Italy as a country had been on our radar for a while. As a country its like India, offers a lot to see; plus was the HQ for the child of the house (the husband). Italy is a huge country unlike other European countries and can easily take more than 3 weeks to see it completely from north to south. We had about 14 days in hand and were figuring out our top places to see.
The Route – It takes atleast 3 days in a city to get a feel of it and of course to cover the top highlights in it. Yes I mean only the top highlights as one can spend days there and not get bored. We started with a huge wish list of cities and then reality struck and we narrowed down to Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre & Rome as our bases. Many versions later we figured out the most optimum route – Rome – Venice – Florence – Pisa – Cinque Terre – Rome. We had then planned day trips to Chianti & Tuscany from Florence and Pompeii & Mt. Vesuvius from Rome. All cities are very well connected by Trenitalia run trains, though they could be a bit delayed, are yet quite efficient. So we had a very detailed excel with each day and city (yes the b-school training reflects). We did consider renting a car and driving around, however, our visa was quite delayed and hence we didn’t have enough time to get our International Permit.
The Stay – We only looked at Air BnBs for our stay since we found hotels to be expensive. I am usually particular we stay at the city center and near a train station – saves the transport cost and also eases up the lugging of luggage around.
The Visa – Yes, Schengen visa requires a LOT of paper work and of-course proof of all your bookings. Once we completed our flights, Air BnB and Trenitalia (inter-city train) booking we started looking for VFS Italy visa appointments. To our disbelief our earliest available slot was a month away! We then had no choice but to go through VFS Premium route. We did submit our visa about a month before we flew, however the visa took quite long to come. Their SLA is 15 working days and it took all of the 15 working days; that’s close to 3 weeks to get our passports back leaving us with just 1 week to complete the rest of our sight entry bookings. Scary! Tip: book the visa appointment as soon as the itinerary is firmed up and flight ticket & stay are booked. You can then accordingly plan the rest of the booking and document collection.
The Sights – So Italy is extremely crowded and one would see long queues outside the ticket office of the main attractions. Hence everywhere we read that one needs to book their times to enter. I found it to be a pain – I like to have the flexibility in my agenda. However, at hindsight I’m glad we booked since we noticed the length of the queues, the time we saved and that slots were sold out well in advance; and this wasn’t even peak season! Visit A City was again my go to app to build in the agenda of the main sights to see and things to do.
The City Cards – It took a lot of research and thought on whether we wanted to invest in City Cards or not. In Florence and Rome we were there for 3 days and when we calculated the individual ticket costs vs the City Cards, the latter seemed to provide a better bargain. I would recommend choose what works for you, but do ensure you read the T&C of the cards. Eg; the Firenze (Florence) card had changed their T&C. Earlier one could just buy the card and enjoy priority entrance at Florence Cathedral, Accademia Gallery (David Statue) and Uffizi Gallery. But recently they revamped it to say that though you buy the card, you still need to call their call center/mail and book the entry time to the Accademia & Uffizi. I do agree its an added complication but when I called 1 week prior to we were there for a slot, they were all sold out and only when I mentioned I had the Firenze card, we got the slots we wanted easily! The Florence Cathedral however is out of scope of this card. Entry to the cathedral is free and you still need to stand in the long queue to enter. The climb to the Duomo can be booked only when you get to Florence and we did not get slots at all for any of the 3 days we were there. Tip: if you certainly want to climb the Duomo, I would recommend book it online.
In Rome we took the Omnia Vatican and Rome card and similarly you still need to book your entry time to Vatican museum & St Peters Basilica. Similarly for the Colosseum, book the entry time on the Coop Culture website. It was a pain during planning but definitely worth it since its really very crowded.
The Tours – I’m a DIY kinda traveler but with all this extra planning and brain work that Italy takes we decided to take it easy and be driven around for a bit. In Florence, we chose the Chianti Wine tour through Ciao Florence and it was good. In Venice we booked the Murano & Burano tour through City Wonders, since it was looking to be a bit of a hassle to figure out the vaporette times (also expensive). Pompeii & Mt. Vesuvius was another tour we took through City Wonders; since the journey to these two sights involved 1 or 2 trains and a bus and was proving to be quite a task. The tour worked out quite well and comfortable.
We also took a few walking tours – in Florence & Rome and those were to also be reserved online. Though they were free, they required a reservation and a print out of that.
The Packing – The weather in Europe is highly unpredictable. We experience rains and winds when it was supposed to be sunny. Tip: pack for all weathers! Venice was quite chilly, Florence was mixed, Cinque was warm, Rome was mixed. Carrying a poncho/an umbrella was quite handy. In the end.. pack light & travel with delight! You do have a lot of walking to do .. some with luggage but mostly without!
Italy is still has quite a huge paper usage. Carry the print outs of all the tickets, city card bookings, attractions bookings, walking tour reservations etc.. basically carry printouts of everything you book online since its required for verification at the location.
The Food – Italian food is delicious, with a lot of options for vegetarians. From great breads, to pizza & pasta varieties to amazing cheese and gelato, a veggie needn’t worry at all 🙂
The Expenses – Italy has a mix of cash and card economy. Venice & Cinque are completely cash while the other cities are quite card friendly. So do ensure you are topped up on both. Though most of your expenditure is pre-trip since you book everything online, do keep cash in hand!
With that we were pretty much set for our Italian adventure!
Next up.. our journey through each city..
Tell me what you think! Comment | Share | Subscribe
Curious Boho 