|
I'm trying to plan a two-ish week trip to Italy  with my wife for May-June of 2018.We're looking to see Venice, Florence, Rome and if time permits, finish the trip with a stay along the Amalfi coast. Right now I'm mentally tallying 2 days for Venice, 3 for Florence and 3.5 (after accounting for morning travel) for Rome. However we were thinking of using Florence as a base to make day trips to Cinque Terre and villages in Tuscany. So to my questions: 1. Should I stick with just trying to see the major cities, or does 12-16 days (depending on Amalfi) give me plenty of time to see the major spots and take day trips? If anyone has done "the big 3" in Italy and would like to share their experiences or itineraries, I would be very appreciative. 2. Does Cinque Terre deserve an overnight stay, or can the towns be seen and appreciated in a day trip from Florence?....If time or money becomes an issue, would you recommend seeing Cinque Terre or Amalfi? 3. Has anyone done a trip through Tuscany, and if so do you have recommendations for an itinerary or an appropriate amount of time one should devote to the area? Would we be better off packing up from Florence and spending an overnight in Tuscany before heading to Rome? (I plan on making use of an overnight bag to make packing and unpacking slightly easier, but lugging a giant suitcase to 5+ hotels sounds daunting) 4. Any areas in Italy or sites that are just not worth the time and hassle, despite popularity? 5. Is it worth getting a car while in the Florence area to explore Tuscany? 6. Hotel recommendations in Amalfi? (I'm okay dropping some extra coin in Amalfi if the place is next-level awesome...or is that just a stupid waste of money?) I didn't see any threads dedicated specifically to Italy, so I started this one. I look forward to hearing about people previous trips, their tips and any and all recommendations. TIA
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2018 20:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 18, 2024 09:34 |
|
|
STOPpre posted:I'm trying to plan a two-ish week trip to Italy I've spent a lot of time in Italy, mostly all over the north, but also to most of the touristy areas further down except for the islands. 1. Depends on how much you like museums. Although all of Italy is an open-air museum, if you don't like inside-building-look-at-paintings-n-poo poo museums that cuts off a lot of time, especially in Florence and Venice. (Rome's only super famous painting-and-artifact museum of note that I can think of is the Vatican museum and I've spent probably 3 weeks in Rome all together.) 3.5 days in Rome is barely enough to cover the super most famous open-air sites. Venice 2 days is OK. Florence IME 1 day is enough to walk around before you say gently caress it and want to jump into the river to avoid zombie tours of 500 people with selfie sticks listening to someone yammer about the Medici. YMMV. 2. Depends how much you hate crowds. All of the towns are jam packed to the walls during the day and only relatively busy at night. Vernazza is the most crowded town. Monterosso is probably the most stereotypically generic (and also largest). I'd love Cinque Terre if there were like 20% as many people there. The hiking trail between Riomaggiore and Vernazza is nice. Keep in mind that the rest of the main hiking trail, from Vernazza on south, has been out of service for several years since a landslide, as the Italians suck at maintaining anything including famous hiking trails in a major tourist site. 3. Yes. Since you're on a relatively limited time probably 2-3 days would be plenty. After Siena, Volterra is probably the biggest town of note, and San Gimignano is the most famous and tourist swarmed. If you hate tourists, Colle di Val d'Elsa is interesting and authentically Italian. If you don't mind tourist hotspots, San Gimignano, Volterra, Montepulciano, and Montalcino would be the more generally famous sites. Internationally famous sites are in better repair, but less authentic, so it's a tossup of what your tastes are. You will want a rental car, ideally one with a one-way dropoff so you don't need to double back to Florence, not sure what the fees are on that though. Be careful to avoid ZTLs (no-drive zones for non-locals) as they are often poorly signed and you will get a huge fine if you enter one accidentally. In big cities like Florence and probably Siena they are automated with cameras, while in smaller towns like Volterra the ZTLs are managed by cops who are probably not looking or paying attention. Still, try not to drive through them even in small towns, and DEFINITELY don't park in one, but if you do then don't panic, just try and get out ASAP. 4. Florence. Seriously it's such a shithole unless you've really gotta see David and 50000000000 tourists every goddamn where. Venice is like that too, but IMO Venice is also super unique, whereas Florence is a lot more generic architecturally unless you care specifically about Florentine history. 