Italy Travel Guide

[mom_G]

@mama squeak, we just came back from italy and used trenitalia a lot.  wala naman kaming naging problem buying tickets on the day itself using their self-service machines.  we just checked the schedule online ahead of time so we know what time we need to be at the station.  on our rome-venice trip, we got our tickets 10 minutes before the train was scheduled to leave!  if you have big luggages with you, it's better to get first class seats as @water and wine mentioned. 

[melodymedley]

Reporting live from Rome, Italy!

Venice - this is my favorite city so far. I spent two nights here. Venice warrants an overnight stay and not just a daytrip. As mentioned in other Venice reviews, the charm of the city kicks in at night and also at dawn. You do not need a detailed map here. It is fun getting lost in Venice. That was my agenda for 2 days - get lost while just eating gelato, pizzas and sipping cups of coffee.

I didn't join the grand canal tour as it costs a lot and you ride ONCE. I bought the 24-hour card that lets you ride all you want. I rode the vaporetto 6 times - at day, at night and at dawn. Lovely lovely. My advice is to just roam around, don't follow where the tourists go and just fall in love with the place. Of course, the basilica and Dogge's Palace is still worth a visit if you find your way.

[melodymedley]

Cinque Terre Trip with Walkaboutpass - this is the first paid tour that I joined in my EU trip. There were 3 tour guides handling 70-80 participants so we were broken into 3 groups. Being a solo traveler, all soloistas tend to hang out with each other so I didn't feel so left out.

CT was beautiful. At first, I wasn't amazed with the terraces part (all other participants were oohing and aaaahhing) because I've seen out terraces here - Banaue, Batad and those in Sagada. But as we went along the trail, what makes this place beautiful is the view of the ocean - which we don't have in the Philippines. The trek wasn't very hard. Parang Mount Pinatubo Trek lang. There are some dangerous parts pero kaya naman basta be careful.

The tour was organized. The thing is, it was very organized that we had to spend x amount of minutes at a certain place. E.g. we have 50 minutes of free time at a certain town and had to be somewhere at some point. My fellow travelers wanted to taste the wine and I wanted to take pictures so I wandered around myself.

However, I felt that I am not cut-out to be a tour participant kind of person. There is a feeling of being ushered into feeling the place. I just want to BE in the place. Nasanay na rin siguro ako be in a reflective mood when traveling instead of chatting up because I have doing things by myself. Hahahaha.

I believe that CT warrants an overnight tour. A bit out of way though. Joining the tour is still a time-efficient way if you want to see CT. Pero parang hindi sya no-worries. Less worries lang. You still have to be time conscious para hindi ka maiwan. So if you are time conscious, less time for pictures. That's my experience.

So.... I didn't join their Best of Tuscany Tour and I just went to Sienna and San Giminano myself.  Cheaper, and I had fun.

[mama squeak!]

Thanks mom_G for the trenitalia feedback! Malamang 1st class na kukunin namin ni hubby for the longer train rides.

@melodymedley, so better to overnight talaga at CT ,no? Now I'm trying to decide whether to stay at Monterosso or Vernazza. Did you make Florence your base when you did your Siena and San Gimignano visits? We'll be renting a car kasi to go around Tuscany and still trying to decide what area to stay at so it's all within driving range.

[melodymedley]

Thanks mom_G for the trenitalia feedback! Malamang 1st class na kukunin namin ni hubby for the longer train rides.

@melodymedley, so better to overnight talaga at CT ,no? Now I'm trying to decide whether to stay at Monterosso or Vernazza. Did you make Florence your base when you did your Siena and San Gimignano visits? We'll be renting a car kasi to go around Tuscany and still trying to decide what area to stay at so it's all within driving range.

@mama squeak!: Yeap, better talaga overnight. Florence was my base for CT, Siena and SG. CT is a 2.5-hour bus ride away from Florence. If you will drive, I think there are roads that are very narrow - parang one-way lang. Reminds me of the road going to Sagada. I'm not sure how the conducive to driving CT is. During our tour, may time that our bus had to back up kasi may truck na nauna sa daan and one vehicle at a time lang ang makakadaan. Our bus stopped at Manarola.

My hostel roommate did CT overnight and she stayed in Vernazza.

[mama squeak!]

^thanks, sis! Nope, we're not driving to CT baka train or bus siguro. I've read how difficult it is to drive and find a parking spot there. We'll rent a car when we tour the Tuscany area na. We'll pick up the car at the Pisa airport and return it there na rin since we'll be flying out to Paris from there.

