ANYONE TRAVELED TO ITALY?

Does anyone know of good Travel websites/brochures/books on Italy? Cruises to Italy?

And also, if anyone has an suggestions/recommendations on what to do/see in Italy: Hotels, Restaurants, Shopping, Sightseeing Tours, etc.?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA

My friends and I did a 2 week bus tour of Italy in 1997. We chose a tour because we didn't speak the language and were concerned about traveling on our own since we wanted to hit many different cities. Italy was amazingly beautiful and I highly recommend it.

However just fyi, here's what I hate about going on an organized group tour - you sit on a bus for 6 hours, get to City#1, get to spend a whopping 2 hours there (if you are lucky) to take a picture, then have to get back on the bus for another 6 hour drive to City#2. So I saw 2 hours of each of 15 different cities when in retrospect I wish I had done a tour of only 1 or 2 cities, and spend a few days in each place. That is my suggestion.

Major tour complaint #2 - the food. Yes, the FOOD in Italy. The tour had meals 'included' which originally we thought was a good thing. However these meals consisted of buffets in the hotel dining room of peas, carrots, soup, grilled chicken, and stale fruit. It was disgusting. My advice would be to NOT have meals included and go off on your own at night to find local restaurants that truly represent Italy...we did that one night and had the best meal ever and we wished we had done that the whole time.

I subsequently went to France on my own, without a tour group, and it was amazing and a completely different experience. Hope that helps!

I've been to Italy a couple of times. Both times through Alitalia. We didn't go on a tour. They helped us book hotels, airfare and transportation to the different cities.

We stayed four days in Rome. From there we took a day trip to Pompeii and another day to Caprii. Then four days in Florence. Took a day trip to Pisa as well as the Tuscan countryside for wine tasting. Then two days in Venice.

Food was amazing. Talk to locals to find out where they go to eat.

Only complaint was that the showers were different than what we have here.

The best thing to do is get a great pair of walking shoes, a map and just explore they cities. It was amazing.

Thank you to all who posted.

Bump for those who didn't see. TIA

If you want to FM me your address, I will send you Italy for Dummies and if I can find the Fodor's I have, I'll send you that too!

(we never made it to Italy and I don't see it happening any time soon)

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Posted by May2004

Does anyone know of good Travel websites/brochures/books on Italy? Cruises to Italy?

And also, if anyone has an suggestions/recommendations on what to do/see in Italy: Hotels, Restaurants, Shopping, Sightseeing Tours, etc.?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA

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We went to Italy last month. It was FABULOUS! You can go to any travel agency and they have TONS of brochures.

We did a tour of Italy...which i found to be great.
Since this was our first time there we did the typical, touristy things: Venice (gondola ride, bridge of sighs, st. Marx etc), Florence, Padua, Rome (too many things to list), Sorrento and Capri.
being in a tour definately has its benefits.
If you have any questions feel free to FM me

I went to Italy in July...LOVED IT!! Anyhow, we booked through Club ABC Tours. They have escorted as well as independent tours. Ours was independent to Venice, Florence and Rome. We were able to add on Sorrento at the end of the trip ourselves (in other words, not through ABC). The price was good and I enjoyed the freedom of doing things when WE wanted to. Believe me, there were some challenges associated with the independent traveling, but I wouldn't have changed a thing!! FM me for more details.

PS...we also used Italy for Dummies as well as Frommer's Italy--they were great!

I recently went to Italy and LOVED it! We went to Tuscany, which I HIGHLY recommend. I think if you go to Tuscany you should stay in the countryside (we stayed in Montelpulciano) and take day trips to Siena, Pisa, and Florence if you want to see them. We also went to the lake region, stayed in Cernobbio, and took day trips to Lake Como and Lugano, Switzerland (again, highly recommended.) We went to Cinque Terre, which is my FAVORITE place on Earth. Go here if noplace else. We also went to Rome for a day, which was more than enough time (didn't love it there.) You will love Italy regardless of where you go. Have FUN!

ETA: How could I forget Venice?? We went there too, and it was an experience not to forget, but again, 2 days is enough in that area (IMO).

BIGGEST RECOMMENDATION: Do it on your own (not through a tour) and buy a phrase book! You'll need it if you don't go to tourist havens like Rome, Florence, and Venice.