Where to go to Italy for the first time – two ready-made routes
I will tell you where to go to Italy for the first time on my own, without communicating with groups and travel agencies, and at the same time he enjoy the trip. I will give some important advice and offer travel options in Italy.
To organize a trip to Italy independently difficult at first glance.
To begin with, you need to decide what you are waiting for the trip. And already to build further plans.
Tips for those who are going to go to Italy for the first time:
- If you want to see the beauty, and go to the sea – Choose rest in Rimini, Naples and on the Amalfi Coast, in Livorno and Primorye cities Tuscany, Genoa and on the Ligurian Coast.
- If you want a beach holiday – Consider the Uliva Rivier (this is the West Italy, the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea from Rome to Naples), Ischia Islands, Capri, Privida, Amalfi Coast (near Naples) or the eastern part of the country, where Adriatic: Rimini, Ancona, Apulia Beaches.
- If you are interested in history and culture – Plan a trip to Rome, Milan, Turin, Florence, Venice, Bologna or Genoa. Here you will see the history of architecture from ancient Rome to classicism. In these cities, the largest number of historical, architectural and cultural monuments, museums – almost every step.
- If you are interested in shopping – Then you in Rome or Milan.
What city to choose for the first trip
Do not try to "shove" in the first trip as much as possible.
In Italy, for the first time it is better to go to some one place, but to study it in detail, with feeling and really. Italy must be comprehended slowly, it must be saved as good wine.
It should be remembered that Italy is clearly divided into north and south.
This applies not only to climatic, natural features and nuances of historical development. First of all, it applies to finance.
Rich and more "advanced" cultural north is more expensive than "poor" south.
The most expensive city in Italy – Venice.
But in this city there are no cars in this city – it is all pedestrian, and the plexus of Venetian streets immerses the atmosphere of fabulous mystery and the most real antiquity.
Nesh-cheat and other promoted tourist routes: Florence, Genoa, Naples, Sicily. They are full of world attractions and museums. Tourist streams do not dry here.
The cities of the Italian south are not so crowded. They seem simpler.
But in them you will open the unexpected pages of the ancient history of Italy. For example, its Greek start:
- Architectural monuments of all epochs that do not flicker in photos on the Internet,
- Historical and Artistic Museums,
- Beautiful beaches on the village of southern landscapes.
And all this is about cheaper than in the north. Regions Apulia, Calabria, Abruzzo, Umbria, Basilicata are waiting for you and wish to show their beauties and reveal their secrets.
Read our Italy guide if you want to get more information about each of the Italian regions and cities.
As for that, how long to go to Italy for the first time, I propose not to wake up for a long time. Limit Weekly. This time is enough to gain impressions, see the main and understand – "Your" is a country or not.
Italy for the first time: at sea
Italy is washed 5 seas. Beaches stretch almost all over the contour of "boot".
These beaches are very diverse. There are sandy, there are pebble, there are beaches among the rocks, there are among the luxurious forest thickets. For every taste and color.
To the beach holiday in Italy it is better to go to the Riviera Ulysses on the west coast or in Rimini on the eastern shore.
Rimini – the most famous and affordable resort
A small town on the shores of Adriatic includes a beach line of 14 km long, a huge chain of hotels and all infrastructure for a comfortable stay. In Rimini, you can directly get from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar and other major cities.
Housing prices here are lower than at the resorts of Amalfi, Capri and Sorrento.
In Rimini itself there is something to see from attractions. Shopping lovers will also find something to do. From Rimini, you can easily and relatively quickly reach San Marino, Bologna, Ancona, Ravenna. A little longer will take a trip to Venice and to Florence.
Riviera Ulysses – the longest coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea
It captures 2 Italian Region at once: Lazio and Campanu.
Between Rome and Naples, small towns are scattered, many of which are older than Rome, and beautiful beaches surrounded by luxurious nature. They have long been known as resorts, and very popular with the Italians themselves.
There are many apartments, hotels, sanatoriums. For lovers of outdoor activities – Razdare. Not only are the cities themselves are full of beauty and interesting places, near Rome and Naples. You can reach them by bus or train.
Italy for the first time: sights
The cities of the North of Italy are the focus of cultural values of world importance.
60% of masterpieces of world culture collected in Italy. Temples, Palaces, Fortresses, Ruins, Museums, Art Galleries, the cities themselves who preserved their original appearance, entail the experts and lovers of art from all over the planet.
