I need help planning a 16 day trip to Italy!!!???.......?

Question

My boyfriend and I are going to Italy for 16 days over new years and the first part of January. We were hoping to stay at smaller, more local, botique type of hotels or bed and breakfast type of places. We were planning on spending time in Rome, Venice, & Tuscany. I also heard something about a Village called Volpaia that was supposed to be amazing. If anyone has any tips about places to stay, sites to see, what the weather will be like, if we should rent a car, etc. I would love to hear any input!!! Thank you all for your help!!!

Answer 1

Milan - The Refrectory of Santa Maria del Grazie to see The Last Supper (Tickets in advance)

Venice - Saint Mark's Square, The Doge's Palace, Rialto bridge, Bridge of Sighs, Arsenal, The Accademia, Giacomo Cassanova's house, The Grand Canal and Murano.

Rome - Vatican Museums which include the Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basillica, Castel Saint Angelo, Forum, Colosseum, Palatine, Circus Maximus, Via Appia, Gallery Borghese, Capitoline Museums, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon and many many churches.

Florence - Uffizi Gallery (tickets in advance), Accademia (Michelangelo's David is there, Bargello, Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia with its sculpture, various churches and family chapels, Palazzo Pitti, Fort Belvedere.

Naples- Pompeii, Herculanium.

Padua, Verona, the lakes, the Dolomites etc etc.

I can only list a few things here or I'd be going on for days

If you're pushed for time then train travel in Italy is very cheep and efficient.

If you intend to hire a car I would do so in advance. Beware that the drivers in Italy are completely mad!!!

Great guide books are the Eyewitness Travel Guides. They have photos, every attraction you can think of, opening times and great maps.

Weather will be a little cold and it may rain but its great for sight seeing.

Take a look at these web sites and enjoy your trip.

http://mv.vatican.va/3_en/pages/mv_home....


http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/englis...


http://www.whatsonwhen.com/scripts/query...

www.venere.com

buon fortuna

Answer 2

You are going to be cold.
Do not rent a car, just take the train from town to town. Most towns are walkable, but DO bring comfortable shoes. By day 7 of my last trip, walking in cute shoes, I felt like I was walking on broken feet. LOL
In Venice, I stayed at the Hotel Nazionale. It was a very nice 3-star hotel, moderately priced, and served breakfast in the morning. It IS on the canals, so you may get a room with a view.
Don't spend too much time in Rome, its a tad boring. Write to me and I can tell you where I stayed, I just can't remember right now :) . See the *other* parts of Italy. You will fall in love with it, it is an amazing country.

Answer 3

I don't agree with Valentine who said that Rome is boring. It's a beautiful place. I think you could spend 6 days in Rome and you should cover Vatican, Spanish Steps/Trevi, Forum/Colloseum, St Peter's, the many fountains in town. Forget about renting a car. Just get used to the buses and train. The last time we stayed at an apartment within walking distance from Colloseum. That saved us a lot of orientation during the first few days. Beware of pickpockets. Avoid crowded buses and trains during peak periods. Wear comfortable shoes as almost everywhere the footpaths are paved in cobblestone. Drop me an email if you need further info

Answer 4

It is easy to find boutique hotels by doing a search. There is a huge difference in cost between boutique hotels (very expensive and B&B which are called pensione in the cities or agroturism in the country. When you say Tuscany does that mean you want to be in Florence and Siena or in the countryside for which you will need a car. Rule number one is to never eat near the Cathedral or main piazza as that will be the most expensive and full of tourists. Rule number two is never eat in a restaurant where the menu is in 4 languages, go where the menu is in Italian and you hear Italian being spoken. You don't say what month you are going. It is cold now and you can find rain and snow. You can check out specifics on the weather channel.

Answer 5

Everywhere in Italy is magnifico. The weather will be unpredictable that time of year, but you should have little trouble finding a place to stay because it isn't tourist season and so there will be openings and perhaps discounts. As for renting a car, it depends on you and where you want to go. I prefer taking the trains, but yes, if you want to go into the smaller villages in Tuscana, a car would be helpful, but DON'T drive in the cities, especially Roma unless you want a major adrenaline rush. Me, I prefer a peaceful journey.

Answer 6

I'd say skip the car, too. Train rides are quite cheap in Italy compared to the rest of Italy. And you can base yourself in the cities and branch out to take in the sites of the smaller towns. For example, stay in Florence but take a day trip to a vineyard.

If you're into Mideval scenes, Assisi is nice. Oh, and if you're into food--Bologna is a great stop.

Answer 7

I would try going on a contiki trip, if you're younger. The hotels aren't B&B types, but they all the planning (transportation, food) for you and it's a good deal. If you feel like going alone, See the spanish steps in Rome, get lost in Venice (you will anyway) and be sure to taste the gelati.

Answer 8

I'm italian, i visited years ago the place that you have written (Volpaia) in Tuscany, a very little isolated village, that looks like a ghost town.
A very boring place!!!

Answer 9

For accomodation in Florence and Tuscany you can check here:
http://www.tuscanweb.com

What to see in Florence check here:
http://www.tuscanweb.com/news/?ID=51

More about Tuscany:
http://www.tuscanweb.com/region/

Answer 10

Hi,

You've already gotten lots of good tips.

I will suggest that you have a look at this site to get some more tips about Tuscany:
http://www.italyexposed.com/Tuscany.shtml

Have a nice trip!