beach in place.

Seasonality is the other issue. Populations here multiply tenfold in July and August, and the water, waste and traffic systems run at their limits. June and September are better for the coast and better for the visitor.

Several resorts have worked hard on this: Bibione was the first Italian beach town to restrict smoking on the sand, and Blue Flag certification is held along much of the coast.

Cavallino's lagoon side still grows vegetables -- its asparagus and artichokes are genuinely local produce, not a marketing line -- and buying them supports the last farming on the peninsula.

What a visitor actually spends on the Venetian Riviera