A week in Italy
Italy is a great country to experience, it has a rich culture, history and amazing food.
There are many different trips and ways you can travel around Italy, but here is a way you can spend 1-2 weeks in the country seeing some key sights.
Venice
Start your trip in the mysterious city of Venice. Venice is like no other city in the world, located on the east coast of Italy, the city is surrounded by water and is a maze of streets and buildings.
Venice has a large airport that you can easily fly into. From there you can make your way to the centre of Venice. There are accommodation options on the ‘island’ however if you want something cheaper you can stay off the island and walk or train over the bridge.
In Venice you can walk around for hours taking in the sights, stopping for food and watching people pass you on a gondola.
You want to make your way to the main square where you can see Saint Mark’s Basilica. There are also many other churches for you to see as you wander around.
Next you must take the one in a lifetime ride on a gondola. This is a unique way to see the city and a ride you will not forget.
You need at least one night in Venice.
Pisa
Get up early and jump on a train to Pisa. In Pisa you can view the leaning tower of Pisa and a few other leaning buildings. If you are brave you can also walk up the tower, if you would like to do this I would recommend buying a ticket before you go to save a very hot wait in a queue.
You only need a half day in Pisa.
Cinque Terre National Park
Next head to Cinque Terre, the five fishing villages on the waterfront with very colourful buildings, it is a photographer’s dream location. You do not need to visit every city but you can have fun trying. There is a train that runs between each village, or you can walk between. Each walk varies in difficulty, you do need to pay a fee to be able to walk along the track.
Most villages have a location where you can cool off with a swim or lay down to try and tan. And they all have a penalty of food locations up to the waterfront.
There is limited accommodation and it is more expensive here. We stayed in Corniglia, unknowing to us, this location has a very large climb up from the train station, so this was very fun on a 30 degree day with a large pack. Our accommodation was also right next to the church which rings out very often and sometimes for over 10 minutes. However this was a very pretty location and coming back here at night to find a restaurant looking out to the sea and the village was very relaxing.
I would recommend at least two nights here to be able to take in as many cities as you can. It’s also a nice way to break up the cities by spending some time relaxing at the sea.
Florence
Back on the train and you can head to Florence. Florence is in the heart of Tuscany, and is known for its art and architecture. There is a river flowing through the city which has the famous Ponte Vecchio, this bridge has shops lining it and is a great site to see on the river.
When you get to the heart of the city you are greeted by the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, a marble decorated church.
When we were in Florence, we visited museums, walked to Piazzale Michelangelo, which had sights over the city and a replica of Michelangelo’s David and spent the nights in Piazza del Duomo taking in the sights, people and smells of the city.
You need at least one night in Florence
Roma
Rome is one of those cities that needs no introduction!
Rome is very busy and there is so much history to take in, from the colosseum to the Trevi Fountain and then Vatican city. You will be doing a lot of walking and in the summer you need to have water with you at all times.
Most places you can get a ticket on the day, otherwise there are always options online. Everywhere is busy and you will have to wait at times or view objects through crowds.
The biggest tip (which I missed) is for the Vatican city you must cover up, they will not let you in under any situation if you are not (that’s shoulders and knees which is hard in the peak of summer)
You may find you are staying further out here to get somewhere more affordable, and everything is more expensive and you need to have your wits about you at all times.
There is a major airport in Rome so leaving Rome is very easy.
You need at least two nights in Rome.
