HOW TO PLAN A TRIP TO ITALY – A STEP BY STEP GUIDE (Part 2)
Planning a trip to Italy is one of our favourite things to do (we are ITALIANS) so we created this guide to help you plan and book your trip with ease.
Travel to Italy
We hope you find our step by step guide on how to plan a trip to Italy useful or, if not, hire us we shall be glad to assist you making your dream come true.
ACCOMMODATION IN ITALY
Accomodation
Choosing where to stay is an important part of planning your itinerary. Italy is well set up for tourists and you can expect the usual range of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation as well as apartments and villas.
If you plan to spend any time in the country, consider staying at an agriturismo or farm stay – offered by Italian farmers who earn additional income by providing rooms and meals.
This accommodation is very popular in Italy and ranges from budget to luxurious.
During our private tours with our small groups we stay in agriturismi (plural) with swimming pools and wine cellars and always try to build them into our itinerary. An added bonus is that the food served is farm fresh and generally excellent.
BEST ACCOMMODATION SITES
The most poplular site for booking lodging is Booking.com because it has a huge range of options from hotels and resorts to bed and breakfast, apartments and farm stay accommodation.
You can easily compare prices and amenities and take advantage of their generous cancelation policies to find the right accommodation for you.
Other sites are:
VRBO – the best site for long stay villas and apartments
AirBnB – for longer stays in apartments and villas.
Tripadvisor – mainly to read reviews but you can sometimes find good deals on there too.
HOW TO GET AROUND ITALY
As a general rule, if you are traveling between cities and major towns then the best way to travel around Italy is by train. If you want to explore the countryside and small villages you will need to rent a car.
When you are mapping out distances to travel between destinations use Google maps or Rome2Rio is another useful site.
TRAIN TRAVEL IN ITALY
High Speed train
The train system in Italy is modern and efficient with fast speed services linking the major cities and regional trains connecting smaller towns and villages. Two major train networks operate throughout Italy – Italo and TrenItalia.
Advance bookings are advised for high speed intercity services where seats are allocated. You can save money booking in advance if you purchase non-flexible tickets. (We suggest to book flexible rates, maybe a bit more expensive but you can change travelling dates any time)
High speed train and intercity travel times on popular route are:
Rome to Florence – 1 hour 30 minutes
Rome to Naples – 1 hour 15 minutes
Rome to Milan – 3 hours
Rome to Venice – 4 hours
Florence to Venice – 2 hours
Florence to Milan – 2 hours
Milano to Naples – 4 hours 30 minutes
Milano to Bologna – 55 minutes
DRIVING IN ITALY
With a bit of forward planning and common sense, renting a car and exploring the back roads of Italy is quite easy. Here are few top tips:
You may be required to carry an International Drivers Permit – these can be arranged in your home country at minimal cost.
Standard transmission on cars is manual or stick shift. If you want to rent an automatic car expect to pay extra, if you can find one available
Rent the smallest car you can to fit you and your luggage – roads are often narrow and you don’t want to get stuck!
Heavy fines apply if you enter ZTL zones (Traffic Restricted Zone) – historic districts where driving is not allowed
INTERNAL FLIGHTS
If you want to travel very long distances or to visit the islands of Sicily or Sardinia, flying makes the most sense.
Check on Skyscanner or Google Flights for routes and prices. Remember to set alerts for those routes you want to fly and book early for flights in the summer months.
TICKETS, TOURS AND ATTRACTIONS
Roma - The Colosseum
We suggest to book your tickets and tours via GetYourGuide and Viator. They are tour and ticket aggregators so there is lots to choose from. I like the fact you can read reviews, book everything in the one place and keep your tickets and vouchers on their apps too.
You can also pay in your own currency and with international credit cards which can be a challenge when using Italian websites.
Rome, Florence and Venice are some of the busiest cities for tourists in the world thanks to their famous attractions – the Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Uffizi Gallery and Doge’s Palace.
Unless you want to spend precious vacation time standing in lines to enter these sites we strongly advise you to prebook advance skip the line tickets for the following attractions. (In winter months booking in advance is not as necessary)
RECOMMENDED EXPERIENCES IN ITALY
Sightseeing, soaking up the atmosphere and visiting major monuments (plus eating!) will take up most of your time on your trip to Italy. However, if you have a little more time, we recommend seeking out unique Italian experiences that are sure to be the highlight of your trip.
Wine Tasting Northern Tuscany
Wine tastings and tours are popular activities in Tuscany or if you want to recreate the delicious dishes you tasted on your trip, why not take a cooking class.
Cooking Class Amalfi Coast
AIRPORT AND GROUND TRANSFERS
Taxi 1960
No matter where you fly into Italy you will need to transfer from the airport to your accommodation and vice versa. Most of the airports are a fair way out from the city center – and in the case of Venice, in the middle of a lagoon!
You can compare different transfer services on Suntransfers – a company that specializes in transfer options from major airports. They have options to suit all budgets and prices for coach, mini bus, private car and limo services. Welcome Pickups is a similar option.
AMALFI COAST TRANSFERS FROM NAPLES AIRPORT OR TRAIN STATION
Our Private Driver
We recommend hiring a driver. The train, ferry and bus via Sorrento can take 4 hours while a car service is around 1.5 hours. We can suggest our local supplier who is very reliable and skilled.
MONEY AND BUDGET
The local currency in Italy is the € Euro.
There is no need to carry too much cash when you are in Italy. Credit and debit cards VISA and Mastercard are widely accepted while American Express is not as popular.
Be aware of foreign currency charges and ATM withdrawal fees applied to your account when you are abroad. You may want to review the cards you are taking with you prior to your trip.
(We always take two – one as a back up for emergencies.)
EXPECTED COSTS
Apart from major transport, accommodation and activity costs (eg custom tours and experiences) expect to spend around € 50 per person per day on food and snacks.
Note – a tourist tax is collected at hotels and accommodation throughout Italy. The rate depends on the city, class of hotel and number of nights you are staying.
INTERNET ACCESS
Italy has high speed internet and there are many options to stay connected depending on your needs. If you use minimal data and are happy using offline maps and guides then you should be able to get by using wifi at your accommodation. It would be unusual to find accommodation that did not offer wifi. You still need to check though.
Do not expect wifi connections to be available in restaurants and cafes – in Italy restaurants are for eating.
Make sure to turn off international data roaming before your trip to avoid unpleasant surprises when you return.
TRAVEL INSURANCE
It is a very good idea to purchase travel insurance for Italy. Even if your home country has a health care agreement in place with the Italian government. These agreements do not cover emergency repatriation or trip cancelation so make sure you are covered well before you depart.
Policy costs vary by your country of residence, what is covered, age, existing conditions and the insurer. You can visit Worldnomads for a quick quote.
Another option if you are in the United States is Safety Wing’s Nomad Insurance. Unfortunately neither option provides policies for those aged over 69.
ITALY TRIP PLANNING DONE!
Golfo di Napoli
We hope you now feel confident to plan your Italy trip and are counting down the days until you leave. If not hire us, we shall be your private trip planner.
Arrivederci Mic & Simo
