3 Week Trip to Italy in December, advice needed!
 

Me and my boyfriend are traveling to Italy in December. We will be arriving in Venice on Dec. 12 and leaving from Rome on Dec 30. We are planning on exploring Venice for a couple of days and then traveling to Florence and Tuscany for a couple of days and then to Rome. This is our first opportunity to see a new culture and experience a new country, however, we do not want to cram a lot of things into the whole trip. We are looking for a fun and relaxing vacation.

We are extremely interested in visiting smaller towns that are not touristy. We were hoping to see Cinque de Terre, however we realize that the weather is going to make that pretty impossible. Any suggestions on other costal towns or beautiful sites like that one to see? We are trying to research and have read so many posts on this forum, but we do not even know where to begin. I know the weather will be cold and wet often, so we want to have options of places to see and do in order to not miss out on something in case the weather causes us to change our plans. We are both 21 and open to anything! Also, we are hoping to go on a wine tour or two in tuscany, but I do not know if this is available in December? Basically, we just want to see beautiful Italy and have a wonderful time exploring. Thank you in advance for your advice!!

"We were hoping to see Cinque de Terre, however we realize that the weather is going to make that pretty impossible. Any suggestions on other costal towns or beautiful sites like that one to see"

As you can see on other posts CT was hit with flooding and probably won't be cleaned up by December.....but even if it were, it is not one of the best months to see CT or most of the coast.

Since it is your first trip it would probably be best to go to Venice, Florence and Rome. You can day trip to Tuscany from Florence. Some of the beautiful Tuscan towns are Siena, Radda, Pienza.

Congrats have been there a fair amount then it can get

cold frontal rain so head south from Venice on regional

train cheaply seat61.com/italy

No clue bout your budget

but eurocheapo.com great tips everywhere

My route venice-tourism.com www.lucca.info

La Spezia into the cinqueterre.com

www.metropole.it 1 block from train station

ferry to villages Portofino 1 block walk my fav hotel there

Then train back to Florence via Pisa on down to Rome

Easily doable in 3 weeks in fact have done it.

Happy Travels...

quovadis. This is a first time visitor to Italy.
Your comments would be significantly more helpful if you elaborated somewhat rather than just using the shotgun approach.
Have a great day.

Since youare going in winter the countryside will not be very attractive - so plan on sticking to cities and towns. Also, be aware that in Itly hours for attractions can be quite flexible - that is, they can change randomly with no notice. But - in winter many tourist sights definitely have shorter hours - sometimes from 10 am to only 1 or 2 pm and then close for the day. So - be sure to check out the opening hours of the places that you really want to see.

Agree Venice, Florence with a couple of day trips to small Tuscan towns and Rome makes sense. And hope that you get good wether and cn still sit in some outdoor cafes (they sometimes have heaters).

It's difficult to visit any smaller towns in Italy that are not touristy, as so much of the country is beautiful and worth visiting by tourists!

I would also suggest, due to possible bad weather, that you stick to the cities for this trip. That way, if the weather is bad, there will always be plenty of indoors places to go and see.

A smaller city that you could visit for a day or so, though, would be Bologna. Fewer tourists, but still plenty to see, great food, and because it's a university town, lots of people closer to your age, and it's lively.

You can cover a lot of terrain during that time. I live in Leghorn which is in Tuscany, so I may be able to give you some pretty good info. Let me start by saying that you may want to position yourself in a central -off the beaten path- type of city, find a nice, inexpensive hotel, and safe hotel, and do day trips.
One lady that I know, spent some time in Montepulciano, and came down to livorno for two weeks. During the time, she took in the city of Livorno,and did day trips to Pisa, Lucca, Siena, and Florence. I tried to get her to visit Rosignano Solvay which I think is gorgeous. Cecina is also beautiful. Those are quaint little beach towns. If you're interested, there are also castles in Quercianella.
The train system is pretty good, and if you buy a first class ticket, they announce your stops in English as well. The bus system is pretty reliable as well. The lady I mentioned explored every nook and cranny of this town by getting on the bus and just wondering. She later departed to go to Asisi and stopped at Perugia.
I don't know what your budget is, but it's certainly worth looking into the non-touristy towns as a base and traveling from there. I hope this information helps you.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the info about Italy in the winter time. I know it isn't the ideal time to visit, but it is what worked out. We are students so the budget is tight and we plan on staying in Hostels. I didn't think about places not being open or the countryside not being beautiful in the winter so you have given us a lot to think about! Bologna sounds like will be a good fit for us to have fun Lexma90 and the towns you mentioned msday sound like just what we are looking for! Are the beach towns still beautiful in the winter? I don't know how much rain to expect, I just know it will be cold.

Also, I am trying to research and figure out exactly which towns to plan on visiting, do you think this is the best approach or should we just go with an idea of all the places we want to see and sort of wing it?

It's totally available in December. But you must be a bit careful with the crowd. Coz for sure it would be packed with people for the holidays.

Jms, Yes, the beaches are gorgeous during the winter. The waves are always huge and depending on the beach, it can be beautiful. Now, would I just wing it? No....although I live here, I wouldn't be that brave unless I had a strong command of the language and new the area somewhat. However, I have seen people do it and I applaud them. However, you really want to research the area, try to see if the available hostels have photos online, etc. and try to plan an itinerary. The woman who stayed with us, used a site called airbnb.