Each major city is usually an administrative center of some region. In those times, when united Italy has not yet existed, he was the capital of a small separate state. Therefore, all his life, all stages of development affected the architecture, the construction method, in the presence of its own art school, in the kitchen and in the dialect.
As I said, to connect to one trip at once several Italian cities are meaningless.
For the first trip to Italy, it is better to go to one, maximum two cities. At the same time, the cultural emphasis is on the first city. Secondly consider how the future.
For the sights of Italy, I advise you to go to Rome.
In this big, bright, contradictory and noisy city you will see the best museums, a huge number of ancient monuments. You will be able to find out the Italian capital in all its manifestations: and from the point of view of historical, and with cultural and artistic, and even with a purely Sibarite.
See also: Italy route for a week: Rome, Beach and another interesting place. There you will find a route for the first trip to Italy, which combines cognitive interest with beach rest.
Rome – option for the first trip
Rome is very different. For the first acquaintance – even stunning. He reminds me of the Komoga of an avid traveler, where the beauty and secrets of different epochs are stored together, and not sorted by their boxes and shelves.
Suppose you came to Rome for 7 days.
First day to get acquainted with the city center. Go, try on, understand where what is. Further – you can put routes.
In the article: Rome – what to see for 3 days you will find thematic routes in the center of the Italian capital.
Main attractions are located pretty close to each other. But to get around them, you need to know exactly how from one attraction to reach the other. Do not try to put these 3 routes in one day. Give each route for a whole day. So it will be more or rather for streamlining impressions, and to save forces.
Rome route for the first trip
1 day – Rome Antique:
- Palatinsky hill,
- Roman forum,
- Coliseum,
- Training markets,
- "Golden House" Nero,
- Terms of Caracalla.
2 day – Rome Christian:
- Catacombs,
- Basilica San Giovanni-In-laterano,
- Basilica Santa Croce-In-Jerylarus,
- Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore,
- San Pietro Basilica and San Pietro Square.
3 day – Rome symbolic:
- Capitol Museums,
- Pantheon and Church of Santa Maria-Sopra Minerva,
- Trevi Fountain,
- Spanish staircase,
- Piazza del Popolo,
- Piazza Navona.
4 day – Vatican Museums.
These museums are huge. Of course, you can run in their lips in 1.5-2 hours. But the Museum Assembly deserves more close attention. It is better to spend the day for the inspection of the Vatican museums, not planning anything more.
5 day – familiarity with non-cereal rome.
I mean a walk around the Trastevere district. Here you will see Rome beautiful, but not glossy, tasty is not tourist, singing with its true voice.
Returning from Trastevere through Tiberin Island, you will immediately get into the Roman ghetto. Going there You will never forget if you stop for lunch or dinner in one of the local traots.
6 Day – Shopping.
3 Straight Streets Running from Piazza Del Popolo – Mecca for Shopaholic. All branded boutiques and stores of famous and not very shopping brands are concentrated here: These are Via Corso, Via Di Ripetta and Via del Babino.
7 day – campaign on loved seats or still unfamiliar museum.
You can go to the Rome National Museum (Palazzo Massimo) with a huge collection of ancient art or Villa Borghese.
Below offer a route from Rome.
Florence. Dome Duomo
For an acquaintance with Rome for the first time in Italy can be left for 4-5 days, and then 1-3 days to move to Florence. This is completely different Italy: Medieval and Renaissance.
Florence – a beautiful city with a stunning story, palaces and churches, museums and architectural relics. Dante’s names, Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Giovanni Boccaccio, Galileo Galilee, Medici and other great people.
Venice – the route for the first trip to Italy
Route options for different number of days are in our venue guide. I briefly repeat and offer another option, how to spend a week in Venice with benefit.
1 day – introductory.
Let’s call him – "How to get lost in Venice". Do not build any plans on this day. Going out of the hotel, look around to remember the environment, and let go on the road.
Do not try to remember the road, you will not work the first time. Allow yourself to get lost and get pleasure from it. You can’t leave Venice. This is an island. So you will feel the city, you will penetrate them. You will understand that there is no need to know the way, it is important to know the direction.
2 day – visit Piazza San Marco, "Hearts of Venice".
Here is a complex of museums:
- Maudo Palace and Prison
- Basilica San Marco
- Campanil San Marco
- Museum correction
- Archaeological Museum
- Monumental halls (halls of sculptures)
- Library Marchiana.

To visit the entire complex you buy a single ticket.
