Chianti and Va d'Orcia

My parents and I will be flying into Rome on July 28 and staying there until the evening of July 30 (planning to drive down to Naples on the 30th). However, my mother has already visited Rome and says one day should be enough for sightseeing, also considering the hot July weather and crowds on tourists. We would like to spend the 30th visiting little towns around Rome and escaping the city bustle. Any towns/places we should include on our itinerary? We were planning to visit Florence but we feel like we would like to escape the touristy sights and cities for a day. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello everyone

Thanks for any help you can provide with this planning query. We plan to visit 4 places over 10 days late March next year. For few different reasons we have to do those 4 places and have only 10 days. Therefore I am looking for the best/efficient way to get these places. Our flight in and out is from Rome. We need to visit friends/ business in Venice, Tuscany and Naples. My initial thought was to stay in Rome for couple of days then travel to Venice then Tuscany , Naples and back to Rome via direct train. But wanted to see if we should instead travel first to Venice, then Tuscany, Naples and finally Rome to make the flight out easier? We are hoping to take flights and train but could get a car if need be especially thinking of Tuscany. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks again

We are 2 families - one : 2 adults and 2 children (18,21) and other family: 2 adults with a six year old child who shall be going overland from Sicily to Amalfi Coast in early July 2021. We were considering driving to Messina from Raguza area, take the ferry and drive to Maratea and stop overnight. The next day we shall drive to Sorrento and stay there for a few days. This was our draft itinerary so far.:

DAY 1 :

Drive to Messina - Ferry to Villa San Giovanni, Drive to Maratea and stay Maratea

DAY 2 :

Drive and stop to visit Salerno, then Vietri sul mare, Cetara and finally Sorrento and

stay at Sorrento (accommodation for next few days)

DAY 3 :

Drive and stop to visit Positano and then Praiano and see town centres. Return Sorrento

DAY 4 :

Drive and stop to visit Ravello and Amalfi and see town centres. Return Sorrento

DAY 5 :

Visit Sorrento Centre and Drive to Napoli or Salerno to catch Ferry to Palermo or Messina in the evening- overnight stay on the ferry

DAY 6 :

Arrive Palermo or Messina - depending on the ferry trip and availability. Spend a day in Sicily and end of trip.

Any suggestions please re entire itinerary. Not sure whether we should stop in Maratea or somewhere close - not to have a long way driving and whether to base ourselves at Sorrento. We are also undecided whether to catch the Ferry To Palermo or to Messina?

Please advise

raqdan

Thank you for your advice on my previous post. We have changed our travel plans a little bit and plan to spend 1 full day in Rome before heading down south and would love advice on how to perfect our first time in Rome. We will be arriving at Fiumicino at 5pm on July 28 and will get our rental car at the airport. We will be then driving to Rome and staying at a hotel about a minute away from the Colosseum and plan to leave the car at an overnight car park. Unfortunately, Colosseum will be fully closed on July 29, so we plan to visit on July 30 before leaving, hopefully. Here is what I have planned so far for the day of July 29 (hopefully everything is within a walking distance)

-Starting off our walk from our hotel near the Colosseum to the Piazza Venezia

-Trevi Fountain

-Pantheon, Piazza Navona

-Spanish Steps

-Castel Sant’Angelo

- Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel

-St. Peter’s Basilica

I have a few things we need advice on:

1) What is the best way to get around Rome, should we stick to walking? Should driving around with our rental car be avoided at all costs?

2) Please suggest any restaurants or cafes that you have beloved on Rome trips that we must absolutely visit.

3) Any other tips or places we should include on our itinerary.

We plan to leave Rome in the morning of July 30.

I am a bit lost to what we should do as my parents are not avid walkers but it is very difficult to decide what to do in the limited time we have there. Any advice would be appreciated.

I will hopefully be spending six weeks in Trieste this September-October. Mid stay I might need to obtain a medication called Emgality, which is an injectable migraine headache prophylactic medication. It is very expensive ($600-$1000 in the USA) and needs to be refrigerated until use. I will attempt to bring some with me and keep it refrigerated, but if something goes wrong it would be a disaster for my visit. So I am trying in advance to have a contingency plan. Could someone recommend a pharmacy in Trieste to try to find it? It is not found in many smaller pharmacies in the US because it is so expensive and needs refrigeration. Also, I am assuming I will need an Italian prescription. Is this correct, or will an american prescription suffice?

Hello!

My active, 12 year-old son & I are going to The Dolomites for 5 nights at the beginning of July. We'll be based on Ortisei & I wondered if someone might share top activities to do & great nearby towns to see. We're bringing our bikes & we'd love some easy to medium-difficulty hikes. I don't know much about the gondolas or via ferrata & our hotel hasn't given us any suggestions beyond the local pool.

