Oh Italy. How I love you. I really think there is nowhere quite like Italy. From the food, to the scenery and the people, it is a magical place. It’s also very busy in the summer season, and bigger than it looks. On our trip to Italy last year, we had to make some hard decisions about what to see and what to leave out. It was my second time there, and there were a few places I’d been on my previous trip that didn’t cut the mustard the second time around. So, how do you decide where to go if it’s your first time?
The truth is that there really are no bad choices. I think whatever you choose will be wonderful.
Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre
For starters, I should point out that our style of travel is to be reasonably slow and try to spend at least 2-3 days in each place to really get a feel for it, and actually feel like we are on vacation instead of The Amazing Race. The trade off for this is you don’t get to cover as many miles as maybe going on a tour - but like I said above, there are no bad choices and once you’re in it and on the trip, you won’t be thinking ‘oh man I wish I was in XYZ place’. Spending a little time in each place also leaves some room for discovery for things that maybe aren’t in the guide books, and getting to experience what local life is like, instead of rushing from place to place and trying to catch your breath.
So for our trip in 2023, we chose 3 main centres to spend our time.
Venice, the Cinque Terre & Rome (in that order) offering us three really unique and different locations & experiences, with the Cinque Terre in the middle breaking up the big cities (although it was no less busy in some ways).
On previous visits I had traveled by train from France, through to Turin, Milan and Venice and also stayed 3 days in Florence & the same in Rome. I also visited Sienna and the hilltop towns in Tuscany, which I would do again in a heartbeat but we just don’t have time this time around, and were opting for trains only. Travel in Tuscany is difficult without a car, so make sure you consider this when planning your itinerary. If you have additional time to tack on Tuscany, I would seriously consider doing this. It is incredible, especially villages like San Gimignano, Montepulciano, Radda in Chianti & Siena. If you plan on staying a few days in the area, I would recommend making Siena your base. Most people base themselves out of Florence (like I did), but I really wish I had opted to stay in Siena. It’s a good sized town ammenities wise and boy, was it beautiful. I LOVED it there. Such rich history, really amazing vibe and incredible architecture. It’s super handy to all of the small villages around too.
OK, so back to our Summer of 2023 Itinerary. Here’s where we went, where we stayed and some must do’s on your trip! Detailed Itinerary with accommodation suggestions, transportation information & more handy links below.
SUggested Itinerary:
Day 1: Venice
Day 2: Venice
Day 3: Vernazza, Cinque Terre
Day 4: Vernazza, Cinque Terre
Day 5: Vernazza, Cinque Terre
Day 6: Rome
Day 7: Rome
Day 8: Rome
If you have 10 days, suggest 2 days in Tuscany.
Before you leave
Before you leave, I would recommend booking all of your major train travel (websites provided below) and tours you have your heart set on that you think might book out. For places like the Colloseum, tours are for specific times so if you want a morning slot, book early. For other tours, like Gondola rides in Venice, you can go ahead and book the night before as they are always running and you might even get a deal.
I booked all of our train tickets in Italy in advance on either ItaliaRail & Omio.
Download all of your maps for each city before you leave, I just use google maps offline maps or city mapper. See my blog on Recommended Travel Apps.
I also recommend getting a local sim when you land. I got mine in London upon arriving for data that could be used throughout Europe, saves huge roaming fees and keeps you connected.
Also recommend getting a WISE travel card for your spending. Read more about this here, and get my referral link for a free card.
Detailed Itinerary
Here’s how we spent our time, where we stayed and how we got from A-B, plus a few things to avoid.
VENICE - Day 1-3
I wish we had allowed more time for Venice. I had been there before and really thought we just needed 2 nights to whet our appetite, say we had been and be good to go. But I loved it even more than my previous trip, and it was Bill’s (my husband) favourite location of the whole European adventure.
The big difference in my two stays all came down to where I stayed. The first visit I stayed really central not far from Piazza San Marco and it was craziness. Venice is PACKED in summer and I found it a little overwhelming. On this trip, we stayed a little further out (but still central) in the University district of Dorsoduro and it was amazing. The district had a young vibe thanks to the University, but also plenty of families and locals about. It was a lot quieter than across the water and we really just enjoyed the local Piazza close to our AirBnB, the small eateries & cafes and wondering about. This is a great area to explore Venice from, with plenty of Vaporetto stops (public transportation boats in Venice) or easy walking distance to the big sights. It’s also more reasonable pricing wise (both accommodation and the cafes).