With this ticket you can break the museums at 2 stages. For example, today you are watching the Doge Palace and the Museum Correll, and tomorrow I get acquainted with the collection of the Archaeological Museum, Monumental Halls and Libraries Marchian.
Basilica San Marko and Campanil at this ticket are not included. In Basilica, you can enter freely, defending the queue. Treasury tickets and the Cathedral Museum buy inside. The ticket is sold at the campaign at the entrance.
3 Day – Hike in the Galleries of the Academy.
There collected a colossal collection of painting of the Venetian school from the XIII to XVIII centuries.
4th day – Trips on Islands.
On the islands of the Venetian lagoon are:
- Cemetery San Michele, where buried and. Brodsky, I. Stravinsky, S. Dyagilev,
- Murano glass fiber island,
- Lace Island and Colored Houses Burano,
- Torchello Island, where Venetian civilization originated.
5 day – visiting Venetian museums.
I recommend these museums:
- Natural History Museum,
- France Gallery in Ka ‘d’Oro,
- Naval Historical Museum,
- Gallery of modern art Peggy Guuggheim,
- Museum of Venice XVIII century,
- House Museum Carlo Goldoni.
Go through the Venetian churches. Most of them work like museums, for entry take a small fee. In the churches of Venice you will see masterpieces of painting the best Venetian artists.
6 day – study of Venetian Skolo.
Scooles are kinda, too museums.
Read more about them here: 5 Skol Venice.
7 day – walk through the streets of Venice.
Just wander around any particular area you like. For example, leave for a couple of hours in a quiet cannalezho with his Jewish ghetto.
Route option from Venice below.
Pegasus Sculpture in Milan Gallery
Stay in Venice is well combined with trips to neighboring cities: Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Ferrara. You can live in Venice for several days, and the rest spend in Milan. By train to these cities you will reach for 3.5 hours.
About Milan Read in Article: Milan Guide.
Venice – the city on the water.
Accommodation in it is more expensive than, let’s say in Rome. Housing options, less than in the capital. Therefore, I advise for the first time to go only to Venice, without alignment with other cities. This will save you. For the first time and one Venice is enough for the eyes.
As for the combination of Rome and Florence, it is easier here: to find an economy accommodation in Rome easily. Before Florence on a high-speed train you will get in 1.5 hours.
Where to go to Italy for the first time with the child
If you are first going to go to Italy with a child aged 3-7 years, then choose a beach vacation option.
Move to Milan from St. Petersburg and study in Italy
In the summer in Italy is very hot. In the big cities from the abundance of transport, it often simply has nothing to breathe, and moving from attractions to attractions will most often hiking (otherwise it may not work).
With young children, it is better to give up trips to Rome, Milan and other cities, and stay somewhere by the sea.
In small towns of a child, it is easier to carry a fairy tale about the princess and knight on the background of an ancient castle, a towers or a small palace. And the sights are a lot and there. And the sea near. On paid beaches for children there are different entertainment.
Older children are easier. They are already interested in different museums.
For those who drive in Rimini – Ricchone – Milano Marittim, I recommend:
- Amusement Park Mirabilandia (Mirabilandia),
- Atlantic Water Park,
- Aquafan Water Park (Aquafan),
- Dolphinariums in Rimini and Riichione,
- Fiabilandia Park (Fiabilandia) in the Miramare area, Disneyland Analogue,
- Butterfly House (Casa Delle Farfalle).
In Lido Di-Jesolo Not far from Venice there is a water park scabland and moon park New Jesolandia. Near Lake Garda Standing Big Gardaland – the largest Disneyland in Europe. Excursions can be organized in Lido Di-Jesolo. I’m not talking about aquariums, tropicariums and natural nature reserve Lagun Valle.
At the Amalftinian coast of children, you can take excursions to Pompeii and Herculane, sea walks on the boat, traveling to the grotto Angelo del Peestos.
Where to start preparing for the first trip to Italy
Decide to travel: Beach or attractions, or both. After choose the place. Then dates.
Let me remind you that the week for the first time.
Under these terms, you are looking for flights and accommodation. Then you need to get a visa. Passing the passport for a visa, you can safely engage in collecting and preparing.
Tickets for large museums (Vatican Museums, Uffizi Gallery in Florence, San Marco Museum Complex in Venice) Buy online in advance. It will save you from the need to stand in the queue first at the cashier, and then on the entrance to the museum.
Learn a few phrases in Italian.