Also, we have 1 extra day/night before we drive to Milan. Can anyone suggest a great town to visit on the drive down?

Dear all,

Would you please help me with itinerary for 10 days trip to Sicily, this June?

My former plan was for second half of June with return in beg. of July, flight to Palermo, leave from Catania, and stay in Palermo (visit Monreale, Cefalu), Agrigento, Modica (visit Ragusa), Siracuse and Taormina, 16-18 days.

But now I can't stay until the end of June, I don't want to go in July or August as it will be too hot for sightseeing, so I am trying to find some shorter version. I was more interested in eastern part (baroque towns, Ortigia and Taormina), but as there aren't direct flights until July, I am thinking about visiting Palermo, and stay on some nice beach for few days. There are direct flight to Trapani, so start and end there.

I am traveling with almost 3 yo (with stroller and baby carrier), and only by public transport. I wanted to see Palermo, so I would keep this from former plan, but I don't know where to go next, for 3/4 nights.

1 Trapani (morning flight), move to Palermo, afternoon in Palermo

2 Palermo

3 Palermo, half day trip Monreale

4 Palermo, day trip Cefalu

5 Palermo, day trip Agrigento (not sure with this, as it is quite a long time in train there and back)

6, 7, 8, 9 ? (last day move to Trapani, overnight before flight from there)

10 Trapani (morning flight)

I have found only an afternoon bus from Trapani airport to Palermo, so we have to go to city, and take a bus to Palermo from there?

I have read here in forum about Castellammare del Golfo, and it looks nice. Is there a good connection between Palermo - Castellammare and Castellammare and Trapani?

If I stay close to, I would also like to visit Zingaro reserve, I found that it is open again, but it seems that only way to go there is by privat car, or taxi - or is there some option via public transport? If taxi - how much, and is it possible to book one with car seat? Would it be better to stay in San Vito de Capo, or Scopello, for Zingaro visit? And last - 3yo may walk or be in baby carrier, baby stroller is useless in Zingaro (coastal way)?

Or do you have another idea for coastal town, with nice architekture, and beaches nearby?

Many thanks, Katjes

I'm planning to visit Amalfi Coast in early September and struggling to pick a town to base for 5 nights. I'm trying to list out pros/cons. High on my list during stay: day trip to Capri/Blue Grotto, Hiking (Path of Gods and a few other trails have also peaked my interest), some beach/water time (kayaking, water sports, boat ride), exploring a town or two (maybe via hikes) and of course amazing food. Also would like to be able to move around fairly easily (don't mind stairs). It sounds like buses can be an overcrowded burden during September, so I'm thinking walking/ferries is the way to go. Or do I split my stay? 2 nights in one town, three in another?

If I base in Amalfi/Atrani, is it easy to visit Capri on a day trip? I believe there's a ferry from Amalfi to Capri -- about an hour trip?

Alternatively, if I base in Positano, is it fairly easy to get to Path of Gods trail heads and also ferry/bus to other towns like Ravello?

And finally, what about Ravello? It looks stunning, but would staying there limit my ability (or add a lot of travel time) to visit Capri for the day or really enjoy the beach/kayak?

Appreciate the feedback -- I'm quickly falling into the research rabbit hole and need to make some decisions since trip is quickly approaching.

My family and I (3 people in total) are flying into Rome on the evening of July 28. From there, we will be spending all of the 29th in Rome and then driving down south in the evening. We will be spending 2 days on Amalfi Coast and eventually making our drive to Puglia on July 31. We have a masseria booked near the town of Grottaglie from the 31st until August 6 (a beautiful but isolated masseria that we stayed at before Covid but it's pretty far from the major cities). However, despite the beauty that our stay offers, what is worrying us is that we have already visited the main attractions and towns near our masseria on our trip to Puglia pre-Covid). On our last trip we visited:

- Lecce, Nardo, Taranto

- Ostuni

- Matera

- Alberobello

- Bari

We have included Monopoli and Brindisi in our itinerary as of yet. We would love to explore new places and towns that we have not seen before. Please give us any recommendations where we should go and what to include on our itinerary. Would love if anyone could share any hidden gems around our location. We would also appreciate if anyone can share beautiful beaches around the region.

Thank you in advance!

Hello! I'm feeling overwhelmed trying to find the right area and accommodation type for our first visit to Tuscany.

We do not want to stay in Florence and are absolutely willing to rent a car (not sure where we would pick one up). We will be coming from Rome by train and heading to Venice afterwards.

Would like to be in a country setting, but close enough to access some restaurants in the evening and convenient to visit/do the following:

Florence - 1 full day

San Gimignano

Siena?

Wine tasting

A cooking glass

Our budget: moderate. Willing to spend more for a something special (ie: winery property, a view, etc)

Thank you so much!!