Planning first Italy trip

Hi Mary,

First we need a little information...
How many days? Which cities seem to draw ALL of you. Once you decide this, we can help you with lodging and transportation needs as well as routes that would be the easiest.

Then you need to decide which attractions you want to visit
To decide this go to the watch, read, listen section.

And when are your going? We cannot plan your trip for you without tons of information. First, go to the public library and check out guide books for Italy, travel DVDs, see if the library has any of the Rick Steves DVDs on Italy. Decide what is important to you and what you would like to do. Then come back and ask specific questions.

Mary,

When I was planning my first trip to Italy, I started with the itinerary in Italy that most closely matched the number of days I would be in the country. Then I read about the towns/areas he suggested and began to customize my itinerary from there.

Sharon

First item of business is take a look at a map of Italy to see where the major cities are located then grab a copy of Rick's Italy guide and read it cover to cover. Loads of practical information. Getting an idea of the country's history, geography, etc. would be most beneficial to first time travelers. Lovely country, lots to see and do but you need to start formulating an idea of what and where to help you plan your time frame and budget. Ciao.

Italy is a place that's just full of culture, history, art, music--and food. You can overdose on all of these.

I would suggest a first timer start in Venice, take a train to Florence and a train down to Rome. From those three cities, there are a number of great day trips you can take.

Tuscany is best seen via automobile, as the trains don't go to every hill town. Roads are good, and it's easy to navigate the countryside seeing towns like Siena, San Gimignano and Volterra.

Rome is almost a trip destination to itself. And there's about as much to see in the suburbs as there is in the city. See RonInRome.com for the best travel information to that great city. Rome is also a great city to fly home from.

Not that you will necessarily share our interests, but we spent the last week of our Eurpoe trip in Italy... 3 nights Rome, 2 nights Lucca (and day tripped to Pisa), and 3 nights in Venice. It was a nice mix of city and relaxing. I could have used another day in each...

Many years ago we also visited Florence and the hill towns and did not like them as much... but I think we tried to fit in too many hill towns - an insane pace - I think we would have liked them a lot more if we had actually settled in a bit. So my recommendation is not have no 1 night stands, and try to stay in each place awhile to really get a feel for it. :)

Kim

Cars are an expensive pain in big cities (parking, traffic, finding your way, dodging motor scooters), so planning your schedule so you have a car in between cities works better than starting off with one and having it in the city. That's if you plan to drive and not train/bus/airplane between some cities.

Each driver should get a required-in-Italy International Driver's Permit (available from your local AAA, even if you're not a member), so on the offhand chance that a cop wants to see it, you'll have it, in addition to your driver's licence from home. Hoefully you won't get any tickets or have an accident, but just in case . . . and depending on where you go, streets can be narrow and parking spots tiny, so get the smallest vehicle you can that will accommodate the 3 of you plus your luggage. It's ideal if you can keep your bags hidden in the trunk, so that a possible crook with prying eyes won't be tempted to break in and help themselves to your stuff (as you probably do at home as well).

Are you going in the "off" season, when it might be less hot (but maybe rainier) and less crowded? Unless any of you have dietary restrictions, plan on having a lot of gelato!

Hi Mary,
Start to think in number of nights and don't count the first and last days as they are travel days. You May be able to fit something in the first day but don't plan anything big.
What are your specific interests...art food, architecture,wine, scenery, hiking,pasta making, history, ruins, etc.
Are you all reasonably fit? Are you willing to drive and take public transport? So, the more details you can give, the more help you will get.
Alonso, I highly recommend that you all learn a little about things you will see and places you will visit, so it all will be more fun and meaningful.
I am a huge fan of agriturismo and hope you consider spending some time in one.
Have fun planning!