Still deciding whereabouts to base ourselves when we have the car. We plan to go to Volterra, San Gimignano, Siena, Pienza & Montepulciano. We'll probably allot 5 full days to go around the area. That would leave us 2 full days in Florence and an overnight in CT.

How're are the roads to Siena & San Gimignano? Got the Michelin maps I ordered from the States & I'm a bit overwhelmed! But I na lang we also have a GPS.

[melodymedley]

I took the train + bus when I explored SG and Sienna. Half-day each city although you could spend less time. Roads are fine naman when I took the bus from Sienna back to Florence.

2 full days in Florence is okay. 1 day for museums (if you plan to go to Accademia and Uffizi) and another day for the churches and shopping. Florence was my base for CT (one day) and SG and Sienna (another day). A total of four full days in Florence for me.

[chinita8]

^^hi mama squeak! sorry to chime in your conversation with melodymedley i am also kasi in the process of finalizing our Italy itinerary and have actually re-polished and replaced some details on our original IT, esp bcoz of the the Italian Riviera part of the trip. I want nga to share with you what i have planned just so to compare notes. 

Our plan is also to make Florence our base, just like melodymedley. From Florence, we will do a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano and go back to our Florence hotel. On the next day naman, we drive again to Bologna and Modena but still go back to Florence. And then on the next day, we leave Florence na and head to Cinque Torre for the whole day. We wont stay overnight at CT but will head to Santa Margherita Ligure instead and check in there for 2 nights. It'll be our base kasi for our day trips. We'll head to Portofino and Rapallo via ferry the next day. We then leave Santa Margherita Ligure for Milan and stay for another 3 nights there before heading back home. 

Btw, we decided na rin to start our entire Italian trip at Sorrento instead of Rome. It'll be our base kasi for our trips to the Amalfi Coast and Capri. And only then after Sorrento, we head to Rome for the usuals (for 2-3 nights), then head to Florence. 

I asked around kasi and it has been suggested that it'll be better daw to come from Rome, when you head for Florence. Eh since we want to go to Capri and Amalfi - unahin na lang namin yung Sorrento instead of Rome.

So far this has been my revised IT. If you guys have suggestions, pa-share naman. I'm still open to revisions. The michelin site suggested here really helped me alot in re-plotting our IT.

Any feedbacks, suggestions are very much welcome! TIA




 

[melodymedley]

@mama squeak! and @chinita8:
You guys are both doing Italy pero hindi kasama Venice talaga? 

Venice is my fave city in Italy. Walang kelangan gawin. Just be there - especially at night and at dawn. Kahit di nyo na bisitahin yung mga tourist spots. You can just walk and get lost and just eat. It is lovely lovely lovely.

Paris is my favorite city in the entire trip because of the Eiffel Tower and Chateau Versailles. But if it is just because of the city itself, I love love love Venice.  You can just be there and really love it.

Of course, I do understand that it is a bit out of way.

[mama squeak!]

@chinita8, sis don't you want to stay overnight in Bologna or Modena instead of going back to Florence? That's quite a drive, one way is around 170km. You'll be a doing a 340km round trip drive?  Maybe you can look into staying overnight in Bologna or Modena then drive to La Spezia on your way to Santa Margherita for your CT trip. So you break the long drive and you won't be too tired or hurried to get back to Florence.

When you check the driving time in the Michelin guide, multiply the time indicated there by 1.5 to get a more accurate drive time.

 

[mama squeak!]

@mama squeak! and @chinita8:
You guys are both doing Italy pero hindi kasama Venice talaga? 

Venice is my fave city in Italy. Walang kelangan gawin. Just be there - especially at night and at dawn. Kahit di nyo na bisitahin yung mga tourist spots. You can just walk and get lost and just eat. It is lovely lovely lovely.

sis, Venice was in our original itinerary. I would love to go there but we're time constraint na since it's way up north and out of the way. We will also be doing the Loire Valley in France that's why we have to carefully plan the time we spend in one place. Just like you we want to savor the place and try to get to know the people.

So, another reason for us to go back there di ba?   

[chinita8]

@chinita8, sis don't you want to stay overnight in Bologna or Modena instead of going back to Florence? That's quite a drive, one way is around 170km. You'll be a doing a 340km round trip drive?  Maybe you can look into staying overnight in Bologna or Modena then drive to La Spezia on your way to Santa Margherita for your CT trip. So you break the long drive and you won't be too tired or hurried to get back to Florence.