5. Yes if you want to discover the countryside. See #3. If you want to do wine tours, e.g. through Chianti, probably you don't want a car and probably want to do an organized bus day trip from Florence. I don't drink wine so don't have any tips there really. 6. Stay in Sorrento or Positano. IMO it is worth it in Amalfi to stay in one of the touristy cities rather than in one of the more off-the-beaten-path towns. IMO Amalfi is like Cinque Terre but somewhat less overrun by people selling you olive bottles shaped like Italy. Yes, every other shop is selling olive bottles shaped like Italy in Positano, but every shop is selling olive bottles shaped like Italy in Cinque Terre. I'm not sure I would recommend doing both in the same trip, as they have almost the same ambiance, view, and setting. If I went to Cinque Terre I'd use the Amalfi time in Naples instead. Naples is great, and is easily Italy's most underrated city.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2018 14:28
|
|
|
Here's my itinerary from several years ago in case it's useful. This was our first time in Italy. We may have skipped/added particular sights depending on what we were feeling that day, but it's hard to remember. For what it's worth, Cinque Terre was pretty empty when we visited, but it wasn't prime tourist season and only one trail was open. I recall it was too far from Florence for a day trip. Rome Day 1 Train: Airport -> Rome Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Capitol Hill Day 2 Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica Day 3 Colosseum, Forum, Palatine Hill, Capitoline Museum Borghese Gallery, Park, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Capitol Hill Day 4 Pompeii Florence Day 5 Train: Rome -> Florence Uffizi Gallery, Duomo, Duomo Museum, Bargello Day 6 Accademia, Museum of San Marco, Medici Chapels, Central Market Day 7 Pisa Cinque Terre Day 8 Train: Florence -> Vernazza Hike: Vernazza -> Monterosso Ferry: Monterosso -> Vernazza Day 9 Train: Vernazza -> Riomaggiore Ferry: Riomaggiore -> Manarola Train: Manarola -> Corniglia Train: Corniglia -> Vernazza Bologna Day 10 Train: Vernazza -> Bologna Santo Stefano church cluster, Basilica de San Petronio Verona Day 11 Train: Bologna -> Verona Walk the Piazza Bra and Piazza Erbe, Duomo Venice Day 12 Train: Verona -> Venice St Mark’s Square and Cathedral Day 13 Explore Day 14 Bus: Venice -> Airport
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2018 23:27
|
|
|
I've been to Cinque Terre in August and in May, and both times specifically Vernazza was jam-packed with tourists from about 9am->3/4pm. After that it tends to quiet down a lot. Corniglia is also particularly MUCH quieter, because it's a long (vertical 150m+?) walk from the train station to the town so tour groups of retirees don't go there. There must be some guidebook that says "get to cinque terre as early in the morning as possible to avoid the crowds", which results in all the crowds arriving early in the morning, and then by mid-afternoon it's largely cleared out because there's really not that much to do in Cinque Terre and there are only two distinctly different types of town there (the seaside ones like Vernazza and the mountainside ones like Corniglia). There are also a bunch of other little towns that don't officially make it into the "five" of cinque terre for unclear reasons, even though they're in the park. They're also far less touristy. We spent a couple hours in Volastra, and even in mid-August it was super quiet and there were only Italian speakers there. We drove, but it'd be easy to get to from Manarola if you're reasonably in shape. I would not under any circumstance recommend driving to Cinque Terre though. The train is a million times faster. I don't mind crowded touristy places, but there's something about large guided tour groups of fifty 16 year olds or fifty 90 year olds that really grinds my gears. Probably because they all bunch up in exactly the same spot to listen to someone give a history lesson that they will go in one ear and out the other and you have to shove your way through, whereas 50 individual 90 year olds would spread out more naturally? I dunno. Also Vernazza is by far the worst town for that since it's the most picturesque and it's the town on every photo when you look up "Cinque Terre". Seriously, nearly 100% of all photos of "Cinque Terre" on Google image search are of Vernazza, which is only one of the five towns: https://www.google.ch/search?q=cinque+terre&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjq_8Xd99TYAhVEP5oKHdj7CQ4Q_AUICigB&biw=1070&bih=605 Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:35 on Jan 13, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 13:27
|
|
|
