I bet you can't really stay much closer to the beach in the Ostia. Functionality, freshness and the athmosphere of David's apartment was above our expectations, and we can totally recommend to catch this one. Visiting Rome from Ostia is easy (5 min walk to the train), quite fast (30-40 min) and last but not least very inexpensive (a single ticket only 1,50 euro). The beach is wide and has different kind of locations. The centre of Ostia (2 train stops) with lots of restaurants and smaller (yet interesting) stores. Above all, David was very kind and made his best to make our stay as comfortable as possible! :-)