Travel Answers for planning Italy.
For a late train or flight into Rome, optimise the final leg for getting indoors with minimal fuss, not for atmosphere. Choose accommodation with reliable late check-in and a direct, easy route from where you arrive—often near the station or along a straightforward transfer route. A separate first-night hotel is worthwhile only when reaching your preferred neighbourhood would be genuinely awkward at that hour.
Yes—the Amalfi Coast is workable without a car in high season. Ferries are usually the least stressful way to cover the main coastal stops when they are running, while buses are better treated as a useful fallback than the plan for your entire day. Start early, keep the itinerary light and accept that a missed connection can reshape the day.
Yes. The Dolomites can be visited without a car if you choose one valley with good buses and lifts. Val Gardena is the easiest place to start for most first visits. Cortina can also work, but connections are less simple. Do not plan a car-free trip around several distant valleys.
Neither month is better everywhere, but October is the safer default for a city-heavy, multi-stop trip: conditions are often comfortable and crowds can be softer outside the biggest hotspots. Choose April for a fresher spring feel if you are willing to plan more flexibly around regional weather. In either month, build the route around the places you are actually visiting rather than a national average.
Cut one city. Rome and Florence make the best first route for most travellers. Florence and Venice work well for a northern trip, while Rome and Venice suit people who want the greatest difference between the two stops. Trying to visit all three in eight days leaves only about two full days in each city.
Use two bases for a trip of about ten days. Rome and Florence make the simplest classic route. Rome with Naples or Sorrento adds Pompeii and the coast. Venice with Verona or Lake Garda creates a gentler northern trip. Choose apartments or family rooms near transport and avoid changing hotels every two nights.
Stay overnight if Venice matters to you. A day trip can cover St Mark’s Square, Rialto and a walk through the centre, but it also places you in the city during its busiest hours. Two nights are ideal for a first visit; one night is enough to experience an evening and early morning.
Choose the east-focused route. Ten days is enough for a satisfying first trip, but a full loop risks turning it into a chain of transfers, especially without a rental car. Aim for two main bases, add a third only if the connections genuinely work, and leave room for arrival, departure and one slower day. You will see less of Sicily on the map, but you will have more usable time in each place.
Move south slowly rather than using Bari for the whole trip. For most first visits, two or three bases work best: Bari at the start, a central base around the coast or Valle d’Itria, then Lecce for the Salento end. You will spend less time retracing your route without turning every attractive town into another check-in.
Prebook timed entry for the major museums you would be genuinely disappointed to miss; keep smaller museums and minor sights flexible. That is the useful split. It protects the non-negotiables without turning an Italian city break into a sequence of appointments, and it leaves room for the queue, the lunch that runs long and the church or gallery you spot on the way.