Thanks everyone.TheEye posted:Here's my itinerary from several years ago in case it's useful... We've actually settled on a slightly similar, albeit backwards itinerary. I think we're going to fly into Venice, spend two days there before hopping a train to Florence for another two days there. I'm going to pick up a car the morning of day 3 in Florence and head South out of town into Tuscany. We're starting to look for a nice place to set up camp in Tuscany for 4 nights that is centrally located and easy to make day trips to different villages from? Anyone have Tuscan lodging suggestions? After relaxing in the Tuscan countryside for 4 days the plan is to then drive to Rome, drop the car off and spend the last 4 or 5 days in Rome before flying out of FCO.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2018 21:08
|
|
|
STOPpre posted:We're starting to look for a nice place to set up camp in Tuscany for 4 nights that is centrally located and easy to make day trips to different villages from? Stay in or near Siena, it's about as central to Tuscany as you can get. For four days, some major towns to check out are Volterra, San Gimignano (touristy AF), Montalcino, Montepulciano, and if you played Assassin's Creed then Monteriggioni (which is absolutely tiny but it's just off the highway). I liked Colle di Val d'Elsa too since it's quaint but not remotely as touristy as the other towns I mentioned, which has ups and downs. Siena is also definitely worth visiting. Between San Gimignano and Volterra, I would drive due west FIRST and then south (i.e. on route SP69) rather than backtracking to the main road (SR68) as it's a simply stunning view of the valley near Volterra. Only if the weather is nice. Tuscany is a lot of driving and the roads are fairly slow, so even though distances aren't that long it is slow to get around. I would definitely pick some town that no one has ever heard of and go there too, as it's interesting to see what Tuscany actually looks like when it's not something on "Best Way to Spend 5 Days in Tuscany" list. There are also some abandoned villages if urbexing is your thing. I have wanted to make it to Buriano or Poggio Santa Cecilia, but haven't been able to yet. Buriano is more famous but a hell of a lot further.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2018 23:26
|
|
|
Gonna go ahead and slide in here since there was pretty good information so far... Heading to Italy later this week for 10 days, if anyone has a good guide to Tuscany vineyards, specifically around Montepulciano, Montalcino and Chianti i'd appreciate it. Most that i've been told is "just go to random places" but I don't have a good grip on the language and i'm a bit intimidated. Also worried about going somewhere and needing a "reservation" for a tasting.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2018 00:14
|
|
|
Saladman posted:I've been to Cinque Terre in August and in May, and both times specifically Vernazza was jam-packed with tourists from about 9am->3/4pm. After that it tends to quiet down a lot. Corniglia is also particularly MUCH quieter, because it's a long (vertical 150m+?) walk from the train station to the town so tour groups of retirees don't go there. There must be some guidebook that says "get to cinque terre as early in the morning as possible to avoid the crowds", which results in all the crowds arriving early in the morning, and then by mid-afternoon it's largely cleared out because there's really not that much to do in Cinque Terre and there are only two distinctly different types of town there (the seaside ones like Vernazza and the mountainside ones like Corniglia). There are also a bunch of other little towns that don't officially make it into the "five" of cinque terre for unclear reasons, even though they're in the park. They're also far less touristy. We spent a couple hours in Volastra, and even in mid-August it was super quiet and there were only Italian speakers there. We drove, but it'd be easy to get to from Manarola if you're reasonably in shape. I would not under any circumstance recommend driving to Cinque Terre though. The train is a million times faster. Saladman posted:I've spent a lot of time in Italy, mostly all over the north, but also to most of the touristy areas further down except for the islands. But anyways, Cinque Terra was super nice when I ws there, this would have been about last week of July and I didn't find it super touristy at all. I could walk on the trail and not see more than a handful of people tops and could easily walk around all the towns with mostly bumping into what seemed to be mostly locals and some tourists. There was a beach with a semi-hidden alcove with a large slab of rock (i think outside Corniglio) that was so great to chill at, I'd just drinnk wine/limoncello and chill in the water reading a book and no one was there to bother you. It was easily my favorite place I visited, but I think thats because it still felt like a lived-in local area and just unique with not a lot of people to spoil the whole thing. Now this was pre Air-BNB and pinterest and instagram and whatevers