Hi there we are planning a trip to Italy and would appreciate any suggestions on must do’s and places to see. How long you u would recommend in any spot? Places to pass on. Will be there about 3 1/2 weeks. TIA

Rod
Rick Steves is a great place to start. His audio app is incredible for info and walks in the main places. I’ve been 6 times and must say it is really such a diverse county. I would start watching YouTube videos on things to do and see in Italy. Then search areas or cities that interest you. 3 weeks is a good amount of time. I would maybe pick 3 or 4 places to use as a home base. The train system there is fantastic. Not sure if you are interested in driving, driving in and around Tuscany is the most amazing drives I’ve done. Italy has so much for everyone. Figure out what you want to do and experience and you will find plenty of it. There are free walking tours in all the major areas. It’s a fantastic way to get to know a city. Of course you tip at the end. I’ve had some spectacular walks. The Rick Steve’s website also has user driven forums on many topics. There are also many pages on Italy here Facebook that I have joined. Enjoy. It’s an incredible country.

Rod great suggestions. We watched lots of forums on his website this winter. Going to buy his book. We plan on using his audio for tours with his Rick Steves app we have downloaded.
All his info has made us feel more confident and ready to travel this autumn to Italy.
We also watched Stanley Tucci’s shows. My husband plans on eating his way through Italy
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Thanks for the tip on free walking tours. We have done a few of those now on different vacations. They are very well done. In Australia they were high energy University students.

Holly can’t pick a better country to eat your eat through. Seriously hard to have a bad meal. Not sure of you are into renaissance art, or not. There are some stunning pieces in very unassuming places. Again YouTube is your friend for this stuff. My first trip was long before the internet, not sure how we did anything or went anywhere. Haha. Oh right, we talked to people constantly. Any popular things you want to experience, for instance the David, you should book in advance. If there is a skip the line option that’s not to expensive, take it. I wanted to see the David again this past spring. I had a given time slot and walked but literally hundreds of people waiting to get in through general admission. 

Rod thank you. We will look on YouTube, have used it for a variety of things. Forgot to look about Italy on YouTube. Thanks, good tip.
Rick mentioned about pre-booking to skip lines. We plan on doing that 100%.

Holly Rick never leads you astray. Enjoy. Oh, maybe look into a local sim or an ESIM. Saves tons over you local phone carrier. It’s nice to be able to use maps and translate any time you need/want.

Rod will do.

We wished we had spent way more time in Florence and less time in Rome. Florence is a great hub for lots of little day trips and was absolutely lovely! We didn’t get to do any of the day trips because we didn’t have enough time there.

Erin agreed on this. Maximize the time in Florence

We have done Italy for about the same time frame (we started in Paris for 5 days). We did Venice, Framura (Cinque Terre), Florence (with day trips thru Tuscany, Pisa, Siena and Lucca), Positano (Amalfi Coast) and finished in Rome (which we had also done before on a previous trip). We mixed private rentals with boutique hotels. We trained between cities and rented a car in Tuscany. Italy is so incredibly diverse and rich in history so my biggest suggestion is to focus more quality in a smaller number of places than trying to jam in too much.

Italy has so many beautiful areas. We spent 3 1/2 weeks. Did 6 nights in an apartment just off San Marco Square in Venice. Loved the late afternoons and evenings after the hordes of tourists left. Definitely check Rick Steve’s for his hints and recommendations. Then we rented a car, easy, and stayed a few nights in rural Tuscany, visiting Florence, San Gimignano, Siena… Train from Venice to Florence is also easy. Stay in central Florence and rent a car to explore outside the city. We then drove to Sorrento. Love the area. Spectacular views. Turned the car in. Tour down Amalfi coast. Day trip to Capri. Train to Pompeii for the day. Could continue to Naples. Then bussed to Rome. Stayed Centro, walking distance to many sites. Colosseum, Forum … recommend Vatican Museum tour through Angel Tours. Loved Villa Borghese Gallery. Amazing Bernini sculptures. No matter where you go, amazing scenes, architecture, cathedrals, art…

Stop doing the tourist traps. Go see real Italy. You can catch a ferry from Napoli to an island called Ischia. Make your way to a town at the very tip called S'Angelo. You won't regret it. I highly recommend traveling down the heel of the boot as well to a city called Gallipoli. Take in Sunday on the beach to see how the Italians truly live.

Florence is my favorite place to visit! I'm trying to retire there now
We did Venice as well and while it is beautiful, the tourists were awful, pushy and made the experience terrible.
We were only in Rome 24 hours and it wasn't enough. It's an insanely busy city but the coliseum was incredible!

Do a walking food tour in Rome! Expensive but worth every euro!!! Go eat in Bologna, wine tour in Tuscany, Beaches and lemons in Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Hike Cinque Terre. We did 3 weeks and it was all amazing. Florence we spent 5 days and it was too long for us, but we are not museum people - if that's your jam, there's tons to do!