Just to pile on to the other replies, a Forum like this is better for more specific questions, like "I'm interested in paleo-Christian sites, where would be good places to see these in Italy?" For general questions like yours, you should start with guidebooks. Rick Steves Italy is great as a starter, and for places it covers, will have the most details about logistics (how to get from place to place, what opening hours are, which museums need reservations and how to make them, etc.). Then look at as many other books as possible, to learn about parts of the country Rick doesn't cover.

Also look at videos. Rick has lots on Italy, and some are from 2012 (others are older). They are on Hulu and Youtube, linked here: http://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show

When you have some ideas, post them, so others can give further suggestions. And yes, don't plan to take a road trip until you know your destinations, as they may work better without a car. Or, conversely, if you are set on a road trip, that will change what you see; major cities in Italy are a real pain and expense if you have a car, so you'll focus more on small towns and rural areas (fine if that's what you want).

Thank you, everyone, for your advice and insight. I posted here initially because we really don't have much of an idea what we want to see besides big cities. We would like to see as much of the country as possible. We have several guidebooks, and we'll be doing a lot of research, but I just wanted to get an impression of other people's ideas and experiences.

My parents are retired, so we don't really have a limit on how long we can be there. We were thinking 3 to 6 months. We're not sure when we'd like to go, as in, what time of year. I'm not big on crowds, so would the off-season be better?

FYI, you can only stay in Italy for 90 days without getting a visa. Search these forums for Schengen Area information, and you'll find lots of details.

In addition to the RS guides, you may want to look at photo-based guides like Eyewitness and National Geographic. RS guides are selective in what they cover, but since you're going to be there for such a long time, it would be nice to be aware of additional options. Those other guide books will cover the areas that are not in the RS guide books.

I've always relied on trains in Italy, so I can't comment on driving. However, some guide book series have books specifically devoted to driving itineraries. I used an eyewitness guide book for driving tours in Ireland; perhaps they also have one for Italy. Frommer's also has driving tour books.

And if you don't like crowds, I'd avoid summer. If you want to stay 90 days, I'd suggest starting in very early September in the north, and working your way south to minimize chances of encountering early ice or cold weather. This is probably less of an issue if you're taking trains, or are used to driving on slippery roads.

With that much time I would plan with a vacation-from-the-vacation :-)

Find somewhere nice to settle down for a week or two in an apartment, where you can cook yourself, and find the local market to shop in. That's what I would love to do when I retire.

And if you take a side trip to a country outside Schengen I guess you can start on an extra 90 days when you return :-)

You've gotten some really great suggestions from the posters above but I haven't seen this one yet so I'll add it to your list. What I sometimes do, if I don't have a particular destination or theme in mind for a trip is to take a look at Rick's trips as well as other suggested routes, to see what looks like it would work best for me. You've got a huge window of time for travel so its really neat that you get to have so much time to play with. Wishing you all the best for your trip!

You can only spend 90 days out of a consecutive 180-day period, so a side trip outside Schengen countries will not help you get back in for longer than the number of days you were away.

You can look at the Trip Reports forum for peoples' experiences (Harold recently posted a great report, lots of detail).

As a general outline, I would say fly into Milan, spend a night or two, go to Verona for several nights so you can take some daytrips, then to Venice for a few nights. Personally I would spend a couple of nights in Ferrara and visit Ravenna.

Then go to Florence, Siena, Assisi, Orvieto, Cinque Terre if that interests you, Lucca, Pisa if you must see the bell tower (daytrip), other small towns in Tuscany, then Rome. After Rome you can go south to Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and/or Sorrento, Paestum, then either fly from Naples to Sicily for at least ten nights to two or more weeks. Or, train or drive over to Puglia for Alberobello, Lecce, and some beautiful hill towns, then to Matera for a couple of nights, and fly out of Rome.

You can visit both Sicily and Puglia/Matera by flying back to Naples or Bari from Sicily. You could take a ferry or a very long drive or train ride to do the same thing, but flying is faster.

Right now, these are just names on a page. You need to sift through your research info to find out if any of these interests you, then come back with specific questions. There are about a hundred cities I didn't put into the list above.