I'm getting ready to travel to Italy a 2nd time, and my first question is, What's the best phone, or phone service to have? my last trip, my phone did not function at all!, Yikes! Should I purchase one in the train station?
2 My first stop is in Pisa, can you recommend a tour guide?
3 Next I travel to Florence, an you recommend a tour guide and some interesting things to experience there?
Thanks very much
Do you have a guidebook? Rick Steves recommends tour guides as well as what to do in his Italy guide.
I recommend buying a guidebook
Or Google what you are looking for.
If you have an unlocked phone, you may consider buying an Italian SIM card from Vodafone or TIM store, once you get to Italy.
Please edit your post and delete the
large font, otherwise it reads as though you’re screaming.
Uhm....what phone and service provider did you have the first time and did you contact them to set up your line/phone for international use?
I have an iPhone 8 Plus and Sprint. Most Sprint plans include Global Roaming which includes free texts, free data (2G - can pay to upgrade to 4G/LTE)) and calls at $0.20/minute. We were in Prague four months ago and it worked like a charm - mostly used wifi calling to get around the voice charges. I know the service is available in Italy - supposed to be very good in Rome but no idea how it is in Pisa and Florence
Who is your service provider? We have Verizon. They have an international plan that is $10 for each 24 hour period. It uses your data plan. We mostly used wifi and kept in touch with home with Skype. We only used the Verizon plan a couple of times.
I highly recommend Walks of Italy tours. We did the morning walking tour and the afternoon Uffizi. Skip the line tickets are included.
Yes, contact your cell service provider to see what international plans they offer.
I would highly recommend buying a SIM card. With a passport you can get a Vodafone SIm with 15-18 GB. Ours allows 500 minutes within Italy and 300 minutes to other countries including US.
Here’s link to a post in technology and staying in touch that might be helpful.
technology
Before we moved here we used various Verizon plans, which were not cheap and the amount of data was limited unless you chose the $10 per day. I really wish I knew mire about SIM cards then.
When were were in Florence we did a Segue Tour which was awesome. In our helmets there was a speaker so we could hear whatever the guide was saying. The best part was the fact that we were 12” above the crowds. Takes 30 seconds to learn how to ride a Seque. Our tour had 4 people.
My provider is ,and was last year-Verizon, I looked at my phone up on touch down in Milan last year, it sais Newark, New Jersey,
and Would not work at all, I 2 months earlier had purchased the international travel pass, and called them back, right before I flew just to be sure, and was caught with NO service at all.. I had to contact my daughter via email from my hotel at night, and she went to work contacting tech support at Verizon, and struck a deal putting me on her account, then, and only then, did my service function properly!. Whew, Rookie mistake! lol, now armed with this good advice, I will proceed back to this wonderful country ready to enjoy it and not Stress. Thank you all so much for the great advice! Wonderful!
Just completed 60 days in Italy
Phone service for phone service we used a company called cellhire. This is a device you round to take with you to Italy you keep it in your pocket. I create your own personal hotspot on your phone works just like it does in the US. you're not dependent on cell towers and there are no dead spots since the service depends upon satellite
A little expensive but I would do it again
it also allows you to use apps on your phone so that you don't have to have a GPS in your car
also I want a city you can get step by step walking directions through Google maps