so I'm sure things have changed a lot in the last 8 years. Which is sad to hear because I always wanted to go back thre with my gf since I had such a great time, but if it's that crazy then yeah I don't think I'd enjoy it since I hate tourist crowds. I liked Florence but I also just did a weekend trip and imo 2-days was more than enough. It was fairly busy but I still thought it was worth seeing and I didn't have to fight back hordes to do or see anything which was nice. I agree Venice is much more unique though, I'd highly recommend staying the night in Venice. There was something magical about wandering around at night in the dead silence and no one else being around, which was eerie but cool. Xaris fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Apr 24, 2018 |
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2018 20:55
|
|
|
There was a huge mud slide in like 2012 that closed most of the main cinque terre coastal hiking route, leaving only the northernmost stretch between Vernazza and Riomaggiore open, so that is definitely way more crowded now than when you went since the trail is STILL largely closed. Vernazza must be on every Instagram photo of Italy so I would guess that town in particular has also exploded in tourist numbers since 2010, although I’ve only been twice (2014 and 2017? Once in May once in August both times for 3 days). But also yeah you can still find super quiet places in Cinque Terre, like anywhere besides Monterosso, Riomaggiore, or Vernazza. Vernazza is gorgeous and everyone probably has different tolerances for crowds but both times I’ve been it was like Disneyworld both in terms of crowds and in terms of every shop selling stereotypical tourist stuff, like limoncello bottles in the shape of Italy. Florence and Venice seem to really be some sort of personality test for whether someone likes it or not. I haven’t been to Venice in a long time, so maybe my rosy memories will be blunted when it faces with me now being a curmudgeon. What’s nice about Venice is that the biggest boatloads of people mostly leave to go back to their cruise ships in the afternoon, which doesn’t happen in Florence.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2018 22:03
|
|
|
That's too bad, it was a fantastic trail and very pleasant way to spend a whole day just hiking, checking out one, hiking back, doing the other. I didn't do the train thing at all when I was there and just hiked. I also don't recall it being overloaded with sovereign shops, in fact that was one thing I liked is it felt a little more authentic with mostly some hint of tourism. So I can see how that all changing has easily completely ruined the experience. yeah maybe. I'm also a very much anti-disneyland level of tourist-crowds person. Although florence did also die down at night too, but not as awesome as it did at Venice where it was completely dead. Again I think it helped it wasn't too busy even during peak-summer then. You are probably right it's not really worth doing if it's actually that superbusy, tho I'd say doable in a day-trip (stay the night) by train if you want to and leaves you closer to hittnig up another place the next day. The one place I did go which I absolutely hated was Sorrento, it was basically middle-age white cruise boomers everywhere for no apparent reason. Nice party-heavy hostel we stayed at tho.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2018 23:35
|
|
|
Italy is best done in the off-season IMO. We did Cinque Terre this past January and it was fairly quiet, not many people around. We got a fantastic Airbnb on the clifftops at Manarola for basically 1/3rd of the summertime price, though you just have to deal with there only being one restaurant open in town. This is the video I took there, it was a little more crowded than it looks in the video since I'm a pro at cropping folks out, but you get the idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdHxGDETuqM Honestly the only place in Italy I've really been disappointed by is Milan as there's just not that much there. The Duomo, the plaza and the Galeria nearby, the castle, the monastery with Leonardo's Last Supper (which you need to book months in advance for), and that's about it. Otherwise it's just a fairly boring modern city and without a lot of that Italian flair and character you get elsewhere. I didn't mind Florence, but for some reason when we were there it was absolutely flooded with hordes of American college students. Everyone wearing their UNIVERSITY OF FIRENZE college sweatshirts, babbling on at full volume about Becky's latest snapchat in that horrendous Valley Girl accent. Ugh. Aside from that it was fine 
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 18:54
|
|
|