This will place local residents with you, with whom you will communicate at the hotel, restaurants, shops, museums and public transport. English in Italy knows not all. In large stores, hotels, museums with English you will not disappear, but in small places and small towns in front of you are sad.
In smartphone, iPhone, tablet Install the application with maps.
I am very helpful in traveling in Italy app Maps.Me which works offline. You only need to download the city you need in advance.
Our "forks" are suitable for Italian outlets.
Adapters do not take with them. In the room where you stop, there may be several different outlets. They are adapted under the "forks" of various configurations. Just using the "tyka" using the one to which your.
Before traveling exchange currency.
Card cards, but cash should be. In some souvenir shops, the same magnets on the map you can not. And in the cafe on the map often served in the amount of at least € 10.
Keep in mind that in Italy in many places when calculating the card with you will also be removed by the commission.
For example, when buying a ticket for Aeroexpress "Leonardo" from Fiumicino Airport to Rome for cash at the box office you pay € 14. When calculating the card with you, you will take more € 2 commission. Stores and restaurants This commission does not concern.
In Italy, guests take tourist tax.
Tax sizes depend on the type of placement and level of place where you will live. Usually it is from € 1 to € 5. In the five-star hotels of Rome, this tax reaches € 7. Pay it, as a rule, cash. You write a separate receipt. It happens that the tax is already included in the housing fee, it does not matter, the apartment is or room in the hostel. When booking, find out about the tax in advance.
Dear whether to relax in Italy
It is impossible to call Italy very expensive, but it does not apply to cheap countries.
Save on accommodation you can Early booking.
Save money at the very trip help Tourist maps. In every city they are their own:
- in Rome – RomaPass,
- In Florence – Firenzecard,
- in Venice – Veneziaunica.
Paying these cards, you get the right to travel in public transport, free visit to some museums. In other museums, tickets can be bought with a discount and standing in line.
After buying tickets, housing and visa payments, you need to count on, with you in Italy for a period of 7 days you need to have € 1000-1500.
This amount will allow you not to feel more stronger, and with reasonable spending something of these money you will also bring back.
When it is better to go to Italy
Italy is beautiful at any time of the year.
But there are seasons when there is especially good. This is the end of the spring and the beginning of autumn. At this time, there is also no strong heat, comfortable weather, and at the beginning of autumn there is also a warm sea.
July and August – the hottest time. In October and November, rains begin, wind rise, the weather is not distinguished by stability. Winter here is so softer than ours. Temperature rarely falls below 0 ° C. Snow – a whole event. Happen wet and windy.
Documents for travel to Italy
To go to Italy need a Schengen visa.
It is issued at the consulate of Italy or visa centers. To submit documents for a visa, you need copies of airline tickets, confirmation of housing reservation, a document confirming your solvency (extract from the bank account or a certificate of account status), photos, medical insurance (it can be issued in the visa center or independently).
Where to buy tickets to Italy
Most comfortable tickets for buying tickets:
- www.Skyscanner.Ru
- www.Aviasales.Ru
There you can find direct flights, make up complex routes, choose the most profitable and time to airline tickets.
Advice:
- Do not forget about early booking,
- Do not be afraid of transfers: they slightly increase the time on the way, but allow you to save well,
- Remember discounted and sales. Follow them on the Aviasovet website.Ru.
If you fly by a lourogenant, when buying a ticket, you immediately pay for luggage. At the airport fee for luggage will cost much more expensive.
How to book a hotel
To search for housing, I recommend sites:
Deciding with the city and dates, decide what type of housing will be preferable for you in Italy, and proceed to finding.
More information you will find in our Travel Guide in Italy. In it we are talking about different cities and regions, we give practical advice and offer ready-made routes at the most popular destinations.
If you also have something to advise, please write in the comments where to go to Italy for the first time.
Useful tips and tricks in travel
To save on airline tickets:
Find a cheap flight using Aviasales. He is looking for tickets from airlines around the world.
Instructions how to buy tickets to the Internet Read here
How to save at the hotel:
Book a hotel, hostel or apartment on Booking.Com – This is the most convenient and popular tool. We have on our site selections of interesting housing.
And here – Instructions for airbnb
Do not forget insurance:
Travel insurance is needed in case of disease, injuries, and theft. Authors of the DOROGI-NE-DOROGI site.Ru never travel without insurance. To search for insurance companies, we use the service Cherehapa.Ru
Optical guide and an interesting excursion:
Use Tripter – They have the largest selection of unusual excursions worldwide.
