Travel Italy: Vacation Packages, Tips, Tours of Italy

I am going to spend a week in Italy. I’ll stay four,five days in Tuscany and would like to spend what remains by visiting Cinque Terre. Another option I consider is Amalfi Coast, what would you suggest me?

Cinque Terre is closer than Amalfi Coast to Tuscany. As you’ll devote so a limited time to the seaside destination, Cinque Terre is the option seems to be the better of the two for your needs.

If you love activities as hiking and walking, you can enjoy the Cinque Terre, because there are lots of paths between the five villages.

If your stay will be in late spring, you may prefer Amalfi Coast to enjoy more the seaside activities, being Amalfi Coast warmer than Cinque Terre.

Also you should tell me, how you’ll arrange your travel to Italy. Where are you flying in and out; if you’ll fly out of Rome it’s worth to consider the Amalfi option, away just a bit more of a couple of hours from Rome by train.

Advice on day trips to Cinque Terre

Would you recommend a day trip from Florence to CT (Cinque Terre) or would be better at least spend the night there?

First, an advice for you and for any foreigners used to write CT as an abbreviation for Cinque Terre.
Such abbreviation does not work in Italy. Better, for Italians that means the initials of car plate for the city of Catania, so if you ask any advice on the Internet boards by writing CT, no Italians will be able to help you. If you like to short the name, you could use 5Terre.

Coming to your question, from Florence to Riomaggiore, one of the villages of Cinque Terre, it take 2 1/2 hours by train, (InterCity, change in LaSpezia or Pisa station; details: see www.trenitalia.com), so you could do it in a day trip.

However I suggest to spend a night there, to be able to enjoy of the several activities Cinque Terre offer you.
Hiking between the five villages, dining in one of the typical restaurants looking down the sea and generally enjoying of the wonderful sights avoiding any rush.

Requests for advice on how to better arrange the transfer from Rome airport (Rome FCO) to the city are very frequent.

Any suggestions for Fiumicino airport transfer to Rome city?

You have many options, by choosing whether public or private transportation.

- By train

Leonardo Express train from Fiumicino airport to Rome Termini - the Rome central train station.
Schedule: every 30 minutes, from 6:37 to 23:37; ticket price: € 9.50.
Route time: 35 minutes, for more details see Trenitalia. In the airport, you can reach the train station from each terminal by using the elevated covered pedestrian walkways.

- By bus

During night-time bus replaces the train, so the connections with the train stations of Rome Termini and Rome Tiburtina are being operated by CO.TRA.L.bus company.
Schedule: 1.15 a.m., 2.15 a.m., 3.30 a.m., 5.00 a.m..
During day-time, connections by bus are operated by Terravision (www.terravision.it) company.

- By taxi

Taxis are available at the exit of the terminals.

- Shuttle service

There are many shuttle services specialized in the to move door-to-door from the airport to the center of Rome.
The rates range from € 20,00 to 50,00 per person, depending from the number of total passengers (VAT 10% not included). Expect to pay supplement for night-time and for the Italian Bank Holidays.
Here a few companies operating this service: http://www.rome-airport-shuttle.com , http://www.airportshuttle.it , www.airportconnection.it

Day trips from Rome: we have been continuing to receive questions similar to the one below:

Where to go to spend a day away from Rome?

A lot of people vacationing in Rome, usually look to how to arrange day trips for destinations located in the surroundings of the capital.

There are so many options…But the point is: what do you mean for surroundings? This word sounds so differently for Italian respect to foreigner travelers, depending it on the different habits to cover the distances, different kind of roads, traffic etc…
Maybe the distance for Aussies it’s worth to cover for locating a restaurant is as long as Italians would run in a entire week end.

So when it comes to suggesting ideas for day trips, not everybody among the travelers would agree on any itineraries suggested. However I try do it, by suggesting a few typical destinations and how to reach it, hoping to avoid your trip to turn in a rush.

- From Rome heading toward South: Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Naples, and Pompei.

By train, a couple of hours could take you to the most of destinations above listed. Consider, for visiting Amalfi Coast and Sorrento, then you would take a local bus; the best option is Rome-Salerno by train, it will take you a couple of hours by EuroStar, and local buses from Salerno to Amalfi Coast (approx. all the sights are within a 30km of coast)

- From Rome toward Tuscany: Orvieto, Cortona and Etruscan areas, Florence.

Route well-connected by train and not so tiring for Orvieto, interesting art city located 90km away from Rome, and for Cortona and the surroundings.
Maybe is a rush try to go in Florence in the morning and back in the night, especially because Florence deserves definitively a more accurate visit. So forget (more…)

Christams time in Italy, it’s time of Presepio (or Presepe).
Crib shows are being held everywhere accross the Peninsula.

We have already mentioned the Presepe Vivente, the representation of the First Nativity Scene in Greccio from December 24 through to January 6 , but what is taking place in Verona it seems to be the most important presepe show of Italy.

La Rassegna Internazionale dei Presepi, is an international show on Crib and Nativity Scene themes, held in Verona at the Arena.
It includes 400 Cribs and arts inspired by Nativity from all over the world, most from collectors and museums of Europe.

Schedule: 9.00 - 20.00 (anyday for Holiday Season)
Tickets: € 7 (students € 4)

More info …