10-days in Italy...Rome and where else would you choose??

zweton

Hi, thinking of 10 days in august/sept. have decided on rome for 4 or 5 days. Where else would you recommend? If theres nice beaches thats a bonus

Kankan14

zweton wrote: »

Hi, thinking of 10 days in august/sept. have decided on rome for 4 or 5 days. Where else would you recommend? If theres nice beaches thats a bonus

Take a trip to pompeii and see vesuvius. The volcano itself and the ruins are a vision..Not far by train from Rome iirc.

I cant recommend the isle of capri highly enough. It means travelling to Naples(not that bad) and a short ferry ride. You can also take in the islands of sorrento and ischia which are close by. On the journey between naples and rome theres a seaside resort of serapo in frosinone iirc which has plenty of beaches etc.

power101

Island of Elba
Perugia
Florence

Do not go to the city of Naples..EVER!!

Glebee

Done Rome, Florence and Venice for 10 days once.
Started in Rome and got the train up to Florence, stayed a few days and on up to Venice on train. Flew out of Venice. (Or an airport close by with Ryanair:) )

zweton

anyone done italian riviera? amalfi coast supposed to be nice too. decisions decisions:)

Glenbhoy

zweton wrote: »

anyone done italian riviera? amalfi coast supposed to be nice too. decisions decisions:)

Amalfi is stunning, beautiful villages, spectacular road trip (up there with the Antrim Coast road on a good day).
But Capri is spectacular, all these and pompeii etc are in the same locale. Don't listen to the naysayers re napoli, the place has to be seen. I wouldn't stay too long there though😉
One thing I think u said u were travelling in August, all of these places (bar Napoli) will be absolutely choc a block, it'd the Italian holiday month, city dwellers take the month off and depart en masses to the seaside, Amalfi will be undriveable, bumper to bumper. Rome also has a pretty bad rep in august for crowds, half day waits to see Vatican museum etc.
An alternative could be sardinia or even better, Abruzzo or Puglia on the other side of the country, they have coast and weather, definitely not as popular, we'll worth looking into for the other part of the trip.

I see u are planning aug/Sept, as per above, avoid august I'd possible, certainly the first 3 weeks should be avoided.

wintear

You could split the trip with the first part in Rome, get the train to Orvieto halfway between Florence and Rome for a night. A lovely Umbrian hill town with a beautiful duomo. Then spend the rest of the time in Florence.

Though you could spend your whole time in Rome with day trips to Pompeii, hereculeum or Ostia antica.

Rome has so much to see. Take your time and just take it all in.

Lady is a tramp

I'd recommend Praiano, Sorrento, Capri, Pompei.

Not so much Positano, and Naples is awful!

zweton

some great recommendations

JackHeuston

Italian here. I can only agree with what other people already told you. After Rome simply don't waste your time in Naples and go take a look at Amalfi and Capri! If you've got some spare time, stop by Pompei or in Caserta to see the Reggia. I'd describe it as a mini-Versailles, but it's still impressive.

zweton

JackHeuston wrote: »

Italian here. I can only agree with what other people already told you. After Rome simply don't waste your time in Naples and go take a look at Amalfi and Capri! If you've got some spare time, stop by Pompei or in Caserta to see the Reggia. I'd describe it as a mini-Versailles, but it's still impressive.

sounds great will check it out. where would be a good place to base ourselves around amalfi/sorrento/capri area?
Is it easy get around to all these places by public transport or would i need a car?

JackHeuston

zweton wrote: »

Is it easy get around to all these places by public transport or would i need a car?

Everything is well serviced around there, don't expect immaculate buses or trains though. You might need to take different means of transport, for example from Rome take the train to go to Salerno, then a bus to Amalfi. But I think there are direct buses from Rome to Amalfi, too. Same for Pompeii.

The offer is quite wide, especially during the summer when new bus routes are activated and trains are more frequent. I'd suggest you Google a bit when you're closer to your trip and see all the options yourself.

edit:

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

http://www.amalfishuttle.com/rome-fco-shuttle-bus/

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/our-trip-to-rome-the-amalfi-coast-with-all-transportation-logistics-included.cfm

A car is not necessary at all because of the choice of public transportation available. If you wish to get one for your convenience though, be extra careful because it can be dangerous if this is your first time with a car near Rome and Naples.

zweton

thanks, what would be the liveliest spot around the area? nothing too mad but a bit of life at night?

zweton

anyone:)

JackHeuston

Sorry I saw the notification earlier and then forgot to reply.

You've got a lot of options for nightlife, the most popular ones are:

Trastevere and Rione XX Testaccio. They are both near the Tiber. If you want to take a look at Testaccio, go near the Pyramid of Caius Cestius and you'll definitely see groups of people where nightclubs and bars are. You can get there using the metro too, just get out at "Piramide", same stop for Trastevere but you'll have to go across the river.

Another area that's very popular at night is Piazza Navona, and also Campo de' Fiori.

