Any advice for planning a trip to Italy?

[mermaidwannabe]

Two dear friends and I have been talking about going to Italy for a few years, and are planning to go when one turns 50 in 2 years. Yes, a long way off, but we all have families and aren't "flush" by any means.

SO, any advice? Should we go with a tour? Should we hit a few other countries since we will be so close or just stick to Italy? I think we would go for 10 days at the most so that would limit our choices.

I've never been abroad and have no clue. I've researched a bit and there a several touring companies, but wondered if anyone had been on one and thought it was too overbearing, not enough choices, etc.

Thanks for any thoughts on this!

 

[mtblujeans]

I would also love to hear any shared advice/information. DH has been wanting to go Italy forever and we don't even know where to begin to plan a trip like that.

 

[Marionnette]

Two dear friends and I have been talking about going to Italy for a few years, and are planning to go when one turns 50 in 2 years. Yes, a long way off, but we all have families and aren't "flush" by any means.

SO, any advice? Should we go with a tour? Should we hit a few other countries since we will be so close or just stick to Italy? I think we would go for 10 days at the most so that would limit our choices.

I've never been abroad and have no clue. I've researched a bit and there a several touring companies, but wondered if anyone had been on one and thought it was too overbearing, not enough choices, etc.

Thanks for any thoughts on this!

Unless you or someone in your group speaks Italian, I recommend going with a tour group. Almost everyone in the large cities speaks English but not all people are comfortable with it. It helps to have an interpreter to make transactions easier. Plus a guide will know when and where to go to maximize your touring time.

We spent two weeks touring with a tour group doing just Italy a few years ago. We hit the major tourist spots but never got to the southernmost cities. Rome, Florence, Milan, Pisa, Lake Maggiore, Verona, Venice, Pompei, Sorrento and Capri. We saw alot but also spent alot of time on buses to go from one city to the next. We just returned to Rome this past fall and spent two nights there after a Mediterranean cruise. We went without a guide but my husband speaks Italian and having been to Rome twice before, he was comfortable going without a guide. I wouldnt mind going back and just spending a week in Rome alone.

 

[jedijill]

I did Italy on my own. I spent a total of 10 days in Venice, Florence, and Rome. It was a great sampler way to see the highlights of Italy and I definitely wanted to go back and spend more time there.

I booked and open jaw ticket and flew into Venice and flew out of Rome. I took the train between Venice and Florence and Florence and Rome.

I used the Rick Steves books and TripAdvisor to find less expensive hotels and restaurants.

I booked directly with the various museums and Vatican for tours/tickets. Be sure to look into the Scavi tour at the Vatican....it is a special tour of the ruins of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd century tombs underneath St Peters.

Consider going off season. I went in March and while it was cool and sometimes rainy, the rate were much more reasonable and I even had the chance to attend Carnivale in Venice.

HTH

Jill in CO

Edited to add: I don't speak Italian and didn't find not speaking it to be an issue. I did try to learn the basics: please, thank you, good morning, goodbye, etc and it helped. You will find plenty of English speakers in the tourist areas that you will be likely in. Everyone was extremely friendly everywhere I went.

 

[taitai]

If you never travel internationally, then maybe you would be best with a tour group. It is not the route we choose but we travel a great deal and are comfortable with doing it all on our own.

I would NOT try to go anywhere else especially with only 10 days. That isn't a ton of time to begin with. I would pick two or maybe three cities and stick with that. You could spend a week in Rome and still have only seen a bit.

I agree that you should fly into one city and out another. Use the train to travel between cities. Buy a couple good guide books and hit the big travel web sites (I like Fodors the most) for more info and advice.

Have a great trip!

 

[Pumpkingirl7]

We booked with Trafalgar tours and had a first class experience. I would recommend going with a group. We flew into Rome and it was immediate culture shock. If we had not gone with a group we would probably still be at the airport

We did a 12 day tour with Rome, Florence, the Amafli Coast (which is amazing), Pompeii, and Venice. Most of our meals were taken care of and the extra exercusions were great. As for cost--- it was about $5000 per person after it was all done.

