Handy Italy travel tips

Some handy Italy travel tips to help you plan ahead for your Italian holidays. Consider these Italy travel tips listed here in your planning, it will help you save on your holiday budget as well as help you enjoy your holiday better. Being in a foreign country especially one like Italy where few people speak English or Asian languages you need to be better prepared. Communication is an important aspect of your holiday.

 

ITALIAN FACTS SAFETY FACTOR - Major tourist cities in Italy are not safe. There are quite a number of pickpocket thieves wandering around. In Rome they are quite bold to trail you until they feel the time is right to strike. Be very careful with your personal belongings. For example if you have more than one credit card do not bring all of them. Don't carry too much cash try to use your credit cards. 'Break' your EUR to smaller denomination - Do not bring any notes higher than 100 EUR you will have a tough time to break it. Many shops will not accept or claim they have no change unless your purchases are 100's EUR or 1000's EUR. Best to carry smaller denominator notes no bigger than 50 EUR.

 

COSTS SAVING ITALY TRAVEL TIPS

1. Accommodations
Book a holiday villa or apartment rather than a hotel on your Italian holidays. Book direct with the property owner you can save up to 30% by not paying any agency fees. There are few reliable online portal you can use Holiday Rentals from Home Away they have over 8000 owners that advertise with them. Direct Tuscany is another one.Farm stayis another cheap alternatives with the added bonus of living among Italian farmers. No only will you save on rental rates, you will also have a kitchen to cook your own meals which will help. Dinners in Italy are expensive.

2. Visit Southern or Eastern Italy
Generally visiting cities further South skipping Rome start from Naples and beyond or go East of Italy near the Adriatic coast is much cheaper. Umbria region will give you more value than Tuscany for example. Bari and Rimini are very nice coastal cities on the East if you love seafood these are the best places to have them Italian style ofcourse. There are plenty of historical ruins to visit there as well. Travel in Italy is more fun off the beaten track of frequented cities.

3. Buy Tourist Passes 
Many Italian cities offers Tourist Passes you can buy hop-on and hop-off on open top tourist buses for 12 hours or 24 hours use. There are also museum passes as well as opera/arts passes. You can google for them online or pickup Italy travel information when you arrive at the airport or train stations. Seriously consider the Museum passes they are worthwhile you'll find entrance fees to museums and palaces around Italy quite costly.

4. Tour packages and online bookings 
These days it is best to search for travel offers online. Booking directly will always save you money. Kayak.com is a useful travel database it pulls data from all the popular travel sites such as Expedia, Travelocity and a few others to give you a comparison who is offering the best deal online. Save you the problem of doing your search repetitively and comparing it yourself.

5. Really cheap but you'll have to wait
Skyscanner a site that is especially good to get last minute cheap air tickets on Ryanair's destinations. Sometimes you only have to pay pennies for your ticket. However as I said you'll have to wait for the right timing when the offer is made. Ryanair flies to quite a few Italian cities.

6. Low season to travel to Italy 
August is the month Italians are off on their summer vacation but it doesn't mean traveling to Italy is bad for you. All attractions are still open. Consider coming in August for the cities, May and October for the countryside. During these period you'll find good value for Italian holiday packages.

7. Meals in Italy
Cheapest places to eat are Pizzeria they only serve Pizza and some only provide standing room. Next are trattoria which offers lunch special at a fixed price. Restaurants are generally expensive.

8. A cup of coffee
If you want to try to be Italian to order a cup of cafe at a bar or cafe. Do it standing next to the counter. If you sit and expect service the price the price can double. A cup of coffee by the counter should cost you between 80 cts to 1 EUR. No more.

9. Better value at Italian outlet shops 
Prices are fixed in shops unless there's a sales. You can't bargain. Best places to shop for all fashion head for Italian outlets.

10. Trains are NOT the best mode all the time
Going from city to city many people will tell you that trains are convenient, the sad part is the trains are often not running on schedule. If you don't read Italian it may be a challenge for you to find the right route or get off the right place. Again check the prices for no-frill airlines - Blue Express, Easyjet and RyanAir are the three popular ones in Italy, at least you are guarantee puntuality. On certain routes, air travel are cheaper than trains especially if you plan 3 weeks ahead.

11. Travel Italy and teach English
This is still one of the best budget way to travel Italy for extended period of time. Teach as you travel Italy . You will need to be TEFL certified to teach. Getting certified is simple there are option online or weekend courses near you. Once you are TEFL certified the school will help you find jobs at destinations that you would like to travel/holiday in. Presume you are reading this in English you do have command of the language, you can do it. We must warn you that the salary you derived from teaching will not be sufficient to cover costs of living in Italy with accommodation making up the bulk of it. If you found a school that provides accommodation then you will be able to make ends meet.

12. Learning Holidays - Italian Language, Italian culture 
If you dream of learning Italian language you can combine your Italian holidays with learning a language or an an art. Killing two birds with one stone as the saying goes. You can plan ahead the type of learning holidays you wish to have painting, cooking, opera, Italian language there are many places in Italy offering such learning holiday options.

 

 

For Quick and Easy Guide use Amazing North Italy sitemap to find information

 

 

 

 

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