Best place in Italy for a city break other than Rome?

Show all answers

phoenix2frequent

Venice!

Culture: well, how can you beat a city built on water? And if you want a city break, Venice certainly qualifies: it used to be an entirely independent city-state.

If you're going soon, you could time your visit so you're there for Carnival (pricey but what a party!) This year, it runs from 25 Jan to 5 Feb.
Otherwise, I'd recommend May as a lovely time: the weather by then is warm and sunny but the city isn't packed out like it gets in summer.
Avoid August! (Crowds, heat...and more crowds).

For general sightseeing, start by hopping aboard the main vaporetto (water-bus) route down the Grand Canal from the station to St Mark's.

Museums like the Doge's Palace and the Accademia art gallery are unmissable.

St Mark's Square: dress up and go to Harry's Bar at the Cafe Vallaresso to drink Bellinis where they invented this fab peach-and-prosecco cocktail. Or sit out in your choice of the cafe terraces and watch the world go by. Do visit the gorgeous St Mark's cathedral. Worth booking a guided tour -- the place is huge and full of the most amazing mosaics.

The shopping is wonderful, and it doesn't matter if you walk into the road without looking (because you were too busy gasping at the windows of Gucci/Versace etc! ;-) ) -- you won't get run down because there are no cars.
(Fortunately there aren't many stores along the Grand Canal...)
Rialto bridge area for junky souvenirs but also interesting jewellery.
Between St Mark's and the Rialto there are some astonishing glassmakers' studios (where you can buy everything from beads and earrings to huge, scarily ornate vasess!)
From St Mark's heading the opposite way (towards the Arsenal) there are more boutiques, plus places like mask-making shop/studios. In brief, fantastic either for buying, browsing or window-shopping.

stephen t

Florence is a good place to visit I recommend it.

lara

Bologna

ÐœÐ°Ñ€Ñ‚Ð¸Ð½Ð° *twilighter*

milan!!!

SAPPER

I second Verona, Romeo& Juliet country, good food and Shopping, Nice (no not Neece as in France) but Very Nice,

BillyB8

Firenze is always a good bet. Also try the Veneto region. There's Verona with it's amphitheatre, Vicenza for shops. And architecture. Padua is a lively university city and the track ends in Venice. Just get lost in the back streets.

Tom Hagen

I'm Italian.. it depends what are you looking here..
there are nice cities with Sea, Countryside, Snow..
for shopping everyplace is good.. near Rome there is a City (Fashion District, Valmontone) with all best brands of fashion.

In my opinion the best place is the Toscain countryside, a city near Florence.. San Gimignano for example..

if you like snow and winter games.. you can go in Bruneck, near Bolzano

jane & john doe

Venice

jane

*mental*MooCow*

Venice, absolutely lovely. but take some serious spending money with you though as some of the places are not cheap.
if you want to eat in st marks square that is very expensive and be wary of sitting down to order just a drink as a lot of the popular places have a surcharge for not eating of between 8 - 15 euros.
the taxis are around 60 euros for each trip and the gondolas are around 150 euros for an hour. but you can catch the water busses for around 30 euros for a 3 day pass which isn't bad compared to the taxis.

the food is amazing in some of the restaurants, again can be pricey but you can find all levels of cost to suit you, you just have to look around a bit.
if you go you must go to murano and see the glass factory, the glass there is exquisite, we came back with 6 champagne glasses for 700 euros, well they get delivered to you back in the UK.

oh and also visit burano, they have some of the best lace in the world, all made on the island.

DuncE

It has to be Florence. Don't even look any further!

Jade

florence

Max

Verona without a doubt, the "Centro Storico" is super and has it all including the obligatory Roman Arena.

pac308

turin.

tommyrox

UMBRIA !!!!(ASSISI-PERUGIA-ORVIETO-NORCIA-ECC.....

Alexandra Mary

If you plan to shop in Venice you'll spend a lot of money and won't find a large variety of shops. For what concerns food it'd be hard to find a place with reasonable prices as Venice is a real tourist trap. Still, it's a gorgeous city, unique as built on the water and very romantic, too bad it looks really sad if u visit in a cloudy or rainy day (i mean, everything's gray and looks dirty).

For a girls weekend if not Rome I'd suggest Milan: nice city, lot of history(ever read "the davinci code"? Milan is where "the last supper" by L. da Vinci is located) ...and lot of shopping, Milan is Italy's main city when it comes to fashion

looks like what u'r looking for?

dirtymartini

florence

White Rose

Venice,absoluetly gorgeous,so much so ,ive been there three times,No worries of traffic,ST ,Mark,s square beautifull,shops brilliant.

Lynn B

Try Sorrento, I went there with friends last year and it's reallt nice. Capri is a ferry ride away and it has loads of shops. There are plenty of restaurants and bars in Sorrento

USMB

Naples is particulary good, especially in the Spring!

**Flashy**

Bournemouth.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: