A guide for a dreamy trip through Italy — tips and ideas to start building your travel adventure!
After taking a two week trip through Italy, starting from the very North down to the Southern coastlines, I took some time to put together a few tips and recommendations from our time there.
Check out a breakdown of each place, or scroll all the way down for some overall tips and and ideas from our whole trip!
TRAVEL SCHEDULE —
We found it easier to count places by how many nights we stayed in each, since sometimes there were half days with travel between locations.
I. Night 1-3: Varenna, Lake Como
II. Night 4-6: Vernazza, Cique Terre
III. Night 7: Florence
IV. Night 8-9: Rome
V. Night 10-12: Atrani, Amalfi Coast
VI. Night 13-15: Polignano a Mare, Puglia
VII. Night 16: Milan
LOCATION RECOMMENDATIONS —
Each place we visited had such unique characteristics, local cuisine, and endless exploring to do! Here is a little breakdown of some favorites from each — hopefully these recommendations can be a start to planning your own time in each place. These are just a FEW favorites, and barely scratch the surface of what each of these places have to offer!
VARENNA / LAKE COMO —
EAT & DRINK:
- Bar Il Molo - great for dinner & drinks with a view
- Albergo del Sole Ristorante Pizzeria
- Al Barilott - grab a cappuccino & cornetti first thing in the morning
- Grab some glasses of wine by any of the waterfront cafes and enjoy all the views
TO STAY:
We stayed in a small town called Fiumelatte which was a 15-20 minute walk from Varenna - it was a perfect way to start and end the day with a refreshing stroll along the lakeside to and from our airbnb. This definitely helps with a budget friendly trip too!
TO GO SEE: some places require tickets
- Get an all day ferry pass (€15 / person) and go visit Bellagio, Menaggio, and any other of the small dreamy lake towns.
- Walk: this applies to every place we visited - walk walk walk, there is so much to see by foot and every little neighborhood offers something beautiful to see and explore!
- Go stroll through Villa Monastero, a beautiful garden & museum
VERNAZZA / CINQUE TERRE
EAT & DRINK:
- Pippo a Vernazza - try the Trofie al Pesto, also have great options for taking a box to go and sit by the water front
- Gianni Franzi Deck - wine tasting with VIEWS!
- Il Pirata delle 5 Terre - the owner told us “sometimes you have to leave the view of the water for the view on your plate,” beautiful, delicious food!
- Gelateria Vernazza - the best!!
TO STAY:
- There are so many airbnbs with terraces, I would say focus on getting a place with a view: a place where you can bring back a bottle of wine and sit and enjoy the sunsets away from the swarms of people in the main square below.
TO GO SEE:
- Hike to one of the other towns: we did the hike over to Monterosso and then did the train back, it was a beautiful way to see the landscape (make sure you purchase the €7/person Terre Park Card to hike). We spent a lot of time just walking around the other towns and exploring (and drinking lots of espresso).
- Enjoy the beaches, bring a snack and a drink (yes, you can do take away cocktails) down to the waterfront and throw out a towel to soak up some sun.
FLORENCE
EAT & DRINK:
- Mercato Centrale - giant foodcourt with so many amazing options, good for lunch
- Tamerò PastaBar Restaurant - great dinner spot, lots of unique flavor combos (get the coccoli stracchino e prosciutto crudo toscano, speciality of that area)
- BEN Caffè - grab breakfast and coffee here
- Hotel Torre Guelfo - get a drink at their rooftop bar
TO STAY:
Key thing to think about: location. We did a LOT of walking here between sites, so pick a good location to things you want to see. We stayed at the New Generation Hostel.
TO GO SEE: some places require tickets
- Pitti Palace
- Uffizi Gallery & the Accademia
- Walk around Piazzale Michelangelo and walk to Basilica of San Miniato al Monte
- Duomo Complex (and recommend getting tickets and going inside)
- Walk along the river
ROME
EAT & DRINK:
- Find a local coffee shop close to where you’re staying, grab a cappuccino and cornetti
- Sora Lella - make a reservation, we sadly couldn’t get a spot for dinner but heard it’s the BEST carbonara
- Roma Sparita - amazing pasta (one of my favorite meals from the trip)
TO STAY:
Again, this is really just key to find a good area that allows for walking between things or jumping on public transportation.
TO GO SEE: some places require tickets
- Colosseum
- Roman Forum
- Pantheon
- Trevi Fountain
- Spanish Steps
- St. Peters Basilica & Vatican Museum
- Walk, walk, walk
ATRANI / AMALFI COAST
EAT & DRINK:
- Il Veliero - grabbed dinner here late our first night
- Pizzeria Donna Stella - beautiful orange & lemon terrace to eat out on and AMAZING pizza
- Dejavu - coffee & breakfast
- Pizza Express - amazing quick place to grab lunch
TO STAY:
We stayed in Atrani, the smallest town (aka least crowded and great for a budget) and would walk over to Amalfi or take the ferry along the coast to other towns.
We were SO glad our airbnb had a rooftop terrace with incredible views - we would take a bottle of wine back and just soak up the scenery!
TO GO SEE:
This is your place to relax. Get some ferry tickets to see the coastal towns from the water, wander the small colorful streets, pop into shops, and buy some AMAZING lemons and oranges from any local fruit and veggie stand!
