Why now
Good time in May: 21°C days, 14 rainy days, sea 19°C.
The Conero beaches fill completely in the school holidays, with car parks closed by mid-morning; in June and September the water is warm and the paths are empty. The Marche hill towns behind are a year-round proposition with almost no foreign visitors.
Best months here: June, July, September. May is not one of them — the label above measures the month against a fixed bar, not against the rest of the year here. Daytime highs, sea temperature and rainy days from three years of Open-Meteo reanalysis; a rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain, which is the WMO threshold and not the same as "it drizzled".
The place
Ancona is a ferry port on a promontory, a working city with a Greek foundation, a Trajan arch and a cathedral on the headland that most people pass on the way to Greece or Croatia. The reason to stop is the Conero, the one stretch of cliffs on the Adriatic between Trieste and the Gargano, with white pebble beaches reached by path or boat. It suits people who want the sea without a resort strip.
What you can do
- 01Walk the path from Sirolo down to the Due Sorelle beach, or take the boat from Numana for the view of the twin stacks.
- 02Climb to the Cattedrale di San Ciriaco on the Guasco hill for the harbour and the Trajan arch below.
- 03Eat brodetto all'anconetana, the thirteen-fish stew, and stoccafisso all'anconetana in a trattoria near the port.
- 04Spend a morning at Portonovo's bay, with the Romanesque church of Santa Maria in the trees and the Napoleonic fort.
- 05See the Museo Archeologico Nazionale delle Marche in Palazzo Ferretti for the Picene bronzes.
Where to stay · neighbourhoods
For the sea, stay in Sirolo or Portonovo; for the city, around Piazza del Plebiscito. The port area near the ferry terminal is for departures only.
Unusual things
- ◦The grotte del Passetto, caves cut into the cliff by fishermen and painted in bright colours, still used as boat sheds.
- ◦The Lazzaretto, Vanvitelli's pentagonal quarantine island in the port, open for exhibitions.
- ◦The abbey of San Pietro on Monte Conero, a Romanesque church at the top of the hill on the walking trails.
Day trips
Flight options
Routes come from OpenFlights (historical) and a 2026 route reference compiled from public timetables. Durations are the published schedule where we have it, otherwise a block-time model fitted on measured nonstop flights. Verify schedules with the airline before booking.
Entry requirements · IT passport
Source: passport-index-data, March 2026 (coarse indicator), covering 258 of our 268 destinations for each of 199 passports. Always confirm with the destination's official site.
Airports
Distances are centre to airport derived · nonstop counts are our route reference for 2026, not every flight that exists.
Local transport
- Airport to city
- Bus, 30 min, €5
- Car needed?
- Recommended for most of what is worth seeing
- Getting around
- Ancona-Falconara airport is about 20 minutes away by bus or train. The Conero is a 30-minute drive south, with summer buses from the station; a car makes the hill towns possible.
- Clock
- 1 hour ahead of London (Europe/Rome) derived
- Daylight
- 14.7 hours of daylight in May · sunrise 05:42, sunset 20:22 derived
- Currency
- EUR
Alternatives at a similar price
Whole trip per person for 4 days from London in May, then the flight time; estimates, like the total above.
Casablanca
Tenerife
Granada
Cyprus
Gran Canaria
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