When to come

Apart from the sea water still cold for a swim, it is the ideal season from almost all points of view: days that are getting longer, the ideal temperature for walking, but above all the explosion of every form of life.

The Mediterranean flora exhibits the majority of blooms in this season, with the peak in May, particularly spectacular – also because they are much more difficult to see elsewhere – those on the beach dune. However, all the vegetation is at its peak, thanks to the rising temperatures and the good availability of water.

In spring, migratory birds from Africa south of the Sahara arrive almost all together. Some stop for a break, and then continue towards Northern Europe, but many stop in the Park to nest and reproduce, especially in the humid areas of the northern part and along the banks of the Ombrone.

Deer, roe deer and wolves also take advantage of the abundance of food to give birth to their young, while wild boars have already done so.

In this season many paths are closed due to the danger of fires, and almost all the others can only be explored with a guide. Apart from the early morning or evening, it can still be too hot to walk except along the Collelungo beach, accessible from Marina di Alberese or by cycling to the access under the Collelungo Tower.

For vegetation, summer is the most difficult time due to the heat and scarcity of water. For Mediterranean plants, this is what winter is elsewhere”, i.e. the season of vegetative rest. With some exceptions of course, such as the splendid flowering of sea lilies on Principina beach.

During the day the calls of the birds mix with the background sound of the cicadas, while the mammals stay still in the shade, and are only seen at dawn or dusk, especially where they can still find water.

When the temperatures drop, the days become ideal for walking again, also because all the paths reopen, and what’s more you can still swim because the sea retains the heat of summer for a long time.

Even the Mediterranean vegetation, from the second half of October, experiences a sort of “second spring” with new large blooms, visited – as well as by many other insects – by a second generation of butterflies.

Little by little, the birds that arrived in the spring leave to return to Africa, the migrants coming from Northern Europe return, and therefore the water birds that will spend the winter here always arrive from Northern Europe.

For some mammals, such as fallow deer, autumn is already mating season.

The days are getting shorter, the temperatures are dropping, but winter itself is the Park’s great surprise. The proximity of the sea and the microclimate with one of the highest numbers of sunny days in Italy make these places particularly accessible and pleasant even when other destinations are no longer so. Here you can always walk without problems, at an often ideal temperature, and on good days the view extends to the snow-capped mountains of distant Corsica.

Even the vegetation, almost entirely evergreen due to the dominance of the holm oak, contributes to making the landscapes of the Park very un-winter-like. Also because this is not the season of vegetative rest for Mediterranean plants.

Winter is ideal for birdwatching in the humid areas and on the large meadows around the Ombrone, where thousands of wild geese and cranes winter, and in such a quiet season many animals can also be spotted more easily, or at least at less uncomfortable.