Tips to Help Make Independent Travelling in Italy Stress-Free

Jim and Lynette Romagnesi • Feb 08, 2017

Over the years we have come to know what our clients are looking for in a tour. They want to see new and beautiful places, eat good food, drink good wine and be around like minded people while relaxing and having everything taken care of. But what about pre and post tours when you are travelling independently? We have a few to make independent travelling a little easier.

1. Go Slow
It is tempting to see as many cities as your time allows. Thinking a couple of nights in each city should be enough. But by the time you include travel time to and from each city, it really only leaves one full day to explore. It is better to pace yourself, we recommend at least 3 nights in each place. It is less tiring and you return home with memories of each town or city instead of memories of the autostrada.

2. Don't waste your time waiting in line
It is painfully boring waiting in line for major tourist attractions! Some lines can flow out of the building and wind around the block, having you wait in the heat or the rain. Now you can pre-purchase tickets before you travel with Skip-the-Line tickets. Some places will want to lock in a specific date and time, but others will give you more freedom. By pre-purchasing tickets not only do you save time, but it gives you a deep-down-smug-satisfaction as you walk past the long queue straight to the front!

3. Have more than one nominated driver of your hire car
If you are planning on hiring a car it pays for two people to get their international drivers licence before you go. You never know if the nominated driver may get sick or injured or even simply tired after a long days driving.

4. Pack lightly
I invariably over pack and find I only wear half of the clothes I have taken. Over the years I have learnt to pack two good outfits and only a couple of comfortable walking around outfits. That's really all you need. This also leaves room in your bag to buy new clothes if it takes your fancy and it means your bag is not as heavy as you lug it from hotel to hotel or heave onto the rack above train seats. Australians are usually casual dressers. To fit a little more closely into Italian society I make sure my 'comfortable walking around outfits' are closer to 'dressed up' in Aussie attire.

5. Eat where the locals eat.
It pays to spend a little bit of time walking away from the tourist route to find a place to eat. Have a look to see if the locals are eating there. You will usually save money and eat well and feel a part of the culture.
If you eat close to a main tourist attraction you can run the risk of the proprietor dropping their standards as they are not looking for repeat cliental. Sometimes it is worth dropping your expectations and paying a little more if it means you will be eating in a beautiful piazza, such as the campo in Siena or Venice's Piazza San Marco.

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