Going to Italy is like being in a dream... it is absolutly amazing!

 

[CoP Luv]

How exciting that you are taking a trip to Italy!!!!

I think it really depends on what you are comfortable doing or what style of travelling you prefer.

For us, a tour group would be a nightmare. We don't like being on a specific schedule or feel the need to know EVERYTHING about all of the sites. However, I do speak enough Italian to get by and know Rome well. In Florence and Venice, if I didn't know the Ialian equivalent to ask a question, I tried my best to convey what I was looking for in English and we had no problems.

When we went to Spain and France, we didn't speak the language and didn't feel have any trouble getting from point A to B on our own. We are very comfortable travelling like this, though we know it's not for everyone to venture out independently in foreign places.

Like any big city, domestic or international, be aware of your surroundings and have a good idea of what places you want to see and how you want to get there.

Looking lost or 'touristy' makes you vunerable.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Oh wow, just getting excited reading your posts!! I had just been on Fodors and Destination 360 while waiting for a response!

Based on what I just read and your posts, we will stick to 2-3 cities in Italy. My mother-in-law last night asked why we were going there since it's so dirty, so not sure what that's all about!! It's always been a dream of mine to go. In my daydreams, I am walking constantly to go to caffes, see the sights, and eat! I am worried that a tour would be too much for us when we do want to experience the culture and relax a little in between our all day walking excursions. It would be less stressful to go with a tour though. I don't know... I did pick up an Italian beginner course from Costco last night. I'm sure it's not as good as Rosetta Stone, but that course is expensive!

I know we would want to do a wine tour so that's obviously Tuscany. Rome would probably be where most of our time would be spent since it has so many historical places to see. I will be looking into many forum boards over the next year, but my #1 board is the DIS! I've received so many good tips on trips to Disneyland, DW and California among other things that I trust what you all have to say, so thank you!!

 

[debsters41]

Hello and how wonderful for you! I must second the suggestion of a previous poster- trip advisor is your friend! Go on there not only to learn about Italy and the places you will likely wish to visit but most importantly the *forums*! They are every bit as helpful as the DIS forums. Without them, I would never have been able to have perfect trips to Paris, London and now NYC!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I did pick up an Italian beginner course from Costco last night. I'm sure it's not as good as Rosetta Stone, but that course is expensive!

I haven't looked into it at all but I understand BBC offers for free something as good or better than Resetta Stone. Have fun planning and I hope your holiday is even better than you plan it to be.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Hello and how wonderful for you! I must second the suggestion of a previous poster- trip advisor is your friend! Go on there not only to learn about Italy and the places you will likely wish to visit but most importantly the *forums*! They are every bit as helpful as the DIS forums. Without them, I would never have been able to have perfect trips to Paris, London and now NYC!

Thank you, I will! And thank you to the poster who gave info on BBC. I will be sure to check that out!

 

[jedijill]

One other thought. You can hire guides in each city. I took a guided tour through the Colosseum and Roman Forum. The guide was an Art History graduate student and knew many facts. I got the company's name through Rick Steve's and then just met at the appointed time. It was an inexpensive and flexible way to get a guided tour but still do the trip on my own terms. I also booked a tour of the Vatican Museums directly through the Vatican website. In Venice, I was able to book a tour of the Doge's Palace ahead of time as well.

HTH

Jill in CO

 

[mermaidwannabe]

One other thought. You can hire guides in each city. I took a guided tour through the Colosseum and Roman Forum. The guide was an Art History graduate student and knew many facts. I got the company's name through Rick Steve's and then just met at the appointed time. It was an inexpensive and flexible way to get a guided tour but still do the trip on my own terms. I also booked a tour of the Vatican Museums directly through the Vatican website. In Venice, I was able to book a tour of the Doge's Palace ahead of time as well.

HTH

Jill in CO

Thanks, Jill! That sounds like a good compromise between the two! I love that idea.

 

[ekmom]

If you plan the trip yourself you get to choose what YOU want to see and set your own pace. If you want to spend more time on something, you can. If you see something interesting that you didn't know about ahead of time, you can stop and look at it. Sometimes some of the best moments on a trip are unplanned!

