I have to plan a 2 week Italy trip. What is the best way to plan it w/o a travel agent?

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justme

Research online, and check out some travel guides that fit your personality (Frommers, Foders, Rick Steves, Shoestring, etc) I loved the Cinque Terre (5 towns) along the Italian Riviera-beautiful, small and friendly, not too touristy, great hiking and views. Rome is a must, especially if you enjoy historical sites. Pisa is worth a stop, of course. I also loved Firenze! (Florence) The Uffizi is worth the wait, and you can walk up into the hills to the tiny town of Fiesole for a bit of a culture shock. Also, Venetia! (Venice) is grand! (Make sure you arrange for accomodations there, as I ended up staying in a tent far outside the city b/c nothing was available in the summer!!! :) Now I'm dreaming.....Italy is incredible.....I'm jealous!!! Have fun!

fredrika@play

i just got back from Rome and Venice in april. in Rome try to find a hotel near the Piazza de Navona, its pretty much in the center of it all. you can walk about anywhere.
in Venice we stayed at the Belinni hotel, it was nice and clean. but it doesnt much matter were you stay in Venice cause you can walk around the whole city in about 4 hours and thats with getting lost about 3 times.
watch for pick pockets and they almost all speak english!!

hurricane_0_8

I've been told that planning the trip is half the fun. Congratulations on doing both the traveling and the planning.

One thing you should not forget to do is to buy travel insurance. It will help protect you if you need to change plans or if you suffer an illness or injury while traveling. It is important to get your travel insurance independent of your travel tickets to avoid any conflict of interest.

To learn more from the industry leader, go to http://www.wavehelp.com/travel-medical/index.htm and click on the red phone booth. Read about "Worldwide Health" insurance and the other policies available. If you see something that suits you, you can buy on-line at the same site.

Ciao!

Best wishes.

beacon732003

italia!!!

spent abt 12 days in parts of italy n loved it!!! won't bore you with the details, but u shld read up a lot to know here u want to visit...
We visited Rome, Florence ( n the nearby towns...they were lovely!!!), Venice n Milan..a little tight., given the time..

borrow some guide books from the library...check out frommers n foders on the internet...chk their message boards on the respective cities to get a gd idea n learn from others' experience, to make urs better, if not as gd...

dun cramp too much in too little a time....there's a lot of wondeful architecure in Rome, beautiful places to visit from Florence (we loved Florence on hindsight...spend at least 2 days there...) to other towns like Sienna n Pisa...Venice is lovely, but abt a full day shld do the job...n Milan...well, not too much there, but shopping is great, as long as u're willling to spend...

hope the above helps...n how i wish to do Italy all over again!!! :)

Frank B

Venice!

knittinmama

You can get some good guide books at any bookstore. We like National Geographic's series. We did Rome and Florence two years ago.

Rome is a must! If you can write ahead and get reservations for a tour of the Scavi (excavations) under St. Peters go for it. You can find info on the Internet, do a search for St. Peters Scavi. Do the Sistine Chapel. You can get tickets ahead of time but still have to stand in line. Bypass the Vatican museum, which you have to walk through to get to the Chapel. There are better museums elsewhere. Also the forum area is very good...Colosseum, etc. The Spanish Steps area is great if you like high end shopping and the Trevi Fountain is nearby

In Florence there are some magnificent museums and also the "Doumo" as well as wonderful places to eat.

You can take day trips to Sienna, Assisi and Pisa from Florence. We stayed at a place in Imrunetta, which is about 20 minutes by bus from Florence, you can walk everywhere in Florence and in Rome take public transportation but watch out for pick pockets.
We didn't have trouble with pick pockets and took taxis and busses in Rome.

Can I go with you?

dlil

buy the Rick Steves book!

ROMA

Do on-line research and get some travel books (guides).
Reserve large cities like Venice, Florence and Rome, but be spontaneous in other places-see what appeals to you.
Everywhere in Italy is a "should definitely visit" so you can't go wrong. All of Italy is a gem.

Vanessa

Look by differents site and compare prices.

jay

I just got back from Italy a week ago and it was AMAZING! Do research on the net.

I stayed mostly in Rome. We took Green Line Tours to explore Rome. They were wonderful. We also went to Florence (by train from Rome), Naples, and Pompeii. You have to go there...WOW! If you plan to go to the Vatican, go early. We went with a tour and lined up at 7:30am...we were in line for about two hours which isn't bad. If you get there later, you'll be in line for MUCH longer. Same goes for Colosseum. If you like to shop, there is a tour (from Florence) that will take you to the high fashion outlets like Gucci, Prada, D&G, etc.

Have fun, SO JELOUS...wish I could go back :( Oh, and don't forget to watch out for gypsies and pickpockets! My dad got attacked (literally jumped) by three gypsies on the first day, they were trying to pull his backpack off him. Don't be fooled by anyone and always be on your guard.

trucco613

I lived in Italy for about 5 months & visited again last year. Check out these sites for hotels:

www.nycerome.com
www.nyceflorence.com
www.nycevenice.com
www.nycemilan.com

They're great because they give you a map of the city & you can choose which zone you want to stay in. It makes it really easy to figure out how close you are to the things you want to see. For Rome I highly recommend staying in the center of town (anything near the Spanish Steps, Via Veneto, Trevi Fountain, or Navona). Anything else & you're a little far out. Don't stay near Termini, not a great area. I wouldn't stay near the Vatican or in Trastevere, either. Too far out.

And when you narrow down the hotels that you're looking for go to www.tripadvisor.com & look it up. People give you the low down on how good or bad the hotel was. I recommend Domus Julia in Rome (great area, the price was great for tourist season & very nice) & Hotel Globus in Florence (might be a little pricey but it's a beautiful hotel).

If you do go to Rome go have an evening drink on the back patio of Hotel dei Russi. It's a few minutes walk from the Spanish Steps on Via del Babuino. Gorgeous garden patio.

And this might sound crazy in the land of Italian food but Maharajah on Via dei Serpenti has the best Indian food I've ever eaten.

Enjoy!

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