Hello friend, I saw the three most well known cities (Venice, Florence, Rome) last fall. I did something like 4-3-4 days, connecting between by high speed rail. They are definitely all worth visiting but I would say the following: Venice - three days is probably fine. This was my favorite city. I went on a "free" (donation) tour by a local and thought it was great. Also the area in the center (away from the canals) is very peaceful early in the day. Florence - I think a couple days is fine for here. Uffizi and Academie (where the David is) are super busy but definitely worth visiting, as is the Duomo. Check out the Michaelangelo Piazza for sure, which requires walking up a LOT of steps (or talking a bus) but gives great views of the city and the Arno. I would recommend getting up early for most of this stuff as the Duomo is just a shitshow of tourism during most of the day. But it's an incredible building to see. Rome - I would do four days again. Just a ton to see. Besides the stuff everyone knows and the Vatican museums, the neighborhood south of the Vatican (Trastavere) is really cool. The metro mostly sucks (since they can't really build underground in most of the city for obvious reasons) but is good for getting to the Spanish Steps and the Vatican. Also Rome is quite a bit hotter than Northern Italy - I was there in October and it was in the 70s and had a shitton of tourists. I would say a better time to visit Italy would be in the winter. Buy tickets for everything in advance!
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2018 18:52
|
|
|
Hey so the girlfriend and I are also planning 2 weeks in Italy in June. But we're lazy assholes and want to do a tour group. We're looking at Rick Steves https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/venice-florence-rome Anyone have any other suggestions? Are travel agents still a thing? Airfare is being terrible.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2018 20:35
|
|
|
GreenNight posted:Hey so the girlfriend and I are also planning 2 weeks in Italy in June. But we're lazy assholes and want to do a tour group. We're looking at Rick Steves That Rick Steves itinerary looks reasonable, but lol at that price. $3600 PER PERSON for 10 days in Italy? Are you loving kidding me, Rick Steves? If you take the same itinerary but do it yourself you'd be hard pressed to even spend $1500pp even staying in 3* hotels in the middle of each city. Italy is not expensive and it sounds like you're price-sensitive since you mention airfare being terrible. Rick Steves trips are also huge groups (24-28, so you'll be wearing an earpiece the entire time) and are marketed towards older people. If you do go with a tour group, at least go with a company that is not geared towards those over 50+ (likely averaging over retirement age). G Travels and Intrepid both offer similar itineraries for around $1200-$1500, e.g. https://www.intrepidtravel.com/en/italy/umbrian-discovery-108167 for 8 days. Europe is super easy to DIY. Italy is easy to get around by public transport, and English is widely spoken anywhere tourists go. Travel agents are still a thing, and I've used one recently (STA Travel) but unless you have some weird flight itinerary they won't be able to find you anything better than you can find on Google Flights. For hotels you can just spend 30 seconds on booking.com and sort by rating-and-price, so it's not something you really need a specialist to help you with. Also just take a look and see how much that Rick Steves itinerary is crazily priced. Essentially, it is charging you $450/day per couple on lodging, which is a huge wtf that any of their tours sell out. The only time I can really understand someone going on a group tour of Europe though is if you're traveling by yourself or if you're insanely extroverted and would go insane with just the two of you for two weeks. In which case, just stay in hostels or shared airbnb's instead of hotels. Saladman fucked around with this message at 19:03 on May 3, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 18:55
|
|
|
That's a lot of good info. Our budget is 10k basically for 10-12 days which should be plenty of loving money for this. I was just talking to a coworker who went to Italy last year from a local travel agent and he spent way less than that, so I'm giving her a chance to see if she is reasonably priced. We just don't want to do any loving work when we get there. Show us history and cool poo poo and skip all the lines. We also don't want to be so busy we can't enjoy anything. I was bitching about airfair because it was like $1800 round trip per person from Madison -> Chicago -> Rome which seems nuts to me. Maybe that's normal, I've never been to Europe. All the cheaper flights was like 22 hours just to get to Rome. GreenNight fucked around with this message at 19:06 on May 3, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 19:04
|
|
|
Yeah seriously, do Intrepid, or G Adventures. Or go with Contiki if you want to party with 18 year olds. I can't think of anything worse than spending two weeks on a bus with 30+ baby boomers
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 19:51
