Italy trip....advice welcome

[kawc1945]

We are planning a two week trip to Italy in summer 2017 and are in the very preliminary planning stages. I've got the travel books, been reading lots of internet chat, and have been racking up hotel points to use. Plans are to visit Rome, Pompeii, Venice, Naples, maybe some others. We will consist of two adults and one teen, one tween.

For those of you who have been, what were your favorite sites/places to visit? What was your favorite city? Also, was there anything that really stood out to you, good or bad?

Any advice is welcome! Planning is part of the fun.

 

[MickeySP]

Never been, my parents went multiple times. I know they were blown away by Coliseum.

And scared ......... By th driving
Just have a blast!!!

 

[roseaster]

If you want to get into the Vatican pay for a tour.

Don't expect the food to be like the Italian food you get in the states LOL.

 

[teller80]

• Pack light. My backpack weighed 17 lbs and I was there 13 nights.
• Are you in good shape, can you walk 10 miles a day multiple days?
• Learn some Italian words and phrases.
• Fly into Venice (my favorite) and out of Naples.
• Join the forums on Rick Steves website. It was there I learned about vaparetto passes, roma pass, underground & third ring tours at the Colosseum (they sell out quickly), Friday night Vatican museum openings. We each downloaded audio tours of all the major sites we'd be visiting, it made a huge difference.
• Bring euros & toilet paper for the toilets lol.
• Book train tickets in advance (usually much cheaper).

I wish I would have seen Herculaneum and the Archaeological Museum in Naples.

Hope you have a great time!

 

[L&Lfan]

Yes, the food is nothing like Olive Garden or even your typical non chain Italian American restaurant.

 

[fly girl]

I'm heading to Italy tomorrow!

I'll be in Rome for a few days, then heading out on a Mediterranean cruise.

Doing the Underground & Third Ring tour at the colosseum, and taking a children's tour of the Vatican so my DD won't get bored. . I will let you know if I recommend either of them.

I'll let you know when I return if I can recommend the hotel I'm staying at too.

I've been to Pompeii and Herculaneum before -- get a tour guide! You learn so much more. Fascinating.

The Almafi coast is gorgeous. And the isle of Capri is great too.

Took the train to Milan and Venice. Milan is very industrial, but it was cool to see The Last Supper. Venice, just breathtaking. Do a gondola at night! We had the streets to ourselves. The sky was purple -- even my MIL said it looked like a Disney ride!

The food is delicious. Restaurants right next to big tourist spots are junk. Go a couple of blocks on quiet streets, that's where you find real authentic food.

Gelato. Don't get sucked in by the tall mounds of it. That's processed. If you see bright colors that's fake. Real gelato is in bins you can barely see and not covered in syrups and candy.

Get tickets for everything in advance. Worth it to avoid long lines.

That's all I can think of right now. Happy planning!!

 

[princess barbara]

Been to Italy twice. Loved Tuscany especially Sienna and Florence. 5 miles outside of Florence by way of the number 7 bus from Piazza San Marco is the town of Fiesole. Google it....beautiful! Loved Venice but very crowded in the early fall when we went. Also we were to make a quick stop in Pisa and were shocked how scenic and interesting it was and took the whole day to tour...worth it. Also toured Verona and loved the town. So much to see that you really have to narrow down to 2 or 3 regions if only there for 2 weeks. We also spent some time in the lakes area e.g. Lake Garda and Lake Como. Pretty area but I would choose Tuscany over the lakes area. Went to Dolomites and circled down into Switzerland but again I would have to say Tuscany!

 

[kawc1945]

Wow! Great info! Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and suggestions!

 

[Skippy918]

We went to Italy 10 years ago. I really enjoyed Sorrento, Florence and Venice. We spent 2-3 days in each city and took the train between the cities. We did rent a car to drive from Florence to Venice and stopped overnight in Ravenna. It was a wonderful trip and we saw so much history and ate some great food. Pack a carry on size suitcase. It makes it easier when taking trains.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Been to Italy twice. Loved Tuscany especially Sienna and Florence. 5 miles outside of Florence by way of the number 7 bus from Piazza San Marco is the town of Fiesole. Google it....beautiful! Loved Venice but very crowded in the early fall when we went. Also we were to make a quick stop in Pisa and were shocked how scenic and interesting it was and took the whole day to tour...worth it. Also toured Verona and loved the town. So much to see that you really have to narrow down to 2 or 3 regions if only there for 2 weeks. We also spent some time in the lakes area e.g. Lake Garda and Lake Como. Pretty area but I would choose Tuscany over the lakes area. Went to Dolomites and circled down into Switzerland but again I would have to say Tuscany!

Tuscany is my favorite too!

 

[roseaster]

Oh, I forgot. Pickpockets. They are everywhere. Don't leave your purse or pockets unguarded.
Get a metro pass in Rome. I think they are 2 day, 3 day, 1 week.

 

[Tozzie]

I have been to Italy a few times my favorite places were Tuscany and Stressa. If you like wine, in Tuscany, there are a lot of small production local wineries with tastings that were great that are throughout Tuscany, the hotel we stayed at had a great wine shop that only stocked wine from local small production wineries, I had 2 cases of various wine shipped home, good lord that was good wine. I loved Tuscany so much that I want' to do a food and wine tour of Tuscany.

Buy tickets in advance on line especially for places like the Vatican and the Leaning tower of Pisa especially for Pisa if you wait until you are there you may not get in (if you want to climb it) or will have to wait several hours for your "time" to enter. As for finding restaurants and such I follow the advice I give others when they talk of visiting NYC, find a local and ask for recommendations they will know the best places.

