Please sign in to post.

travelling to Italy

hi...my name is Lena... on March 19-25, my friends and I will have a business trip to Rome and Florence and after that we plan to continue our trip to Venice and other cities in Italy. The three of us have never been to Europe before, so could you give us suggestions which cities beside Venice that worth to travel for 4-5 days or we better go to Switzerland from Venice? Is it difficult for first time travelers to travel alone in Italy? because lots of my friends say that we will find lots of difficulty if we travel alone, especially in language and transportation. Thank you.

Lena

Posted by
10344 posts

Because this will be an experience in which you are doing things you haven't done before, to speed up your learning process, here are some resources to get you started on planning your trip:Using trains in EuropeRail Schedules Europehttp://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/traintip.htmYou can get by using the Italian train system speaking basic English, spoken clearly and slowly helps.Rick has written a book that would be helpful for what you're doing, it's Europe Through the Backdoor 2009 and you can order it on this site at the Travel Store (above)

Posted by
3112 posts

You'll have no problem traveling on your own, even as first time visitors. Trains are very easy to use and buying tickets using english is rarely a problem. Be sure to validate train tickets before boarding - some tickets don't require validation, but better safe than sorry.

With only 4-5 days after your business trip, limit yourself to a maximum of 2 cities. I like to spend my last 1 or 2 nights in the city from which I'm flying home, so I'd suggest Venice and that city. While in Venice, day trips by train to Padua, Vicenza and Verona are easy. Vaporetto trip to Murano and Burano is easy, too.

Posted by
4 posts

thank you very much Frank... I agree with your suggestion, I think 2 cities are enough, maybe I will choose Milan for my next destination from venice.