|
|
|
GreenNight posted:I was bitching about airfair because it was like $1800 round trip per person from Madison -> Chicago -> Rome which seems nuts to me. Maybe that's normal, I've never been to Europe. All the cheaper flights was like 22 hours just to get to Rome. Hot drat that's expensive, and it's not even high season for flights (July–August). But I also don't see anything better for flights with reasonable flight times (±11-15 hours), trying the three main airports in Italy (Milan, Venice, Rome) and even trying Milwaukee and playing around with dates. I have never paid more than $1100, so $1800 is really mind-boggling especially since the prices don't even drop if you go out to October; it's still like $1400 for the decent flights. Flipping from the directionality of the flight (i.e. round trip from Italy to Madison) is consistently like half the price, so I don't know what's going on. Like mid-October it's $900 from Rome to Madison and back, but $1600 for the same dates in the opposite direction? This is consistent for everywhere I check, like Zurich is $1800 for single-layovers from Madison in mid-June, but it's $1000 in the opposite direction. Is Madison in the middle of some apocalypse scenario where everyone wants to leave and no one wants to go back? I've never seen such massive discrepancies in pricing directionality (except when there are flight sales). I have not flown round-trip going in your direction for years, but I got married in September in Italy last year and I spent like 8 months beforehand watching flight prices from all over the US for our American guests, from maybe 6-8 different US cities, and I never even saw a single place where the price was > $1500. I don't think any guest paid more than $1200 for their ticket. Yeah I'd definitely bitch at those prices too. Maybe a travel agent can help you out after all. $1500 to me is the upper limit of sanity and I haven't paid more than $1100 in years, and I don't ever go for those 15 hour layovers to save a few bucks, after having done that once and regretted it.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 22:03
|
|
|
It's not like it's $600 cheaper if I drove to Chicago and flew out. It's at best $150 cheaper, and I'll pay that not to have to drive to Chicago.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 22:18
|
|
|
Saladman posted:Flipping from the directionality of the flight (i.e. round trip from Italy to Madison) is consistently like half the price, so I don't know what's going on. Like mid-October it's $900 from Rome to Madison and back, but $1600 for the same dates in the opposite direction? This is consistent for everywhere I check, like Zurich is $1800 for single-layovers from Madison in mid-June, but it's $1000 in the opposite direction. It's the same thing for Australian airfares and I don't know why either. Sydney -> London return is usually way more expensive than London -> Sydney return, even controlling for other factors like season/holidays/layovers etc. Maybe they have to keep prices lower heading out of Europe since that's the only way Europeans will holiday overseas?
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 22:57
|
|
|
703 posted:Gonna go ahead and slide in here since there was pretty good information so far... I am also very curious about this. I'm planning on heading to Tuscany in September. It looks like there are lots of random wineries that let you pull in but also there are some that require reservations. I've been basing most of my info on the wine bible and lonely planet Tuscany. I'd definitely love to here how your trip goes.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2018 16:14
|
|
|
For basically anywhere in Europe the Rick Steves books are great. Certainly don't need a group tour for Europe to be easy though, the entire continent caters to the "just show up" crowd. Unless some public transport workers decide to strike.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2018 02:12
|
|
|
zmcnulty posted:For basically anywhere in Europe the Rick Steves books are great. Certainly don't need a group tour for Europe to be easy though, the entire continent caters to the "just show up" crowd. Unless some public transport workers decide to strike. If you get hit by the Strike Ghost, no amount of planning or avoiding planning will help.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2018 03:15
|
|
|
No Italy for me. Now ex gf said it’s getting too serious and broke it off. Cool.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2018 03:40
|
|
|
GreenNight posted:No Italy for me. Now ex gf said it’s getting too serious and broke it off. Cool. Goondolences man, sorry to hear that. I hope you didn't buy the tickets already  maybe she thought you were going to propose because that's basically the cliche way it goes
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2018 05:06
|
|
|
