Solo Trip To Italy and Beyond

I would encourage you to have no worries about making this trip alone! Your experience will not be much different than previous trips, when I assume you did a lot of the planning and navigation. See some general "traveling alone" tips at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/tips-for-traveling-solo. Rooms often cost more for a single than splitting a shared room, but Rick's hotel listings often include a few places with smaller, cheaper single rooms. I've found the listings to be pretty accurate about the pros and cons. The Best of Europe book covers those destinations in detail.

I traveled Italy alone, and many of the cities you plan to visit alone as well. You should have no problem. I used Rick's book for hotel and restaurant recommendations. Especially for hotels and was never let down. Also check out AIRBNB, you can rent apartments or rooms in peoples houses, etc. I used it to book a room in a flat in Munich right near the Viktualien market and paid so much less than a hotel. Also there are B&B websites if you prefer that . Happy traveling,

Debbie

I love traveling alone in Europe--go where you want, when you want, see what you want, eat when/what you want . . . I especially enjoyed Provence (Avignon, Nimes, Arles, Pont du Gard, Les Baux) and would love to return. Wish I had the courage to rent a car in Provence, to be able to travel to more of the small towns and see more each day (and have flexibility, especially with weather). Have a great trip!

I just returned from solo trip to Italy. Loved the experience and would suggest checking out monastery stays for inexpensive safe housing. I am 64 and was mostly concerned about the logistics of moving about but had no problems and enjoyed my visit and wish I had stayed longer. Enjoy your adventure.

As others have noted above, you'll do fine on your own and I'm pretty certain you'll really enjoy the experience and freedom. It can be a really wonderful adventure.

I just have a couple of thoughts about the itinerary you're proposing. You mention hiking in the CT in March/April. That early in the season and that far north, I'm not sure if the weather could be counted on to cooperate. And I'm not sure how good an experience the CT would be bad weather. Hopefully someone who's been there in the early spring can comment. Maybe there are coastal areas further south that might be good alternatives – for example, the Amalfi coast or Sicily?

In my experience, it was much harder to drive on my own in Europe than with someone else in the car. It meant I was not only trying to decode signs and pavement markings, I was also trying to deal with navigation. Hopefully you're a braver driver than I am with a better sense of direction, but this may be something to consider. The areas you mention are well served by public transportation, with the possible exception of exploring Provence (depending on your plans).

Enjoy!

I almost always travel solo, and I love it. There's a great freedom knowing I'm seeing just what I want to see, when I want to see it. And just as you say, there's no one to tell you that they're not interested in something you want to see.

If you're worried about feeling lonely, you will find that as a solo traveler it's much easier to strike up conversations with others. And if you're staying in smaller places like B&Bs, the proprietors are usually very interested in making sure you have a good time. I also send e-mails home with my trip reports and impressions, during the trip, which I find makes me feel I'm in "contact" with others.

One caveat. Rick's tour pace works because there is someone who knows the way doing the driving. Doing it by yourself, it takes longer, so you can't move as fast as his tours do and still enjoy your trip.

My thanks to all of you. Lots of great ideas and I REALLY appreciate the encouragement. Hard to believe I can plan and execute four trips for three people and yet find it so hard to do it for myself.

Jim,

I often travel solo all over Europe and really enjoy the freedom to travel at my own pace, see what most interests me (which is often something that wouldn't interest anyone else) or change plans spontaneously if circumstances change. There's no reason you can't do the trip on your own. I'd like to second Harold's comment that you may not be able to move as quickly as the RS tours. They can move a bit faster as they use efficient coach transportation (in many cases) to get from one location to another and all accommodations and sightseeing are pre-arranged.

A few thoughts and questions.....

• Is there any way you could travel a bit later, perhaps starting in mid-April? I've been in Italy at that time of year, and weather can sometimes be "cool and wet".
• As Laura mentioned, the Guidebooks have lots of good suggestions for hotels and other lodgings in various price ranges in all the places you'll be visiting. You could also consider staying in Hostels, at least part of the time. I'm also 60+ and can tolerate "communal living" for some of my stays in Europe. I often stay at HI Hostels as I have a membership, but also stay at independent Hostels on occasion.
• With such a short (3 week) trip, I'd suggest minimizing the car rentals and using high speed trains as much as possible. I usually try to spend as little time as possible moving from one place to another. As the high speed trains run at up to 300 kmH, no car can match that efficiency. A rental car is best if you plan to get off the beaten track where public transit is not easily accessible but if you'll only be in cities, trains are a better option.
• It would be a good idea to arrive in the Cinque Terre after April 1st, as that's usually the "official" start of tourist season there. If you go earlier, some of the trails may not be open yet for the season. Were you only planning to hike the popular Sentiero Azzurro trails, or others in the area? At the present time, two of the four S.A. trails are closed and not expected to re-open until sometime next year.
• Which of the five Cinque Terre towns are you planning to stay in? Although it should be reasonably quiet there in April, I'd still suggest pre-booking accommodations.
• As you've been there before, I'm assuming you're familiar with the potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using the trains in Italy?

One other point to mention is that you could also do a "combination" trip, with about a week or two on your own combined with the Best of Europe My Way 14 Day Tour. I've been using a combination of a tour plus time on my own for the last few years, and it's been great.

Good luck with your planning!

I recently traveled in Italy by myself, and loved it! I'd highly recommend a day or two in Lucca, if you haven't been before (or perhaps even if you have - I know I'd love to go again, given the chance). The Rick Steves article gives a good idea of what to expect, but I was still most delightfully surprised.

Jim, now that we know Bagrcelona is non-negotiable, go for it! I've gone to a city just to have a cocktail at a certain bar, so I understand.

While you are in Sorrento you might want to break away to Paestum, nice beach, great ruins, good small museum.

Then a few days in Rome and the rest in Barcelona sounds good.

Jim,

Hello... I backpacked solo through northern Italy this past June for three weeks. It was also my first backpacking trip so everything was brand new to me. As most people will tell you, and some on here already have, you will be fine traveling alone through Europe, especially in the destinations that you've listed. As for words of caution, I can't think of much to say. Given you've already been to Europe a few times and are probably aware of most of the petty scams and what not. Murano and Burano are worth visiting in Venice. Rome was extremely touristy when I went so I think that took away from the enjoyment of things. The Caracalla ruins were one of my favorite in Rome. Florence is nice. One could easily spend a few hours in the Uffizi gallery. I loved CT. I'd recommend making lodging arrangements ahead of time, just to be safe. When I was there, people were telling me that it wasn't possible to hike all five villages due to closures of trails and what not, just don't listen to them and go anyway, as I hiked from Monterosso to Riomaggiore without any issues. Just a little insight from my trip. One thing you may want to consider is planning out the first destination or two of your trip and then just winging the rest, as you won't really have to worry about peak tourist season. Not sure of what your interests/goals are or how flexible you are with time, so forgive me. Just an idea. Have fun!