I enjoyed Mount Vesuvius in Naples, it was cool to see the volcano and then go to Pompeii and see what was destroyed.

I know others will disagree but my least favorite place to go was Florence just didn't like it and don't want to go back.

There is so much more PM me the hotel we stayed in in Tuscany was great and central to many locations in Tuscany

 

[kawc1945]

I'm heading to Italy tomorrow!

I'll be in Rome for a few days, then heading out on a Mediterranean cruise.

Doing the Underground & Third Ring tour at the colosseum, and taking a children's tour of the Vatican so my DD won't get bored. . I will let you know if I recommend either of them.

I'll let you know when I return if I can recommend the hotel I'm staying at too.

I've been to Pompeii and Herculaneum before -- get a tour guide! You learn so much more. Fascinating.

The Almafi coast is gorgeous. And the isle of Capri is great too.

Took the train to Milan and Venice. Milan is very industrial, but it was cool to see The Last Supper. Venice, just breathtaking. Do a gondola at night! We had the streets to ourselves. The sky was purple -- even my MIL said it looked like a Disney ride!

The food is delicious. Restaurants right next to big tourist spots are junk. Go a couple of blocks on quiet streets, that's where you find real authentic food.

Gelato. Don't get sucked in by the tall mounds of it. That's processed. If you see bright colors that's fake. Real gelato is in bins you can barely see and not covered in syrups and candy.

Get tickets for everything in advance. Worth it to avoid long lines.

That's all I can think of right now. Happy planning!!

Have a wonderful time on your trip!!!!!!

 

[teller80]

I know others will disagree but my least favorite place to go was Florence just didn't like it and don't want to go back.

I felt the same way! We visited on our last day though, and by that time we were on museum and church overload, so I am half wondering if that was the reason I didn't enjoy it very much.

 

[lolainkent]

Everyone I knew that had been to Venice had disliked it so I went (2013) there with very low expectations...and I LOVED it. I desperately want to go back! If you go there, a great way to get canal photos and do some island hopping is to buy a 12 (or 24) hour pass on the aqua busses and just use it as a hop-on-hop-off. I did 4 islands, including Murano and Burano, plus went up and and down the Grand Canal at sunset.

It's also easy to do a day trip to Verona from Venice. The Verona card gets you into pretty much every thing there is to do there and was pretty cheap (15euro, I think?). I had thought Verona would just be Juliette's House but there was lots to see, it's not quite as touristy and it's gorgeous.

If you don't have time to get yourself to Naples you can do Pompeii as a day trip from Rome. It's a long day but totally do-able. I think we left Rome around 7:30am and were back around 9pm having spent a good 5 hours at Pompeii.

Some randomness...
Vatican: go early (my DS and I skipped the museum in January).
Colosseum: book online. And don't skip Palatine Hill and the Forum, included in the ticket.
Terma de Caracalla: It was empty and amazing. It's not far from the Circus Maximus and about a 10min walk from the Colosseum.
Eating: choose restaurants one or two streets away from a major monument, where it'll be better and cheaper than places right on main squares.
Pickpockets: as above, guard your bags.

Lastly, there is always a police office posted in front of Trevi Fountain, so it's worth going at all sorts of time of day as it's fairly safe. I've been there in the morning, afternoon, early evening, 1am...a friend recently said nothing beat 3am (if you can stomach that hour...maybe with jet lag?!).

 

[fly girl]

Have a wonderful time on your trip!!!!!!

Thank you!!!

 

[kawc1945]

It's so interesting that people did not like Venice and Florence. What was it about either one that you did not like?

 

[lifesavacation]

We did a Rome/Venice trip. With day trips to Pompeii, Murano & Burano. Absolutely loved everything about the trip. We took the train in between cities and hired private guides in Rome & Pompeii.

 

[CaitlinMarie13]

I went with my whole family, about 15 people, a couple years ago and every person said their favorite place we stayed was Positano. We rented 2 floors of a house that some locals lived in (picture below) and had the best time! We took some pretty amazing hikes, had dinner with the people who owned the house, and got some great recommendations for local restaurants. It was so much more fun than staying in a hotel, and I am still friends with a lot of the people we met.

 

[fly girl]

Just returned from my trip.

New insights for Rome:

Rome is a lot more hectic than when I previously went. It also didn't help that it was 90 degrees. It was HOT! Please make sure to get a hotel that has independent AC controls in your room. We stayed at Residenza Cellini and it was very nice. Nothing super splashy but it was clean, friendly, and convenient.

Was ecstatic about the Colosseum underground & third ring tour ... only to feel deflated. It was neat to go in those elusive spots but the tour guide was very difficult to understand, so I missed a lot of great info. Learned that guides for this tour aren't your typical liscensed master degree guides. They hired cheaper level university students. My sister stayed in the enclosed shaded part during the 3rd ring (the heat was getting to her) and could listen to another guide. Said that one was much better than ours. Maybe we just got the unlucky guide. Bummer.

The Rome with Kids tour company was fabulous at the Vatican. You really need a guide in this place to maneuver you and give you highlights. Our guide made it fun for my 8 year old jet lagged daughter. And she gave intersting insights to the adults out of DD earshot. The nice thing is that she covered only what we wanted. And made it fun for both kids and adults.

If you have any more questions I'm happy to try and answer them.