Italy in Winter

Have purchased or reviewed RS guides?

Loads of practical and informative intel in each guide pertaining the cities you are interested in visiting.

Research December/January weather.

Look at Google Maps to understand the distance to and from each city.

Research train travel.

Pack accordingly.

Pick up multiple travel guides including RS and Fodor’s to plan an itinerary your family will enjoy.

You can also look here on the RS web site - by reviewing the itineraries of the RS tours of Italy, you can get a good sense of what's available in each area, and how to link cities and regions:

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy

Also the Italy section under Explore Europe. And then of course the RS guidebook, which you may find at your local library - although perhaps not the most recent version.

Finally, search for Italy under the Trip Reports section of this forum.

I spent a month in Rome/Naples/Salerno between mid-January and mid-February this year. I was lucky with the weather, hitting the average monthly high temperatures (see Wikipedia entries for your cities) virtually every day. Keep in mind, though, that the high temperature may not show up until 1 PM or so. Pack layers you can wear when you head out in the morning and peel off as it warms up. Maybe wear backpacks so you have a place to stuff sweaters and jackets when they aren't needed. Take waterproof rain jackets, or raincoats if you're prepared to deal with the extra bulk.

Whether the weather is good or not, the days will be short, which will probably mean you can't accomplish as much per day as on a spring or fall trip. (The extreme heat in the summer presents its own challenges, though the days are a lot longer then.) Keep this in mind as you consider how many days to spend in each city.

The operating hours of Italian sightseeing attractions tend to vary with the seasons, there usually being at least a winter schedule and a summer schedule. Guide books tend to present the summer hours, so you'll need to check the official websites for the December/January information you need.

Many famous sights call for buying tickets in advance--sometimes far in advance--to avoid spending hours in ticket lines or not getting in at all. These are among the trickiest tickets:

Rome: Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Borghese Gallery, Domus Aurea. San Clemente requires an online ticket (can't buy at site), but you probably won't need to get that very far ahead of time.

Florence: Uffizi, Accademia

Venice: San Marco (ticket-purchase line is long and outdoors), Secret Itineraries Tour at Doge's Palace. The Guggenheim Museum tickets don't sell out very early, but buying online is a good way to avoid standing in line (in possibly inclement weather).

Milan: The Last Supper (very tough ticket to get).

I don't think January is likely to be a good time of year for the Cinque Terre, and it takes considerable time to get there. With the limited time you have available, I'd skip the CT on this trip.

Pompeii is a long day trip from Rome; we usually discourage travelers from handling Pompeii that way. However, it's a brutal place to go in high summer, and in January you'll at least not have heat to worry about. I don't think you need to get Popeii tickets in advance, but the train situation is thorny. Pompeii's workable from Rome only if you take a fast Freccia train (or one of the competing Italo trains) between Rome and Naples. Tickets for those trains are likely to be considerably cheaper if purchased well in advance--long before you will have a reliable weather forecast. It's not just that a chilly, wet visit to Pompeii is less than ideal. The site is full of large cobblestones, and those things are perilous when wet.

You have 11 [I miscounted--it's 12] full days; the last night and probably also the first night need to be in Milan. I don't like to rush from place to place, and I'll mention again that you aren't going to have a lot of daylight hours each day. Therefore, I'd recommend an itinerary like one of these two:

• The Big Three: Rome (5 nights, including day to Pompeii), Florence (3 nights), Venice (2--no, 3-- nights, but with late-afternoon train to Milan on fourth day), Milan (1 night).

• Rome and Florence plus small towns: Rome (6 nights, including days to Pompeii and Orvieto), Florence (5 or 6 nights, including Siena at least one day trip to Tuscan villages), Milan (1 or 2 nights).

I'm not at all sure about small Tuscan villages in the dead of winter (let's see what others say), but Orvieto has quite a lot of indoor sights available, so I think it would be OK even on a dreary day. In general, a December-January trip says "big cities" to me.

I love Venice, but I have doubts about winter weather there. Cold and damp is a pretty unpleasant combination for me.

Hello leewishon, and welcome to the boards,

By my count you'll have 13 nights/12 days in Italy and at least two of those will be in Milan so you'll need to decide what you're going to do with your remaining days. In my opinion you have more places listed in your interests than you will realistically have time for - that's okay that's where everyone starts.

My advice is make a list of everything you want to see, set a priority and check geographical reasonableness (hint: Pompeii is much further south than anything else on your list) and start making some hard choices about how much you can do. This is where guidebooks and videos start to pay off in terms of deciding what you "must see".

I use a spreadsheet marking out date, day, what you'll be seeing, any time for travel that day and what city you'll be sleeping in and then figure out what you're most interested in. Day of the week can be important to keep track of things that may be closed on certain days.

Something like this:
Wed, Sep 7, 2022 Day 1 Arrive in Milan Malpensa(MXP) (sleep in Milan)
Thu, Sep 8, 2022 Day 2 Milan (sleep in Milan)
Fri, Sep 9, 2022 Day 3 Milan to Lake Como [train, 1 hour] (sleep in Varenna)

When you need help deciding between different things or getting from one place to another this can be a good place you get suggestions and answers. Once you have an itinerary you can also post it here for feedback but everyone has an opinion and in the end it's our trip to plan and take.

Happy planning,
=Tod

Welcome!
What a great holiday trip!

You've got 13 mights in Italy to work with.
Your last night will need to be spent in Milan for your departure flight so that leaves 12.
I would suggest taking train to Venice immediately on arrival to Milan (Malpensa Express to Milano Centrale then fast train to Venice)
Spend 3 nights in Venice.
Train to Florence- spend 4 nights with 1 day trip to Tuscany hilltowns- Siena is easy by bus or train or do a group bus tour to multiple towns.
Train to Rome spend 5 nights - day trip to Pompeii might not be so bad in the winter as acraven has posted- otherwise a visit to Ostia Antica is a nice substitute.
Train back to Milan for final night.

Forget CT- not much will be open and it's not a good choice in the winter.

Hi. Well, you are starting and ending in Milan, so why not add on the itinerary (not the tour itself) of the Venice, Florence, Rome tour? You could accommodate Pompeii in this agenda. I would leave CT out this time around. Take the train.

Definitely get an RS book or two. Look at the scrapbooks on this website created by people who have gone on this tour.

Now, if it were me, I would head up into the Dolomites and catch some Christmas markets that run past Christmas in some towns there. Hmmm. You could start in Rome (after Milan) and work your way north. Have a great trip!

Keep in mind that Italian Christmas is celebrated through January 6, so be prepared for crowds in the cities. It is very festive and the lights and decorations will still be up.

I think that a day trip from Rome to Pompeii is doable, but quite tiring even in winter.

Trenitalia's Rome-Naples walk-up fare in the early morning, called Base, is € 48 per person. One way. The cheapest tickets, those that must be purchased at least 2 weeks before the day of travel cost € 14.9 per person. No changes, no refunds.

If I got today one ticket for a train to Naples running in Two days I'd pay € 42,9 Not a big discount, but it's something for a family of 4. If I put next Monday as day of travel, I'd pay € 26.9. Again, one way, per person. This is almost 50% off.

Unfortunately you will be riding the trains during the Xmas holydays, not in June. Discounted tickets will sell out quickly, not only from Rome to Naples but on almost every route served by high speed trains.

Always check both Trenitalia's and Italotreno's fares before buying any train ticket. Italo is often cheaper and their discounted tickets are more flexible than Trenitalia's.

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughtful suggestions and advice. I'll try putting together an itinerary soon. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions!

Thank you!