planning an 8 day trip to Italy with adult children. Flying in to Milan. Any must sees beside Duomo? Staying over night and then train to Venice for Christmas eve and Christmas day. Will there by anything open/to do? Then onward to Rome. We like "off the beaten path" travel in addition to traditional sites. Thanks.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23447 posts
You are in the Trip Report section. Probably get more answers if you post in the correct section --- Destination Q & A in Germany.
Our experience with Christmas in Italy and Germany was nothing was open on Christmas day in either location. Plan you Christmas day meals as picnics. Also in Spain and Germany everything shut down starting around late PM on Christmas eve. A few of the restaurants in large hotels were open and packed on Christmas day.
Posted by
Phoenix, AZ
325 posts
For sure... Milan has The Last supper! It is my favorite art experience so far; so much more intimate and enjoyable than the mad house around the Mona Lisa or Sistine Chapel.
Posted by
Redwood City & Uppsala Sweden
792 posts
That sounds like FUN! Hopefully you're flying back from Rome so no need to return to Milan? Do book the Duomo and the rooftop visit ahead of time.
Suggest you use the 'search' bar above to find more ideas about things to do on Christmas Eve & Christmas day in Venice, here's what i just found. https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=1y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Venice+Christmas&utf8=%E2%9C%93. PS, ALL the churches will be open, so it might be fun to go to mass, or just plan some time visiting smaller churches while you're in Venice & Rome??
Some good ‘Venice Off the beaten path’ ideas showed up here. https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Venice+off+the+beaten+path&utf8=%E2%9C%93.
We just finished watching Stanley Tucci's In Search Of Italy Venice episode, learned a lot more about the food and just wandering.
Are you in Rome for New Years Eve? It’s usually an expensive set meal, so we had a big lunch and pizza by the slice for dinner. And we found NY day more difficult the first trip, so worked a bit harder on it this time to make sure we had a good lunch. Our Trip Report from last NYE might be useful, many restaurant suggestions & smaller museums we loved! Maybe the adult kids would enjoy an E-bike tour of the aqueducts and Aurelian wall, gets you out of central Rome for the day. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/rome-was-jammed-over-ny-but-still-fun
And even more ideas here. https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Rome+off+the+beaten+path&utf8=%E2%9C%93.