Day 1 in Venice we arrive via air and caught a shuttle bus across to Venice via the ATVO bus. Once in Venice central it’s a bit of a zoo and very hard to figure out where to go and what to do. We looked in all directions for the Vaporetto ticket place, and honestly I think this is just a right of passage when arriving in Venice! We finally got our tickets and made the long walk around to where our stop was, not realising that we should have just walked to our accommodation. The Vaparetto’s are quite expensive, and I think we blew $50 just trying to get closer to our accommodation and in the end it only took us 2 stops. Lesson learned. We did everything on foot after that.
The inside of San Nicolò dei Mendicoli
A beautiful photo spot for the ‘gram
We spent the afternoon wondering the streets and popping in and out of Cathedrals that were open, followed by dinner in the Piazza where Aiden played football barefoot with the Italian locals who thought he was crazy.
Speaking of churches - our favourite was right next to our AirBnB, the San Nicolò dei Mendicoli which dates back to the 7th century. The inside was just beautiful.
Day 2 in Venice we had a little more structure to our morning, with a private Gondola ride booked for 9am to get our day started, which I just booked on Viator last minute. Yes this activity is really touristy, but we loved it and it’s a must do. Do a private tour if you can, its much better than the group one I did years before.
We then took a walk to the incredible Piazza San Marco (St Marcs Square) which is home to the incredible St Mark's Basilica. I recommend visiting in the morning before the crowds settle in. From there we walked to Rialto bridge, which is just as busy as St Marcs Square, if not more so as it’s a smaller space. It’s a great spot to view the Grand Canal! We then went looking for an instagram spot I had seen online / read about for some pics (had to do it, sorry not sorry) and it was well worth it. If you’re keen for a photo here, he’s a link to the location on Google Maps.
Day 2 ended the same way Day 1 did, with amazing food at the local Piazza (which I can’t even find on a map so can’t tell you where we ate, but that’s the beauty of it!) and Aiden playing football for an hour afterwards before gelato and home time.
Accommodation:
Venice accommodation comes highly recommended. 2 Bedrooms sleeping 4, nice and cool, right on a canal, great facilities and excellent location. Book Here
Cinque Terre - Days 3-6
Sunset views on the walk to Corniglia from Vernazza
The next day was a travel day, with us catching trains to Florence, and onward to La Spezia and then finally Vernazza. I booked all of our train tickets in Italy in advance on either ItaliaRail & Omio. It pays to book in advance to secure a seat, and the local train stations and ticketing can be a little confusing and you’re often rushed for time. Booking from outside of Italy is safe on the above sites. Do be careful through 3rd party websites as you often end up paying a lot more.
Vernazza is one of the super popular villages in the Cinque Terre. Each of the villages in the Cinque Terre offer something different, there are plenty of guides available online if you’re trying to figure out where to stay. For me, Vernazza caught my heart 10yrs before, so I wanted to return. It’s a great base, but it is very busy, but so are most of the towns here. You can opt to stay somewhere like Genoa and train in each day which would save you a fair bit of money.
Our little Apartment was really great. We opted to stay a little out of the centre up the hill which turned out to be a great idea. It wasn’t the quietest, but otherwise a fabulous stay with 2 bedrooms and a rooftop terrace that was perfection!
Although overrun with a LOT of tourists (especially Americans we noticed), Vernazza and the Cinque Terre is a magical place where you step back in time. We spent majority of our time walking, swimming, eating or napping it seems, and there were no complaints here. On our second day (which was my birthday!) we hiked one of the famed town to town walks, Vernazza to Monterosso. The track was busy, but we really loved it. The views are unlike anything I’ve ever seen making the hill climbs worth it. When we arrived in Monterosso we headed straight for Gelato and then the beach and swam for hours in the warm ocean. We trained back, napped and then headed out for dinner at a special spot for my birthday. Restorante Belforte, which is up a tower on the edge of town overlooking the water and village. Make sure if you’re booking here you request the very top of the tower. The food was also amazing!!
