Hi - we have our trip dates in Italy, arrive in Rome 4/8, 3 nights. Plan a Vatican & Sistine Chapel small group tour. Florence 2 nights, Milan 2 nights then to Zermatt. We are planning on traveling between locations by train. We would really appreciate your recommendations for any specific tours in Italy and the best way to get around the cities we are traveling to. I saw a golf cart tour in Rome, has anyone used this? Should we just plan on walking and when possible using the Rick Steves walking tours? should we take a Colosseum, Palestine Hill, Forum Tour? We would love a cooking class & wine tasting. We will definitely want to see Michelangelo's David, the Duomo.. In Milan the Last Supper. Should we plan on walking tours in Florence & Milan? Are there any other must see or do recommendations in Italy? is there public transportation? Is there a specific train to take from Milan to Zermatt? Since we are traveling by train just between the main cities do we need to buy a Eurail Pass or just individual tickets? Thank you for your input and help, we truly appreciate it.. Mary
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Atlanta, GA area (USA)
265 posts
Mary - welcome to the forum! There’s a lot of information about tours and transportation in Rick’s Italy guidebook and I’ve found it to be very useful. We just got back from visiting Italy, including Rome and Florence, and we visited Milan a couple years ago. The central areas where most sights are located are very walkable in all three cities and there’s also public transit and taxis as options.
As far as tours go, it depends on how you like to visit places. We’ve found that written tour plans like the ones in the guidebook work best for us. There are also audio versions you can download. But if you like having a person describe and explain things then definitely purchase a tour. You also may find that advance-purchase online tickets are sold out for a sight you want to visit or will be too hard to get. If so, buying a tour will enable you to get inside. Others may be able to recommend specific things like cooking or wine tasting classes.
One thing to note is that many popular sights sell out well in advance. We visited Milan in October, bought tickets to see The Last Supper 3 months in advance (as soon as we booked the plane tickets!) and still had limited times with Italian tours and no English ones left. (All visits to see that fresco are via a short tour operated by the facility.) So start now to line up the things you listed.
Finally, regarding trains, there’s no need for a rail pass, you just buy individual tickets. For those cities you’ll want the high speed trains so you can probably get a cheaper price if you go ahead and buy the tickets sooner.
Good luck with the trip!