We stayed a week in Vico D’Equense which is on the bay of Naples and an easy train ride to Pompeii Herculaneum sorrento capri…. Made lots of days trips without the hassle of parking especially in Naples which has a very high rate of theft from cars (and pickpockets).
One day we took the train to Sorrento and the regular bus service to amalfi—great experience and lots of fun too
Cinqueterra is also lovely.

Luino is lovely. If you do the big sights in Rome, Florence, and Pisa, I highly recommend booking skip the line tours.

Head North! We landed in Verona and stayed off the beaten trail and found the driving easy and lots of great places to stay. We went in March and drove around and booked our hotel every day around 4 PM depending where we ended up that day. Lake Garda is stunning. Trento was really nice. Borghetto is a hidden gem. The countryside around that area is breathtaking and lots of Agriturismos (farm stays) to select from. No hustle and bustle at all.

Ruth curious about booking the hotels same day. Do you think you paid less than had you booked in advance?

Rod we were likely off season so prices were low already but yes we probably saved some. Also when you search on Google Maps and not on expedia there were way more options and was still able to book and pay in Canadian as Google gives you lots of booking options. Also sometimes we drove to check out a place and the pictures oversold it and some places were way better than their pictures so we really got some spectacular places in the end.

Ruth this sounds exciting. I am going in to be spending extended periods at some point. I do like the idea of winging it like we did during our first backpacking trip when I was 22.

It really works out good. The internet is too full of information and it is hard to find the hidden gems until you literally stumble upon them. Also, locals know where the good stuff is at so we got so many top rated non-touristy suggestions from locals.

Lovely location to visit but I would highly recommend avoiding peak season for any Italian destination. The statistics on the number of tourists on the rebound after covid is mind boggling and has ruined the experience in my opinion.

Where will you be staying in Italy? There are so many beautiful places to see…! We have visited 4 times spending 6-7 weeks each time. We try to visit different places each time but definitely go back to a few favourites. Feel free to PM me if you’d like some suggestions.

We loved Florence and could have spent more time there, so much to see. We also went to Venice but stayed on the mainland and took the bus to Venice everyday, was cheaper. We also went to Milan. We travelled by train, this was a year ago March. Enjoy your trip!

If your going in September and your in Verona try and get tickets for an opera in the Colosseum(they sell out quickly) it is fantastic! We sat on the Roman seats and watched Cats(in Italian) under the stars! A favorite memory!!! Another was an all day cooking class in Varenna! So much fun! I also loved Assisi another favorite....there are so many little towns that have b&b's.... off the beaten track is the best way...at least for us! My very favorite place is Vernazza in Cinque Terre(after all the tour boats leave with the multitude of people it is magical....we order a pizza and get a bottle of wine and sit on the edge of the bay at sunset! Love it! Enjoy!

I recommend Florence as well and recommend hiring a driver and exploring Tuscany - you can drive yourself but the wine is amazing which is why I recommend a driver

Shannon Kovacs
We leave in about 2 ½ weeks to meet up with our daughter from her semester in Tuscany. We are planning to do the tourist highlights because they’re highlights for a reason, as well as some general wandering in less touristy areas. So far we’re relaying heavily on trains with only a few days of car rental so we can experience Tuscany. Trenitalia and Italo websites are both helpful for planning travel (Italo is mostly larger cities and Trenitalia also includes the regional routes to the smaller places).
I usually make three lists: what am I not leaving until I see, what do I want to see and what’s interesting if I have extra time. If I can do everything on the first list, and half of what’s on my second list, I’m a happy traveller.

We spent 3 weeks in Italy. Flew into Rome, trained to Naples and then ferry to Sorrento. Took a bus tour along the Amalfi coast. Trained to Cinque Terre and stayed in Monterosso. Day trip by train and ferry to Portofino. Trained to Florence. Trained to Venice. We spent 3 nights in each location. Could have spent another day in each location. If you want our exact itinerary I can email it to you.

Terri going to Amalfi this April with my best friend and we are overwhelmed with all the hotel options. Any suggestions for Sorrento?! We are thinking of taking ferry from Naples to Sorrento and then train back to Naples for when we fly out. Is the ferry worth it or just train it?!

Louise we didn’t same thing. We took the ferry there and train back. The ferry ride was beautiful. I will have a look but honestly the hotel we stayed in was OK but not great. It was near downtown so lots of walkable access to restaurants, shopping, etc.

Terri thanks! We are looking at staying downtown too in the historic district so we can be close to restaurants for dinner options.

Check out the Romewise and Florence's posts on YouTube. Lots of great insight and tips.

Following

Brenda I’m sure you have some suggestions

Scott I probably do!!

Get the
Rick Steves' Europe guide book. Has really helped me with planning our trip.