Just putting this out there: traveling solo can be pretty fun too, especially if you want to get your mind off things  But, yeah, that's lovely. I'm sorry to hear that.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2018 22:55
|
|
|
Yeah thanks. Don’t want to derail this thread but I’m a huge fan of traveling with someone. Having shared experiences, talking about what we’re seeing or doing. It’s always a blast and some of my favorite memories. I’m sure I’ll go one day. Just not anytime soon.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2018 04:48
|
|
|
Hi! Hope this isn't too thread necromancery. My wife and I are taking our first trip to Italy in early September. 8 days in Rome, based out of Trastevere. So far, we've got: 1. Diy Full day trip to Pompeii 2. Diy full day trip to Naples 3. Early access Vatican 4. Colosseum with arena floor access, plus the other things there. 5. Maybe a day trip to Sperlonga to do the whole beach thing. 6. Other "must see" tourism things: Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Capitol Hill. We can probably do some of these on other days. 7. Maybe a day trip to Tivoli to see the villas. Are any of these massive mistakes? Are there things off the beaten path that are worth doing? Because we love those. Also! We love street foods and food markets. Any suggestions? Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2018 08:00
|
|
|
You're overnighting between Day 1 and 2, right? Otherwise you're going to and from Naples twice two days in a row which is a lot of money (and a fair amount of time and hassle) lost. What you could also do is do Day 1-3 in Naples and instead of Sperlonga do Ischia or Amalfi Coast. I've never been to Sperlonga though. Everything else sounds good. Not really off the beaten path, but the Aventine Keyhole is really cool and just next to Trastevere. Eataly is not really a "food market" per se, but it is definitely worth checking out if you like food.
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2018 12:36
|
|
|
Saladman posted:You're overnighting between Day 1 and 2, right? Otherwise you're going to and from Naples twice two days in a row which is a lot of money (and a fair amount of time and hassle) lost. What you could also do is do Day 1-3 in Naples and instead of Sperlonga do Ischia or Amalfi Coast. I've never been to Sperlonga though. Everything else sounds good. It wasn't really a sequential list, but I hadn't really considered that plan. We wanted to base out of one city because we didn't want to get into the trap of moving all the time and just enjoy one place. I'm going to look into maybe getting an airbnb if its not much more than the extra tickets, so thanks!
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2018 18:52
|
|
|
Beachcomber posted:It wasn't really a sequential list, but I hadn't really considered that plan. We wanted to base out of one city because we didn't want to get into the trap of moving all the time and just enjoy one place. Yeah, moving all the time definitely takes a lot out of you, but Pompeii and Naples in a day is not feasible. If it's in your budget just rent the Rome place for the week and do an overnight in Naples maybe? It'll be an exhausting two days but better than going to and from Rome twice.
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2018 21:21
|
|
|
Yeah I agree with Saladman, I wouldn't do two separate day-trips to Pompeii and Naples. Do a day-trip to Pompeii, stay overnight in Naples and then head back to Rome the following afternoon. One spot to consider is Ostia Antica, Rome's old harbour about 40 minutes on the train west of the city. It's not as large or well preserved as Pompeii, but there's maybe 10% of the tourists there so it's quite a nice spot. Spend a whole day at the Vatican, enjoy the museum and the basilica itself. Your Colosseum day, spend the rest of it at the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill area. Don't forget the Piazza Navona! It's probably my favourite square in Rome. I personally wouldn't bother with the Spanish Steps but I guess if it's your first time in Rome you might as well. I don't have specific food recommendations, but try and eat Roman-style food. One of the biggest joys of "Italian" food is discovering that Tuscan food is completely different to Neapolitan food to Latin food to Sicilian food and so on. In Rome their specialities are things like artichokes, bruschetta, scaloppini, saltimbocca, and tripe as well. Pasta carbonara is a Roman dish as well but it's probably different to what you've had before, ie no cream. Just avoid places with spaghetti bolognaise, pictures on the menus, lots of tourists or anywhere within about 500m of a big tourist attraction.
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2018 21:22
|
|
|
webmeister posted:Pasta carbonara is a Roman dish as well but it's probably different to what you've had before, ie no cream. Cream? Putting cream in carbonara basically makes you Hitler, who would do such a thing?
