Top Four Top Tips:
How To Plan Your Italy Trip
From Mama Margaret’s Italy Travel & Food E-newsletter, August 31, 2011
Our tour clients and many travelers on the Italy travel forums at Trip Advisor and Slow Travel are asking for help in planning their Italy trip. On these forums, I’m seeing and giving suggestions on how to best plan your Italy itinerary so you save time and money and enjoy your vacation you dreamed of. Here are the four top tips.
- Ask yourself , “What is most important to me on this trip?” Many people, especially for their first Italian vacation, try to squeeze all of Italy in to one or two weeks. “How should we divide our time among Venice, Florence, the Chianti country, Cinque Terre, Rome and the Amalfi Coast in our 14 days? ” they ask.
Short answer—you don’t, unless you want to dip only a toe in the Adriatic and the Arno for rushed, superficial experiences. Focus on your priorities. What am I most interested in doing?
- Remember travel time and checking in and out of hotels eat into your itinerary. If you’re in Italy for two weeks, and you go from Venice to Amalfi with four stops in between, you’re spending a lot of time on trains or in your rental car. Plus six hotels to find, get settled in and check in and out of.
You’ll save time and experience more if choose two or three regions. For major cities like Florence, especially if it’s your first time in Ital y, allow three days, not counting travel time, to explore.
- Don’t over plan or over book yourself at home. Give yourself free time to just hang out, enjoy quiet times, reflect on life and experience local life. Wander at local, non touristed markets or go to the beach and rent a big umbrella and sun cot beside Italian families.
Allow flexibility for the unexpected like discovering a marvelous art show or talking to a local person who recommends something that captivates you, that takes you on a totally different path.
- Plan your route so you don’t cover the same ground twice . You see more and save time and money. A route in one line like north to south from Venice to Florence, or west to east from Turin to Venice, or in a circle like all around the coast of Sicily work well.
