Hey guys..

I am planning a backpacking trip with a friend after a family holiday in south of france.
We are two girls travelling alone and need to travel on budget. Please could you give some advice on the places im planning to visit in italy and is the time at each place enough? Or recommend other places to see?

To be honest, I dont really know what there are to see in these places, or how much the B & B's are.nor can I get trains to all these places. many thanks if you could help

Day 1 - leave Nice, France, possibly train to Genoa, Italy. stay overnight

Day 2 - spend a day in Genoa

Day 3 - Get a train/bus? to Cinque terre, stay over night

Day 4- Whole day in cinque terre

Day 5- Spend day in cinque terre, leave at night to La spezia

day 6- whole day bat La spezia, night leave for Bologna

day 7 - Bologna

day 8 Leave for verona

day 9 verona

day 10- flight bk to UK.

Is it possible?

are all these places easy to get around by public transport or foot?


many thanks guys

All of these places are well-conncted by train. You can look at schedules and fares at the official Italian rail site here:

http://www.fsitaliane.it/homepage_en.html

My children (in their early 20's) did a backpacking trip through Europe last year, spending about 9 days in Italy--similar to you. The research they did in planning their trip led them to Rome, Naples and Venice. They booked all of their hostels (which I think would be a more budget-friendly option than B&B's) through www.hostelworld.com They had no problem traveling by train and booked their major trips (e.g. Rome to Venice) online before leaving.

I highly recommend that you do some research on the destinations you have chosen before you leave. Why go someplace that has nothing there that interests you?

"I dont really know what there are to see in these places" - then why are you going there?

It is very easy to travel in much of Italy by train, and there are cheap places to stay (including nunneries!) but you need to do some research. How do we know what will interest you?

Head for your library and/or bookstore and browse the glossy guidebooks for inspiration. Then move on to Lonely Planet for logistics and cheaper places to stay. I believe Lets Go will also work for cheap sleeps, although I've never used it. I use eurocheapo.com instead.

Is there a reason you chose to stay in Genoa and La Spezia? They are not really tourist towns, although Genoa has some interesting history. I would head straight to le Cinque Terre by train and then to Bologna, Verona and Venice.

Buy the Rick Steves guidebook for Italy. It will answer many of your question and has some maps that will help you.

want to add Let's Go guidebooks i think will be a good resource for your in your research. it's written by harvard students and they have books on a particular destination i.e. florence, rome, etc. i agree with above posts as far as taking into account what would interest you - nice, relaxing beaches, art and history, night life, etc

have fun planning!!