Today will start a series of travel guides for Italy, which will include my top travel tips and reviews of a few cities I visited with my family this April.
Just a disclaimer I am not a travel expert and these are just some tips I would have found helpful when booking and planning my trip to Italy this year.
First in the series is my top tips for travelling around Italy - I hope you enjoy and find them helpful :)
1. Validate your train tickets
If you have pre assigned seats (so have booked your train seats in advance) you do not have to validate your tickets, but if you are buying your train tickets on the day of departure (so get a standard paper ticket) you must validate your ticket in one of the machines at the station. If you do not to this you will get a fine and in most cases it will be a lot more than your paid for the ticket in the first place.
2. Validate your bus tickets too
The same thing applies on the buses - you have to validate your bus ticket every time you get on a bus in one of the machines onboard.
3. Trains are an excellent way to travel around Italy
I was a little apprehensive before my trip about travelling around the major Italian cities via train, but I had nothing to worry about as it was very easy, clean, reasonably prices and comfortable. I would suggest you buy your tickets in advance on the Trenitalia website - I booked mine while still in the comfort of my living in the UK. You will be guaranteed a seat on the train and you won't have to rush when you get to the station.
Once you have booked your train tickets you will be sent a confirmation email, which will have a PNR number and this is the number you will have to show the conductor on the train. So just print out your confirmation email and you will be fine. The confirmation email will also have your train times and seat numbers on.
4. Wear comfortable shoes, this sounds standard but it is something I was extremely grateful for when sightseeing around Italy, on my feet the whole day.
5. If ever in Sorrento I would recommend a trip on the ferry over to the island of Capri, its stunning. You could easily spend a whole day over there.
6. You can day trip to Pisa, you probably don't need more time than that there. You could stay in Florence and day trip to Pisa or stay somewhere else nearby on the train line.
7. Florence is a must see!!!!!
The cathedral (Duomo) is one of the most stunning buildings - a €10 ticket will get you into the bell tower (Capenelle), baptistery etc and is well worth buying. Make sure you check the opening times of the Duomo as it is closed on a Sunday, which we did not know until we turned up on a Sunday to go inside and have a look :)
Next to the Duomo is bell tower - there may be 414 steps to the top but the views once up at the top are well worth the tough climb up, and there are numerous viewing levels on the way up at which you can stop and catch your breathe.
8. We only had one day in Florence, which in hindsight was not long enough, so we decided to get a hop on hop off sightseeing bus, which was good for showing you all the major sights when on limited time.
9. If visiting Venice I would recommend getting a water ferry travel card for the time you are there - the water ferries are called Vaporetto. These tickets allow you to get on and off the Vaporetto all day, taking you around the main canal and to the islands nearby. The best way of seeing Venice is definitely by foot, I would suggest just strapping on your trainers and go exploring, sometimes you find the best places by getting lost and that is exactly what we found.
10. The islands of Venice all offer something different and I would recommend a trip over to island of Murano where they still practice traditional glass blowing. You can go over and see how they do the glass blowing and see some of the amazing products they make.
I hope you found some of these tips and hints helpful. I would love to hear any tips you might have for travelling around Italy or anywhere else around the world :)
Safe travels, have fun exploring!
Just a disclaimer I am not a travel expert and these are just some tips I would have found helpful when booking and planning my trip to Italy this year.
First in the series is my top tips for travelling around Italy - I hope you enjoy and find them helpful :)
1. Validate your train tickets
If you have pre assigned seats (so have booked your train seats in advance) you do not have to validate your tickets, but if you are buying your train tickets on the day of departure (so get a standard paper ticket) you must validate your ticket in one of the machines at the station. If you do not to this you will get a fine and in most cases it will be a lot more than your paid for the ticket in the first place.
2. Validate your bus tickets too
The same thing applies on the buses - you have to validate your bus ticket every time you get on a bus in one of the machines onboard.
3. Trains are an excellent way to travel around Italy
I was a little apprehensive before my trip about travelling around the major Italian cities via train, but I had nothing to worry about as it was very easy, clean, reasonably prices and comfortable. I would suggest you buy your tickets in advance on the Trenitalia website - I booked mine while still in the comfort of my living in the UK. You will be guaranteed a seat on the train and you won't have to rush when you get to the station.
Once you have booked your train tickets you will be sent a confirmation email, which will have a PNR number and this is the number you will have to show the conductor on the train. So just print out your confirmation email and you will be fine. The confirmation email will also have your train times and seat numbers on.
4. Wear comfortable shoes, this sounds standard but it is something I was extremely grateful for when sightseeing around Italy, on my feet the whole day.
5. If ever in Sorrento I would recommend a trip on the ferry over to the island of Capri, its stunning. You could easily spend a whole day over there.
6. You can day trip to Pisa, you probably don't need more time than that there. You could stay in Florence and day trip to Pisa or stay somewhere else nearby on the train line.
7. Florence is a must see!!!!!
The cathedral (Duomo) is one of the most stunning buildings - a €10 ticket will get you into the bell tower (Capenelle), baptistery etc and is well worth buying. Make sure you check the opening times of the Duomo as it is closed on a Sunday, which we did not know until we turned up on a Sunday to go inside and have a look :)
Next to the Duomo is bell tower - there may be 414 steps to the top but the views once up at the top are well worth the tough climb up, and there are numerous viewing levels on the way up at which you can stop and catch your breathe.
8. We only had one day in Florence, which in hindsight was not long enough, so we decided to get a hop on hop off sightseeing bus, which was good for showing you all the major sights when on limited time.
9. If visiting Venice I would recommend getting a water ferry travel card for the time you are there - the water ferries are called Vaporetto. These tickets allow you to get on and off the Vaporetto all day, taking you around the main canal and to the islands nearby. The best way of seeing Venice is definitely by foot, I would suggest just strapping on your trainers and go exploring, sometimes you find the best places by getting lost and that is exactly what we found.
10. The islands of Venice all offer something different and I would recommend a trip over to island of Murano where they still practice traditional glass blowing. You can go over and see how they do the glass blowing and see some of the amazing products they make.
I hope you found some of these tips and hints helpful. I would love to hear any tips you might have for travelling around Italy or anywhere else around the world :)
Safe travels, have fun exploring!
 |
| Mount Vesuvius |
 |
| Duomo in Florence |
 |
| San Marco Square in Venice |
Comments
Post a Comment