You also can do some hiking, although we didn’t have time to do much of that.
Also make sure to try the lemon sorbet - OTHER WORLDLY!!
POLIGNANO A MARE / PUGLIA
EAT & DRINK:
- Regional foods: sun-dried tomatoes, focaccia, and orecchiette with broccoli rabe
- Pescaria - fresh seafood and paninis
- La Locanda Porta Picc - some of the BEST food we had! Delicious seafood.
- Caffè Dei Serafini - our favorite breakfast find
- Drinks at La Casa del Mojito
TO STAY:
We found an airbnb in Polignano a Mare that had a wonderful rooftop terrace, where we enjoyed many early mornings and late afternoon sun!
TO GO SEE:
- Explore old town, lots of view points out over the cliffs if you walk to the ends of streets towards the water, find little cafes to grab drinks and enjoy the views
- Check out Airbnb experiences - we found a boat tour that took us along the town and into caves ($30 a person for an 1 hour or more)
- Go down to the main beach between the two cliffs (Lama Monachile) - it gets super crowded but sunrise was EMPTY, walk through the tunnel on the left side down on the beach for some fun rocky views and good diving points
- Swim lots (the Adriatic Sea is such clear water), cliff jump, lay in the sunshine!
- We rented a car while in Puglia, so we went and explored another town called Ostuni, beautiful city on a bluff
OTHER TIPS TO GUIDE YOU —
TRANSPORTATION —
Trains — we used the train system for majority of our travels between places. Download the app Trenìt! to book tickets in advance and look through trains schedules and options. This was especially helpful to plan out our days ahead of time. The train system is amazing and very easy to use!
Maps — use Google Maps to search locations and figure out transportation options between them (ie. taxi, bus, ferry, walk, etc.). I got a travel pass plan on my phone so that I could have data, 100% recommend doing this!
Taxis — we took taxis 2 or so times, you can call and schedule a cab when you are ready (similar to Uber, but they typically arrive within 2-3 minutes). Look up local taxi company numbers for the area you are in.
Other — We also used scooters (download the app in advance), although not the most budget friendly it was a fun way to see some of Rome. We rode ferries in several locations, this was an easy system and a great affordable way to be out on the water between towns.
APPS TO HAVE —
Audio tours - these were GAME CHANGERS. Unless you plan on booking tours at every historical site, it can be a bit overwhelming to see all these incredible places and not have the history and knowledge about them. We ended up using audio / podcasts to guide us through some of the well known sites as well as doing “historical walks” through some of the larger cities. I recommend checking out Rick Steve’s free audio tours - you can either download the app or find them on Apple podcasts or Google play.
Trenìt! - I mentioned this above, but it was incredibly helpful to have this app for planning our train schedule as well as buying tickets in advance. Some train platforms were so small that they did not have a ticket booth of any type, so this also was handy for those instances.
Google Maps - most accurate, and helpful for all directions (Tip: check ahead of time to see how close your airbnb/hostel/hotel is to the train station or airport you arrive into to, that way you can plan ahead of the chaos on how to get from point A to B and what form of transportation makes the most sense).
PACKING —
These are a few items that I found really helpful to have for both the travel over there, and then also traveling around with JUST carry-on sized bags for almost 3 weeks with short stays in each location.
A FEW OTHER TIPS —
Groceries — We would try and stop at grocery stores on day 1 of each place and get eggs, fruit, veggies since most of what we consumed eating didn’t seem to have have much of these things. We would make eggs in the morning before going to get our cappuccino and cornetti, to make sure we were getting some protein at the start of our day! Then, vegetables and fruit were nice to have throughout the day, since we ate A LOT of pasta, pizza, focaccia, etc. and not a lot of fresh produce.
Language — We didn’t run into any major language barriers, but I think it’s important whenever visiting another country to not just “assume they’ll understand me,” and to put a bit of effort into learning at least a few key phrases in the language spoken there.
Study up — To tag onto the point above, I think it’s always good to research a country you’re visiting and learn about / try to understand the culture. YES, you’ll still be a tourist, but there are so many ways that you can be a tourist and follow a certain level of cultural etiquette. For example, there are different things to know when eating at restaurants in Italy or clothing you need to wear for being respectful when going in specific historical sites. Take a little bit of time to learn about where you’re traveling to, and do your best to respect the way society flows there!
Flights - domestic air travel is incredibly affordable! We finished our train journey down South and bought a one way ticket from Bari, Puglia to Milan (where our international round trip ticket was out of. Definitely Consider checking out air travel domestically!
Where to stay — we used Airbnb for most of our trip, it was nice to have a living area for us to work remotely as well as a kitchen space! We also used Hostel World to find great hostels, and they share helpful information on location as well.
TRAVELING TO ITALY
Overall — soak it up! Take every moment slowly, there is so much beauty and history in each and every corner. Listen to the stories, appreciate the culture, enjoy the amazing food, and embrace whatever each day of travel holds for you!
oh, and take me with you!!!
Thinking of traveling international and want some moments documented? Let’s chat — I can help you piece together your dream of a trip, whether it’s for an elopement, big wedding celebration, or just YOU TWO wanting to hang out somewhere extra special! I’m always down to jump on a plane to somewhere new!
