First trip to Italy - help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do Rome, not Tuscany. Reason: DO NOT plan to drive a car there if this is your first visit especially if it's only a week.

You can do plenty from Rome and have more options for train travel to smaller locations for day trips/hikes.

I would disagree. We went to Italy this past summer and rented a car. Tuscany for us was the best part of the trip. While I am sure you could try and rent a van or get a car and driver, getting to explore Tuscany was wonderful on our time and pace. We stayed in Sienna and Orvieto.

We flew into Rome, drove to Florence, spent two days there, 5 in Tuscany and 2 days in Rome. Our least favorite part of the trip was Rome. It was very crowded, really dirty with huge piles of trash everywhere and difficult to access sites unless you planned well in advance for tickets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do Rome, not Tuscany. Reason: DO NOT plan to drive a car there if this is your first visit especially if it's only a week.

You can do plenty from Rome and have more options for train travel to smaller locations for day trips/hikes.

I would not drive a car around the cities, especially since parking is impossible, but you do need a car to explore the Tuscan countryside. The best way to travel from Florence to Rome is the high speed train.

NP here. Is there no way to see Tuscany via public buses or arranged tours (like van tours, arranged by the hotel)?

I was hoping not to rent a car, deal with parking, etc

You can certainly find organized bus trips if you want. Or you could take trains or buses. A car is more convenient and will let you visit smaller towns on your own schedule

+1 - we rented a car and the driving was not hard at all in Tuscany. Returning the car in Rome was much harder and I am glad we did not attempt to try and drive into Rome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do Rome, not Tuscany. Reason: DO NOT plan to drive a car there if this is your first visit especially if it's only a week.

You can do plenty from Rome and have more options for train travel to smaller locations for day trips/hikes.

OP here checking in again, wow, thanks so much for all the tips! I felt dumb writing such a vague question but this is really helpful. We may have 8-10 nights total depending on flights.

I think we will fly in and out of Rome and also go to Florence and some small towns (even just for day trip).

Why not drive? We rented a car in Portugal this summer and it was great. We would only rent a car for time outside Rome

Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way would I miss out on Rome for a first visit to Italy if you are interested in historical sites. Easter week is a vacation week for Italians so things will be crowded. It is worth checking schedules ahead of time. They may differ from other times of the years. There are also big sites where you can book a tour to jump the line (coliseum and vatican come to mind).

To add to this PP’d advice: If you go during Holy Week, book your tickets to various sites well in advance. The availability that week can be non-existent. Also, be keenly aware of St. Peter’s schedule: there are some seemingly random closings that pop up during that week. If you want to see more of Italy than Rome proper, Orvieto is a beautiful Umbrian town, easily accessible by train from Rome. Ostia Antica is the site of the ancient port, and is also easily accessible by train (not crowded, very peaceful).

Thank you so much

-OP

[Anonymous]

Italians are crazy drivers. They don't use the indicator and rules apply only to the others. Tunnels and motorways are in a bad shape and during summer it has traffic jams everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Agree that driving is not a big deal - we drove from Rome to Florence and then from Florence to Venice. I do agree with no more than two cities. I personally would not skip Rome as I liked it way better than Florence, but I know that I am in the minority there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Italians are crazy drivers. They don't use the indicator and rules apply only to the others. Tunnels and motorways are in a bad shape and during summer it has traffic jams everywhere.

In the cities, yes the traffic is bad. We had no issues with driving outside the cities. The roadways and tunnels were fine. Driving inside some of the small towns like orvieto you will get tight roadways but you drive slowly.

Honestly, the roads here and the traffic can be worse than Italy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Italy is overrated. Much better choices in Europe for what you want, OP.

I strongly disagree. I’ve traveled in Europe extensively and Italy is my favorite.

Really? Interesting. It’s my least favorite. Out of curiosity, what were your least favorites?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a reason you’re set on Holy Week for this trip? (Like, are you a teacher or otherwise tied to a vacation calendar?) Because that will be a high-stress, high-cost, high-crowd time to travel. Not to mention, it’s likely that many places will have reduced hours or even be closed altogether on Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.

If you’re not into the whole church/religious celebration aspect of Easter in Italy, try zeroing in on other dates.

yes, i'm a teacher and that's when i can travel unfortunately. i can potentially leave tuesday or wednesday night before easter, though. so we would be there a few days early.

-op

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Italy is overrated. Much better choices in Europe for what you want, OP.

What would you suggest? We loved portugal. I loved spain and copenhagen. Spouse has only been to portugal in spain

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I meant spouse has only been to portugal within europe.

We want to go to greece, italy and many other places

Thanks!

-OP

[Anonymous]

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/planning-your-first-trip-to-italy

There are teams of people who work for years traveling around Italy and then writing a book telling people how to plan a trip to Italy. Go get the Lonely Planet Italy (or other similar guidebook). They have sections about when to travel, how to get around, how to pick an itinerary, etc. It will be much better advice than you'll get from random people here. Come back when you have specific questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/planning-your-first-trip-to-italy

There are teams of people who work for years traveling around Italy and then writing a book telling people how to plan a trip to Italy. Go get the Lonely Planet Italy (or other similar guidebook). They have sections about when to travel, how to get around, how to pick an itinerary, etc. It will be much better advice than you'll get from random people here. Come back when you have specific questions.

Not a fan of Lonely Planet. Have traveled to Italy 15 times. People are giving OP good advice, beyond the debate about driving (guess what: some people would be fine driving there, it’s too stressful for others). LP does not do a good job of taking into account what kind of traveler you are.

[Anonymous]

Stay in https://www.collelungo.com/en/ and hit the surrounding towns. Lovely area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/planning-your-first-trip-to-italy

There are teams of people who work for years traveling around Italy and then writing a book telling people how to plan a trip to Italy. Go get the Lonely Planet Italy (or other similar guidebook). They have sections about when to travel, how to get around, how to pick an itinerary, etc. It will be much better advice than you'll get from random people here. Come back when you have specific questions.

Lonely Planet has traditionally been for downmarket tourists.