I would start by getting the Rick Steves book and also his Italy's Cities DVD if possible. The book is often available at the library and some libraries have the DVD too. It's also on Netflix. Rick is very helpful for first-timers to Europe!

Then I would check out the forums on tripadvisor.com and Fodors.com. Tons of information there and you can ask questions. The tripadvisor hotel ratings are great too.

Don't worry too much about the language thing! As long as you know basic courtesy phrases, you'll be fine. My sister and her husband were there last year and got along fine without knowing any more than that.

With only 10 days I wouldn't try to branch out from Italy. That's not really a lot of time.

 

[Pakey]

My husband and I did it on our own in 2005. It was our first European vacation and it was wonderful. Only in Milan did we have an issue with English; I don't think that's as heavily touristy as some of the other areas. Everyplace else, we managed to get by just fine. I think everyone we encountered in Rome spoke very good English.

The hotel desk people spoke very good English in all the places we stayed and they were always very helpful in giving us maps and directions. We always carried the hotel information they gave us in case the cab drivers had a hard time understanding us for the return trips. Transportation systems were wonderful.

I have done a group tour to another country and in no way was it comparable to going on our own. The huge huge huge difference is the food. With all of the amazing food we were able to eat in Italy, it would have broken my heart to be on some tour with preselected generic meals. Also, those tours have you moving, moving, moving. It's not the way I enjoy vacationing.

Venice is quite expensive compared to Rome and Florence and with only 10 days, I'd probably stick with those 2 cities.

I used the Frommer's Guide to Italy as my starting point. The book gave me all of the information on hotels, restaurants, where to get tickets for Vatican, Uffizi, Galleria, etc. There was information on bus routes within the city, train information, etc. We did use a day guide/tour for the Vatican to avoid the long lines and we also bought our Uffizi tickets ahead of time to avoid those long entrance lines too. That information was in the guide book.

 

[irky416]

We just got back from a Christmas trip to Venice and Rome. We know almost no Italian and got along just fine. I would never ever go with a tour group, in fact, I was so annoyed with all the tour groups by the end of the trip I was going out of my way to try to avoid them.

If you do your research before you go, I don't think you will need a tour group unless you really don't feel comfortable at all. We did all the research on our own using tour books and tripadvisor and everything worked out really great.

It was a great trip, but after it, I realized I could never go in the summer or high season. I will strongly suggest, especially if you don't like crowds, to pick some time during the off season to go.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Thank you for all the info! I just need to convince my friends now to do our own
thing, which sounds better to me anyways. My friends and I are so excited about the food there that we would never want to order off of a pre set menu!!
Good to know that we won't need too much Italian, but we are going to try and learn as much as we can! So many have suggested Rick Steves so I will get his book and Fodors, hopefully from the library unless I think we should have it with us. I'm sure we'll be able to find a hotel through Tripadvisor. Who knows what airfare will be by then, but it will be a huge part of our trip since we will be coming from Montana!

 

[At World's End]

How exciting! We have been to Italy twice, always on our own and on a budget. I'm a big fan of Rick Steves, and we've used his books in Ireland, England, Germany, Austria, France and Italy. With all of the info available on the web and in tour books, I really feel that anyone who is willing to do a little research can travel independently without problem, especially in Italy. Don't worry about speaking the language. Anybody you run into will probably speak English better than you can speak Italian.

We have been to Venice (my favorite city in the world), Florence, Rome, Lake Como and Cinque Terre. Our first trip we flew into Milan and took the train to Varenna on Lake Como. It was a nice way to ease into our trip. We stayed 2 nights then took the train to Venice for 2 nights, then to the Cinque Terre for 2 nights, then on to Rome for 4 nights. Travel by train is very easy. I loved the Cinque Terre area. Little villages are jammed into the sides of cliffs with vineyards on top of the cliffs. Very quaint and a whole different world from Rome.

On our second trip, we travelled with family members and returned to Venice for 2 nights, spent 2 nights in Florence and 4 nights in Rome, along with 4 nights in Paris. My sil speaks fluent Spanish and could haggle in the markets better than us speaking English! But we all got by fine speaking English, with a few courtesies in Italian.

