Our 5 year anniversary and my 30th birthday are in about 1.5 years. I asked DH where would he like to take a "big trip." LO will be 2, so we *may* feel comfortable leaving her for a week with my parents. He suggested Italy. We love good food, but don't consider ourselves major foodies. We like to explore muesums, go to the beach, shop, and relax. I like the idea of saving up for it. Any ideas of where to even begin to plan a week vacation?!? I haven't done any international travel since I was a kid living in Germany. I've been to Italy, but don't remember it.
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What season? A week is pretty quick, so I would probably limit it to two cities max. When I don't know much about a place, I always start by googling "top ten city name".
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I would start with what you want to see most, if anything. There are certainly beach towns and islands you can stay on in Italy, if that's really your thing. The regions are pretty different so I'd just start doing research and see what really stands out for you! Love Italy; we've both been but not together and we're planning on going this year / early summer.
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Are you a "stick to one spot and chill " type of traveler, or game for moving around on your own? Our plan (one day soon I hope!) is to fly into Rome, spend 2 days and sightsee, then rent a car and drive the almafi coast and just stay in little towns along the way. There are also amazing tours available that take you from castle to Castle to eat and drink wine.
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I would get a Lonely Planet Italy. Flip through it and see what appeals to you. Like somebody else said, a week isn't that long so make a list of what you'd like to see and then narrow it down to what's feasible. Remember to give yourself more time than you need - you can always fill extra time sitting in a cafe drinking wine and people watching, but it sucks to leave a place when you feel like you aren't done with it.
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If you like seeing things that are more authentic and less well worn, def hire a car and drive out of the main centres. The big cities like Rome are breathtaking of course, so you could also just spend all your time in one or two of them. I would also suggest picking a region and staying there if you only have a week. E.g. the lake region in the north, or Naples and the Amalfi Coast. In saying that, the trains are brilliant there & you'll see some countryside when on there! Enjoy it, you can't really go wrong with such a stunning country!
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Thanks! I say a week because I can't imagine being away from LO for two weeks; let alone one!!! But, maybe we should wait for when she's older when we feel more comfortable being away longer!
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Definitely go for more than a week! Flying across that many time zones, you'll lose at least a day and a half adjusting to the time difference alone, and then you'll need some additional transit days if you want to hit more than one region. I would do at least two weeks for Italy.
Start with TripAdvisor and just look around at top destinations in Italy and start a Pinterest board to keep track of places and photos that make your heart beat faster. Then work out the details from there.
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I agree with @Tanjowen: !!
Fly into Rome, from DC that should be your best bet. Do Rome for 2-3 days, then rent a car and do the Amalfi Coast. So so pretty and chill. Stay in Positsno or on Capri! Or pick one of the smaller towns. (Don't travel to Italy in August FYI)Or, fly to Milan, and visit Lake Como, Venice, northern Italy. Drive or plan train travel.
I'm partial to Florence too. If you're into wine you can tour the Chianti region and Tuscany. It's really easy to have a car and do this. If you want rent a home in Tuscany, use that as home base and just travel all of the smaller towns surrounding Florence. The island of Elba is part of Tuscany and pretty great. At least it was when I stayed there 12 years ago, and that could be an overnight.
I would research what part of Italy interests you most and narrow down a region, then take it from there!! Agree with another about using Trip Advisor to help.
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I have found Trip Advisor forums really helpful in the past. You can often find other people's itineraries with comments from people who are familiar with the areas. That iften helps me narrow down what I'm interested in doing seeing and understanding what is feasible with my timeline. I like to explore on vacation, but I never want to feel over booked and come back needing to recover.
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When I went to Venice and Florence, I got most of my stuff from Rick Steves books/podcasts, a few tips from friends and my hotel website. Here is the tourism website for Venice (Venezia) http://www.visit-venice-italy.com/address-tourist-board-venice-italy.htm . Also there is a way to get your Uffizi museum tix online so that you don't have to stand in line (yes, trust me, do this.) We didn't drive at all but saw a ton of tourist stuff in our short stay. We also closed the restaurant down, drinking with the locals!!
We LOVED our trip!! Still want to go back but DH doesn't want to go international for awhile. Boo!!
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