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8 days in Italy

I'm backpacking alone. Where should I spend my time and how should I allocate it? Cheers

Posted by
4152 posts

Wow, what an impossible question to answer. No one on this forum knows you or what you like so for us to suggest something would be a shot in the dark. You need to be more specific in what you're looking for and what you don't want. You might want to get a guide book or two to help you make this decision. Donna

Posted by
6 posts

I was just looking for some opinions of what people's favorite places are.

Posted by
993 posts

Well, I don't have much experience, but on our one trip we did a bunch of hill towns and they were ok... I didn't love it there - ok but not my favorites (we went to Siena, San Gim, Orvieto and Assisi). Florence was ok. I did like going to the leaning Tower though... I thought is was super amazing in person! This trip I am dying to go to Venice, that looks amazing to me. And I also really want to go to Cinque Terre. So just purely personal recommendations! And I suppose you would go to Rome. Kim

Posted by
11294 posts

Payton, I understand your question is well meaning, but it is still impossible to answer. Suppose someone asked "I have 8 days in Canada. I'm backpacking alone. Where should I spend my time and how should I allocate it?" The answers would be, literally, all over the map, because everyone's interests and must-sees (and must avoids) are different. In the 2000 character limit of this forum, no one can write a whole guidebook for you. So, get a hold of some guidebooks, and look at some videos (Rick's are on Hulu and TouTube), and see what appeals to you. Once you have some ideas, you can post them here and people can help you refine them. When you are going will also influence people's recommendations. One way to approach it, if you're feeling stuck: you picked Italy over other places. Why? What made you choose it? If you can articulate that, it will be a great start, and others can then help you choose places in the country that match your interests.

Posted by
118 posts

What do you love? What appeals to you: museums, architecture, natural sites, food, wine, beaches, mountains, cities, small towns, farms? I think that would help people better make suggestions on what you should see. Where are you flying into and where are you flying out? Does your 8 days include the travel days or do you land on day zero and fly out on day 9? That can help frame the trip as well. Also, how much ground do you want to/can cover per day?

Posted by
922 posts

I would suggest Cinque Terre, Florence and Tuscan hill town areas. You can hike the Cinque Terre for a few days and then take a train to Florence. There, you can immerse yourself in art and spend a lot of time getting to know the city. From Florence, there are myriad side trips that you can take to various hill towns via bus or train. As other have suggested, I would recommend getting a good guide book (such as Rick Steves' Italy) to get more detailed information on these locations.