When you check the driving time in the Michelin guide, multiply the time indicated there by 1.5 to get a more accurate drive time.

 

hi mama squeak, that's a good idea on staying overnight at Bologna/Modena. I was just thinking to go back to Florence just so to minimize the checking in/checking out part on hotels since we're traveling in a large pack.  But you have a good point there considering the distance to & from. And I would think maybe hotel rates at Bologna/Modena are more forgiving than those in Florence? I'll check into this sis, thanks so much! Btw, have you decided where to stay in Florence? I have inquired on apartments but all i have inquired on are not available on our dates.  So i guess i have to check again on hotels. Mahal!

Also, would need your help on a hotel in Rome?? Because of the ZTL, we wouldn't want to be driving around. We decided to stay at the Piazza di Spagna or Via Condotti area para walking distance lang to shopping and other landmarks. We will just do a tour separately to Vatican since we prefer on having a guide for that.

Will you be passing by Milan? Any hotel suggestions there as well?? Walking distance na rin sana sa Duomo and Galleria since we plan to do our strollings even at night. TIA 

@melodymedley - we have been to Venice already twice before, so medyo we have gone around it already, kaya we skipped it na in our current IT. But I truly agree with you on falling in love with the city. We fell too hence the repeat vacation afew years after. Hehe!  Btw, would you have any reco on hotels in Florence, Rome and Milan  

Thanks to all of you! Big big help talaga kayo!!! 

[mama squeak!]

^Hotels in Modena or Bologna will definitely be cheaper compared to Florence. Check mo this link for hotels in Florence but prices may have increased:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/travel/hotflorence.html

Might be staying at an Accor hotel while in Europe since I can get discounts with them depending on the season.

We might skip Rome and arrive in Milan instead. From there we'll take the train to CT and stay overnight. Then Florence for 2 nights. Four nights around the Chianti/Siena area for our Tuscany tour. So far my IT looks like this:

D1      Arrive in Milan and take train to CT. Overnight either in Monterosso or Vernazza.

D 2    Take late afternoon train to Florence. Stay for 2 or 3 nights (still deciding)

D3-4   Florence

D5-9   Tuscany tour (4 nights)

D10-15  Loire Valley, France (6 nights)

D16-18 Paris (2 nights)

I'll be posting my final IT as soon as I know my hubby's approved VL. Most likely it will be in September/October again. Was hoping early spring sana but looks like he'll be busy at work. Hay!   
Well at least it will be the grape harvest in the Loire Valley.


 
     

[chinita8]

^thanks sis for the link info ... will check the list there  i have narrowed my florence hotel choices as well, sa Rome ako nahirapan coz super mahal  strongly considering staying at bologna, quite a number of places there to see pala, plus more time to check their food shops  will post my IT as soon as finalized, our trip will be at spring time next year. 

[melodymedley]

@chinita8 - Ganda ng Venice talaga! Italy part 2 is a good idea. Need to save save save for that! Motivation!

Sorry, I only stayed in hostels, not hotels.

[juana_antonia]

Malamig na here in Milan!

[^Vain_Chiq^]

For Rome, I recommend Pineta Palace Hotel. It's not exactly located in the city center but it's within Rome and just a metro and 2 bus rides away from most of Rome's tourist spots. Mahal kasi pag mismo sa Rome ka nag-book ng hotel plus shared bathroom pa. They also have free buffet breakfast.

[mom_G]

@chinita8, for rome i also recommend hotel san carlo if you want to be centrally located.  it is on a small street parallel to via condotti and very close to piazza di spagna.  it's still quite pricey for a 3-star hotel but if location is what you are after, you might want to consider it.

[chinita8]

^,^^ thanks vainchiq and momg for the Rome hotel recos! I'm currently looking at condotti palace, ok na Sana price point nya and location but then the price doesn't include breakfast, they charge 10euros per head for breakfast, nakikihaggle Ako pero ayaw talaga! Hay! I'll chk ur recos now!

Pls keep ur recos coming, pls pls! Thanks!

[mama squeak!]

Ladies, anyone leaving for Italy from now until March 2012? Cathay Pacific just came out with their Europe getaway surprise. Round trip fare to Rome is at USD645 plus taxes. Total airfare is USD982.00 only. Good deal na! Check their website na lang.