My best advice is to go with an adventurous spirit. Don't expect things to be just like in the US. Rooms are smaller, food is better. You will be walking ALOT. We averaged over 10 miles a day, every day. Be prepared for lots and lots of stairs. Eat gelato every day, twice a day. You will miss it when you get home and there is nothing that compares to it in the US. Try the tartuffo in the Piazza Navonna in Rome and taste a little bit of heaven. Don't scrimp on your food budget, it is so much of the experience.

Can you tell I'm a little jealous? I'll have to be satisfied with the Italy pavilion at Epcot in two weeks.

Edited to add: Highly agree that off season is the time to go. We have been to Italy in December and March, and other European countries in Sept, March & May. Summer is too hot, crowded and crazy.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

How exciting! We have been to Italy twice, always on our own and on a budget. I'm a big fan of Rick Steves, and we've used his books in Ireland, England, Germany, Austria, France and Italy. With all of the info available on the web and in tour books, I really feel that anyone who is willing to do a little research can travel independently without problem, especially in Italy. Don't worry about speaking the language. Anybody you run into will probably speak English better than you can speak Italian.

We have been to Venice (my favorite city in the world), Florence, Rome, Lake Como and Cinque Terre. Our first trip we flew into Milan and took the train to Varenna on Lake Como. It was a nice way to ease into our trip. We stayed 2 nights then took the train to Venice for 2 nights, then to the Cinque Terre for 2 nights, then on to Rome for 4 nights. Travel by train is very easy. I loved the Cinque Terre area. Little villages are jammed into the sides of cliffs with vineyards on top of the cliffs. Very quaint and a whole different world from Rome.

On our second trip, we travelled with family members and returned to Venice for 2 nights, spent 2 nights in Florence and 4 nights in Rome, along with 4 nights in Paris. My sil speaks fluent Spanish and could haggle in the markets better than us speaking English! But we all got by fine speaking English, with a few courtesies in Italian.

My best advice is to go with an adventurous spirit. Don't expect things to be just like in the US. Rooms are smaller, food is better. You will be walking ALOT. We averaged over 10 miles a day, every day. Be prepared for lots and lots of stairs. Eat gelato every day, twice a day. You will miss it when you get home and there is nothing that compares to it in the US. Try the tartuffo in the Piazza Navonna in Rome and taste a little bit of heaven. Don't scrimp on your food budget, it is so much of the experience.

Can you tell I'm a little jealous? I'll have to be satisfied with the Italy pavilion at Epcot in two weeks.

Edited to add: Highly agree that off season is the time to go. We have been to Italy in December and March, and other European countries in Sept, March & May. Summer is too hot, crowded and crazy.

Oh thank you for your example itinerary and for your advice on food! I WILL eat gelato! and I will copy and paste your tartuffo recommendation and where it is!! Already talked to a friend and we will go over our kids' Spring Break time which is mid-March.

 

[The Running Ann]

Italy is one of our favorite destinations. In fact, we are planning a trip to Rome next December. We have also used Rick Steves' advice for a number of trips and have found it to be a great compliment to either Frommers or Fodors. Rick focuses on a few destinations while the others have more comprehensive listings. His website also has a very helpful bulletin board, the "Helpline," which has a board for Italy. I am sure that if you went with an organized tour, which I think certainly has his benefits, his tour company would be worth looking into.

We almost always fly with an "open jaw" ticket to reduce our travel time. Since this is your first time, I would suggest starting in the North (Venice, Milan, Florence) and leaving the destinations in the South for the end of your trip. Things seem a little more intense and fast paced in the South, so I think that the North would help you ease into things.

We generally drive (except in the cities) and love the flexibility it offers. This is particularly important if you want to visit some of the hill towns in Tuscany. Since you have a number of people in your group, a rental car may be less expensive than train travel, you will just have to do some calculations. Driving is not for everyone, but my husband loves the challenge.

I also give a vote for Cinque Terre. We visited it on our last trip and thought it was spectacular. Would love to go back right now! I hope that you enjoy your travel planning.