Be careful not to drink alcohol outside after 11pm (yes you can walk while drinking a beer before that time, and you can do it 24 hours in any other Italian city, Rome and other few cities have this restriction though), and don't go near the Tiber banks while drunk and you'll be grand

zweton

sorry jack i meant down around the sorrento/amalfi area?

JackHeuston

ahh sorry. Uhm well that's a quieter area and I don't know any specific place, but really no worries because Sorrento is also small enough you'll definitely see where people go party at night! After dinner (9-10pm) just go out in the town centre and you'll see. I'm not too sure about Amalfi though.

If you get a chance to do this, try also taking a look at the chalets along the beach you'll see in your trip (avoid beaches near Rome, anywhere else's good). Some of them usually organise parties every night on the beach. They are free entry as they are not really nightclubs, you only pay for the drinks.

Glenbhoy

JackHeuston wrote: »

ahh sorry. Uhm well that's a quieter area and I don't know any specific place, but really no worries because Sorrento is also small enough you'll definitely see where people go party at night! After dinner (9-10pm) just go out in the town centre and you'll see. I'm not too sure about Amalfi though.

If you get a chance to do this, try also taking a look at the chalets along the beach you'll see in your trip (avoid beaches near Rome, anywhere else's good). Some of them usually organise parties every night on the beach. They are free entry as they are not really nightclubs, you only pay for the drinks.

Sorrento is the liveliest town in amalfi area, from talking to local youths when I was there, it's the happening spot on the peninsula, not especially nuts though, so depends on what ur looking for.
Re car or no car, I trained from Rome to napoli, local train to sorrento and eventually hired a car to drive the coast, not required, but gives some flexibility. For the Rome downwards option though, train is very convenient.

Stephen15

I know it's a bit late for the this thread but I would highly recommend naples it's not a crime ridden dump like many people think but it's a lovely city cheap as chips, the pizza has to be the best in the world and not overrun by tourists like other parts of italy

castletownman

Have a week booked in Milan with the GF in the first week of June. Apart from the Lakes (Como and Garda), anyone else recommend places worth visiting in the general vicinity (day trip etc.) The reasonable the better of course

wintear

A day trip to the citta Alta of Bergamo. It is beautiful medieval hill town part of the city of Bergamo. It's only a short hop on the train. It has a nice funicular cable car from the base to the old town. Some very nice bakeries along the main Street.

How far are you willing to consider travelling? Milan is a great rail hub for lots of places

castletownman

wintear wrote: »

A day trip to the citta Alta of Bergamo. It is beautiful medieval hill town part of the city of Bergamo. It's only a short hop on the train. It has a nice funicular cable car from the base to the old town. Some very nice bakeries along the main Street.

How far are you willing to consider travelling? Milan is a great rail hub for lots of places

Anywhere that makes a day-trip somewhere viable, but doesn't take half the day to get there. If you get me

Barnaboy

castletownman wrote: »

Anywhere that makes a day-trip somewhere viable, but doesn't take half the day to get there. If you get me

Verona well worth a trip. Beautiful city. Fast trains only take 1hr 10mins (and cheap too).

Antar Bolaeisk

To be fair, ten days could easily be filled just with Rome, it's a fantastic city with loads to see, do, eat and drink.

If you get the chance while in Rome try and make a trip out to Ostia Antica, it's an old port town about an hour out from Rome that's well worth visiting. It's a self explore place but, certainly when I was there, there weren't big crowds so it felt a bit surreal to walk around the ruins (some of which are very well preserved) completely alone.

Loveinapril

Has anyone sent wine home from a vineyard tour? I am going over to Italy in June and saw that some of the vineyards offer to ship the wine home. Just wondering how much the wine/ shipping is.

castletownman

Thanks for some of the suggestions. Definitely exploring 2-3 day trips. Just a quick question. Am I better off deciding on where we are going and booking a rail ticket in advance, or can I get one on the day without much hassle?

wintear

It is easy to get a ticket on the day. You can use the automated machines in the station or queue to go to the window.

I have pre-booked a ticket before only to find out the seat and carriage did not exist on the train. They may have fixed this issue but as I said the trains are very easy to use in Italy.

castletownman

Just to update the thread. Had a wonderful week over there with the GF, and couldn't recommend any of the suggestions given here highly enough.

Went to the Citta Alta in Bergamo for our first day trip. Reminded me of Kings Landing in GoT. Stunning scenery.

Took the train to Venice another day. Again, well worth seeing. First class carriage on the return journey was a nice touch too

Lake Como was my favourite though. Fell in love with the place. Was a bit of confusion getting the train from Milano Centrale (transfers that we had to figure out ourselves), but then again the staff were very helpful so no issues.

Overall, a fantastic holiday in a beautiful country. The only downside really was the weather, thunderstorms most nights in Milan. The food, the general friendliness of the locals, the history, the architecture and feel good atmosphere, more than made up for it though.

Thanks for your suggestions lads. Don't think we would have come up with better ourselves.