Vernazza to Monterosso Hike, at the first lookout
During our stay here, I also did a sunset walk up the hill on the side which leads to Corniglia (amazing views) and we took a boat ride to Riomaggiore which is very picturesque, loved it here. It’s all the town that the move Luca is based on :)
The Cinque Terre was the slow down in pace we needed before heading to Rome.
Accommodation
Our apartment in Vernazza also comes highly recommended if you decide to stay here. I loved the location and the rooftop terrace was super cool! I would recommend Vernazza or Monterosso as a base. Book via Booking.com here
Rome - Days 6-8
Rome! Rome is an assault to the senses, but in all the right ways. Get ready for cultural overwhelm, crowds, heat and incredible food and vibe. If you’re not a big city person, you might not warm to Rome straight away, but once the history gets under your skin, you can’t help but love it. We fit a lot into our 3 days here including a combination of tours and DIY seeing the sights.
For the tours we did the following. The hop on hop off bus is also a great option for Rome seeing as it’s so big.
Vatican City Tour - if you’re wanting to do this, do yourself a huge favour and buy a skip the line pass from a tour operator. The lines are HUGE. We were very thankful we got escorted in, and then were left to our own devices inside. The Sistine Chapel is not to be missed.
Colosseum & Palatine Hill Tour - again, there is only one way to see the Colosseum - skip. the. line. Make sure you book in advance to do a tour, but also beware of who you are booking with. I consider myself pretty savvy, but booked a tour on Viator and when we showed up at the address it was all bolted up and we had been ripped off. Viator was great and reimbursed us, but we wasted a lot of time and then had to try to book another tour on the spot and it’s CRAZY around there with the number of tour operators / scammers and people approaching you. Anyway, we found a good one and headed off on a waking tour that was great.
Some more highly recommended sights are:
Pantheon (very busy)
Trevi Fountain (very very busy)
Campidoglio (a hilltop square designed by Michelangelo)
The Cat Sanctuary is actually very cool. Right across from our hotel, ruins that are cordoned off and now home to many abandoned kitties. We visited our little one eyed, three legged friends each day.
Teatro di Marcello which we just happened upon by accident. These ruins weren’t in any guidebook we saw, but were free to roam around in and were seriously impressive.
Another little known spot is Isola Tiberina which is little island on the Tiber where the hospital is located, but it’s quiet and quite a cool spot to wonder around with great views and some neat old ruins
Trastevere - anywhere! We loved this little suburb. Beautiful streets lined with ivy and florals, great restaurants with some of the best food we had in Italy. Really charming spot.
Getting Around: We did a LOT of walking in Rome, but on the final day actually started using the busses which were really easy to use, and on time. I’d recommend. You can tap on and off just using your credit card too, so no tickets required. The trams are also pretty easy to use. You can see more at Rome.net.
Incredible dinner at Nannarella.
Eating Out
We ate at some really great restaurants in Travastere & around Rome, many of which I don’t even know where we were… but here are a few of our favourites I can recollect!
Nannarella, Piazza di S. Calisto. Book early, otherwise you might have a bit of a wait. But worth it!
Come Na Vorta, Vicolo del Cinque. Must have the panna cotta! And lasagne.
In our experience, you can’t go wrong with food in Italy. Stay away from the main touristy areas where you will pay more and not get authentic food (a red flag would be food like cheeseburgers or fish and chips on the menu).
Accommodation - Hotel Barrett
Our accommodation in Rome was an absolute HOOT. The welcome we got was like something I have never experienced in my 20yrs of traveling. We got taken up to our room and got given an incredible speed tour on all the ‘features’ of the room including so much free food I could’t believe it. The guy was speaking a hundred miles a minute and he was so endearing, the whole thing was hilarious. And yes a FULLY stocked mini fridge full of all the food you can eat with restocking each day, plus wine. It was in a great spot right across from the famed Cat Sanctuary. Also very reasonably priced, but also I feel like I should mention, the rooms are small. We didn’t care, only there to sleep and eat all the snacks 😂
Have the best time in Italy! There are so many places to see, next time we will head further south as I’d love to see the Amalfi Coast. Let me know if you end up using any of the info in the blog and happy travels. You can also see my highlighted instagram stories from this trip on instagram.
Justine x