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2018 22:35
|
|
|
PT6A posted:Cream? Putting cream in carbonara basically makes you Hitler, who would do such a thing? It's stupidly common in Australia for some reason, despite the enormous expat Italian population
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2018 22:50
|
|
|
webmeister posted:Yeah I agree with Saladman, I wouldn't do two separate day-trips to Pompeii and Naples. Do a day-trip to Pompeii, stay overnight in Naples and then head back to Rome the following afternoon. Yeah! We've decided to get an airbnb in Naples and it will be cheaper than 2 separate day trips, which was the original plan. Our must eat list for the trip is, so far, Neapolitan pizza, roman pizza, roman carbonara, and Jewish artichokes. And now saltimbocca. Bruschettas just a good idea everywhere, in my experience. Thanks for the tip about menu pictures! Apparently one of the better places for Roman pizza is only a 7 minute walk from our lodging, and it's open late night. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2018 03:27
|
|
|
Are there any really cool cities between Milan and the Alps that might be interesting to spend a day or two in?
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2018 23:03
|
|
|
twoday posted:Are there any really cool cities between Milan and the Alps that might be interesting to spend a day or two in? Lake Como is pretty nice, though like everywhere in Italy it gets very crowded in summer. The town of Como itself isn't that interesting, but the little towns dotted around the lake are great. In Milan, I'd strongly recommend going to see the Last Supper. It's at the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie and you need to book tickets a couple of months in advance. They only let in about 25 people at a time in 15-minute blocks, so it's the absolute polar opposite experience of viewing the Mona Lisa. Buy your tickets from the official site here: https://cenacolovinciano.vivaticket.it/ Everywhere else is just selling them at a markup.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2018 07:12
|
|
|
twoday posted:Are there any really cool cities between Milan and the Alps that might be interesting to spend a day or two in? It’s not really about the cities so much as the location up there. Renting a car is a great idea. By public transport, the Varenna-Bellagio-Menaggio triangle part of Lake Como is far and away the best part of that lake (I’ve spent a lot of vacation time on lake Como, maybe 2 weeks altogether). Bellagio and Varenna are the cutest but like anything between Milan and Zürich, they are itty bitty bite sized. Lugano and Bellinzone are also very pretty and have enough to do for half a day. In the Lugano area, Morcote is awesome, and the views from San salvatore are incredible. In lake maggiore the west side of the lake is the best, from Stresa on north, although the east has a few notable sites like the castle of Angera. The isla Del pescatore and nearby palace island (can’t recall the name) are worth a full day trip both for the culture and the scenery. Really there are a ton of options and while a car is not necessary it is nice. I’ve spent a ton of time in that part of the Alps so if you have any specific requests let me know.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2018 08:00
|
|
|
How is Bologna? I've been to Italy only once in my life and that was to Rome, which was way too touristy for my tastes, I'm considering a short trip in the fall or winter. We like to simply sit around and eat great affordable food and drink wine most of all, is Bologna good for that?
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2018 00:14
|
|
|
I had a great time doing exactly that. I only had 2 days free. I took a cab to and from the airport and walked everywhere else. Train to Modena was close too but I just walked to walk, eat, shop and look around.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2018 00:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 18, 2024 09:34 |
|
|
Yep, Bologna is fantastic for that. We spent I think 2 or 3 nights there earlier this year and that's basically what you do. Walk around, sheltered from the sun or rain underneath the porticoes, and eat all the fantastic food. Lasagne is a local speciality here, as is tagliatelle al ragu - the precursor dish to spaghetti bolognaise, with a much heartier and meatier sauce. Also recommend tortellini in brodo (aka broth), which is almost like a dumpling soup. Some incredible wines from the Emilia-Romagna region too, like Lambrusco and Sangiovese. And make sure you get in on the aperitivo thing - have a pre-dinner drink like aperol spritz or G&T sitting out on the terrace, and picking at a plate of snacks. Usually charcuterie and local cheeses, it's great. The Italian nickname for Bologna translates as "the Fat One" and when you eat there for a few days you figure out why
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2018 19:20
|
|