What is the best way to see Italy and feel like you got your money's worth?

Question

Thinking about the Almafi Coast and Tuscany or Lake Como with some day trips to Rome and Venice - but need ideas of good places to stay and see that are nice but don't cost a lot of money.

Answer 1

This really depends a lot on your likes and personality. For me, it would be having the time and flexibility to explore things that catch my attention while I'm here. That means more individualized travel and less organized point-to-point travel where the point is to check off some number of sights without the time to really look at anything. There are a lot of local festivals here that are worth taking the time to participate in if you happen across one in your travels.

The Amalfi Coast is an excellent choice. It's worth taking a day to go to Pompeii and Herculaneum while you're there. Capri is also worth visiting. If you're there in May, you may hit their saint day - there's a parade from the church through the town of Capri and down into Marina Grande. This is followed by fireworks and parties - an example of a time when it would be good to have a flexible schedule. Sorrento, Amalfi, Ravello, and Positano are all worth time. Rome is worth more than a day, but you could do a day trip and hit the sights that most interest you. Florence is the obvious highlight in Tuscany, but places like Siena, the Chianti region, San Gimignano, etc are worth including to the extent that you have time. Pisa is a nice city, but I would recommend seeing the tower, the Duomo and the baptistry (all co-located) and then going to Lucca for the rest of the day.

If you choose to go to northern Italy, you might consider Lago Garda rather than Como. They're both beautiful places, but Venice is a much easier day trip from Garda and you can also easily get to Verona, Mantova, Padova, ... Sirmione, Limone, and Malcesine are my favorite places to stay on the lake. Desenzano and Peschiera del Garda have train stations and are on the line between Milan and Venice.

The site I use for hotels in Italy is: http://en.venere.com/italy/. You can sort by price, guest rating, location within your city and other criteria and read reviews by past guests to get a feel of what to expect. There are other sites that are equivalent - I've had nothing but good experiences in the 9 years I've been using Venere though.

Answer 2

To tour Italy with no set plan or a full understanding of the language is a folly. Your best bet is to contact companies who conduct tours. They have those which are escorted and not escorted. Non escorted do establish itineraries. Cosmos, Globus, Tauck, Brennan's are but a few which you should investigate. I should also mention Parillo tours who are almost exclusively Italy.

Answer 3

I'm wondering if you've looked at the map yet.  

Rome is much more than a day trip - oh and situated between the Amalfi Coast & Tuscany.

Answer 4

We did a tour with Insight Tours. They were great. The age of the tourists varied from 20 to 65. They also came from all over the world. We had people from England, China, California, Hawaii, Canada, New Zealand and New York. You spend a lot of time with your fellow tourists so it's  important to pick the right tour group for you.

What I liked about a tour is they handle everything, transportation,hotels,luggage,tickets for tours. They know how to get around traffic and the best times to get into attractions.

We were in Italy for 21 days. 17days on a tour and 4 days in Rome on our own. It was a trip of a lifetime and we had so much fun.  We started  the tour in Rome, Naples, Almafi coast, Capri, Sicily, Sienna,Verona, Venice, Milan, Lake Como,Pisa, Florence, Tuscany and back to Rome.

I also like Trafalgar Tours. Go on line and check the tours out. We traveled in September and booked our trip with a travel agent. We got a good deal on airfare. $550 each out of NY to Rome. It gave us security knowing we had a travel agent back home in case we had a problem. We also purchased travel insurance in case of sickness or accident. You never know and it's not expensive.

Here is a good website if you want to do a tour on your own.

http://www.slowtrav.com/Italy

Enjoy)