5 Tips to Make Planning Your Next Trip to Italy a Breeze
I went to Italy for the first time last October. It was a fairly last minute trip, in that we made the decision to go to Italy in June. We booked our flights in July, and we planned to leave for Italy the beginning of October.
Also, the trip was a bit ambitious. We were planning to stay in Italy for about two weeks and visit five cities. Though I went with a friend, I did most of the logistical planning. Early on, we agreed that I would handle the planning in regards to our means of travel through Italy, finding and booking hotels, and making restaurant reservations, and my travel partner would handle the daily cultural activities. She picked the museums and sites for us to visit and secured the tickets.
In the beginning of planning, I was very lasseiz-faire, but I soon realized that October is no longer the slow travel season for Italy that it once was, and that if we wanted to have nice accommodations, that I needed to pick up the pace and be more intentional.
These are the five things I learned when planning my trip to Italy. Knowing these 5 things will save you time and help you plan an epic trip.
1. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Whatever you’re looking for is already out there. Benefit from other people’s experience and expertise. Read the blogs!
I travel for authentic experiences. I want to hang out where the locals hang out. I want to eat the best and most authentic food. I want to stay in interesting and culturally rich neighborhoods, and I’m going to try to learn and speak the language. So you’re thinking, where does one go to find the insider’s scoop? To. Blogs. I love travel blogs…especially travel blogs by residents. I read several magazine articles, website postings and travel blogs on where to go and stay in Italy, and they all provided some level of insight, but my favorite Italian travel blogs are below. I promise they will make planning your next trip so much easier.
These are just a few of the blogs I used, but there are so many blogs and resources out there. Another good resource are service providers: tour companies and guides and travel agents. Many of their websites have articles on places to visit, how to get there, where to stay, etc.
*** Extra, extra! Read all about it!***
If you’re interested in learning Italian before your next trip, check out Katie and Matteo’s Joy of Languages Podcast. I listen to it on Spotify, but I’m sure you can find wherever you listen to podcasts. The lessons are bitesized, easy to follow along with, and they make learning Italian easy and fun. I started listening to their podcasts a few weeks before my trip, and I was able to get around pretty well with the Italian I learned.
2. Booking.com is your BEST FRIEND for finding and booking hotels and rental cars.
That’s kinda it. Like that is the whole thought, but I will add that a blog (or two or three) suggested using Booking.com to find and reserve accommodations.
I like that the site is really easy to use. You can create an account. You can make favorites lists and add properties to your lists, which I made lists based on cities.
The properties are showcased in beautiful, honest and easy to understand ways so you know what you’re getting. Italy has a lot of sustainability focused properties, and Booking.com makes it easy to know how a property rates in terms of sustainability. There are numerous pictures and reviews to help you choose, and you can find and reserve your accommodations right on the site. Most properties do not require prepayment, which is nice, and they make it clear when payment is due. These same positive attributes extend to car rentals as well.
One of the biggest perks of using Booking.com is that all of your reservations are in one place. We stayed at five different properties and rented cars in two cities. It made it sooo much easier to have all of our reservations in one place so that they were easily accessible, easy to see and easy to modify if needed. Ohhh! And you can message your property directly from Booking.com…and they respond…quickly! I used the messaging feature to get directions to our hotels and to kindly request dinner reservations.
3. Travel within Italy is quite easy. Italian airlines and trains are your best friends. But don’t mistake the regular train for the high speed train. We almost made that mistake, and it would not have been a good look. Know which train you booked and know which train you’re getting on.
Popular airlines are ITA Airways and Aeroitalia. We flew both and had great experiences with both airlines.
ItaliaRail and Trenitalia are popular trains in Italy, and again, we had a great experience with both. We opted for upgraded cabins on our longer trips, but we also had good experiences when traveling economy.
Though we didn’t have this problem, I have heard that during peak travel season in Italy, trains can fill up. So if you’re traveling during peak season and you know you want to be on a certain train at a certain time, it’s probably a good idea to go ahead and buy the ticket. Obviously, that applies to planes as well.
4. If you plan on renting a car in Italy, you will need an International Driver’s Permit.
Apparently, you don’t need the permit to actually rent the car, but if you were to get pulled over by the police, they would ask you for it. So just get it. It’s really easy to get. I got mine at a local AAA store. You need 1) the filled out application, 2) two original passport pictures, (which I took at a Walgreens but AAA could have taken them), 3) a valid driver’s license, and 4) $20 for the permit fee.
The entire process takes about 20 minutes.
5. Tickets for popular attractions sell out. Buy your tickets now!
Also, lines and long waiting times are a thing. I would suggest buying fast passes, if they exist for your event. Also, dress appropriately, i.e. for comfort. You don’t want to be outside in the heat with too many clothes on…or in the cold with not enough.
Bonus Tip: Traveling with luggage was a lot easier than others made it seem. My advice is to pack light so you have room for souvenirs.
We talked about only taking a carry on. We heard the horror stories of dragging large and heavy suitcases down pebbled roads and up flights of stairs, and we did not want to experience that first-hand. In the end, we both ended up with checked bags, and for the most part it was okay. Now, we didn’t stay in cities or locations that required lots of walking, or dragging of our suitcases to get to our destinations. And we only stayed at one one property that didn’t have an elevator. Was it pleasant dragging my large suitcase up three flights of stairs? No. Absolutely not. But was it horrific, so horrific that i’m only traveling with a backpack from now on? Another no. Absolutely not.
What I did regret was taking so much stuff with me to Italy. I needed most of the things I took. Our flight was canceled and we ended up spending a couple of extra days in Italy, and I was on my very last pair of clean underwear. Thankfully, I’m an over packer in that way. But I could have left some of my dresses and secondary outfit options at home. I would have much rather left some extra space for the goodies I bought in Italy and brought home. Traveling home, my suitcase was overweight, and I had to use an extra bag that I picked up along the way. So if you’re anything like me, and you know you’re a shopper, leave some room in your bag.
