Off the beaten path in Italy
Feb 11th, 2014, 06:40 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Off the beaten path in Italy
So im a college student planning to go on a 3 to 4 week trip to Italy in the summer of 2015. Im in the base planning stages but I want to know where can I go that I wont be one of a million tourists. Right now im thinking of hitting all basic touristy places and am looking for something more off the tourist trail. I plan on packing light and traveling by train and bus. I don't plan on renting a car but would be willing too for a couple days if it was really worth my while.
Current places I want to hit:
1.Venice
2. Cinque de Terre
3. Rome
4.Florence
5. Naples
So any little lake or mountain towns that you would suggest would be greatly aprecciated
Current places I want to hit:
1.Venice
2. Cinque de Terre
3. Rome
4.Florence
5. Naples
So any little lake or mountain towns that you would suggest would be greatly aprecciated
Feb 11th, 2014, 08:16 PM
#2
Unless you're 25 years old, the under-age surcharge will probably make a car rental rather expensive. It used to be $25 or $30 a day, but I have no idea what it is now. But if you can afford it, a car makes small, remote towns much easier to fit into an itinerary.
If your trip is 3 weeks, you've almost filled it with the destinations you listed. You wouldn't want a car in the cities, and there's no reason to have a car in the Cinque Terre. You can make several day-trips from the major cities using public transportation.
If it's 4 weeks, obviously you'd be able to add some smaller towns even if you didn't have a car.
If your trip is 3 weeks, you've almost filled it with the destinations you listed. You wouldn't want a car in the cities, and there's no reason to have a car in the Cinque Terre. You can make several day-trips from the major cities using public transportation.
If it's 4 weeks, obviously you'd be able to add some smaller towns even if you didn't have a car.
Feb 12th, 2014, 01:13 AM
#3
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,169
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well, you have piked the biggest tourist spots in Italy, so you will have plenty of company from all over Europe, North America, and Asia.
There is a good reason why these are big tourist sites, so don't feel bad about visiting them. People have been doing it since before the American Revolution.
In each of these cities, there will be neighborhoods where there are no tourists. Get on a bus or tram (street car) ride to the end of the line, and walk. But there will be other areas where you can meet other people your own age and trade information and hang out.
Getting into the country is best done by regional train or bus, since driving will be a real issue, as Jean points out. If you pack very lightly, public transportation is easy and cheap. The only problem is that the further you get from cities, the fewer people speak English.
The other issue for younger travelers is that you will not be able to use your smartphone the way people do at home. Texting your friends, downloading music, even leaving the phone on to use for GPS or location services will be prohibitively expensive if you use an unmodified US phone. There are dozens of posts on here about options for phones in Italy.
Travel light, be street smart, be flexible, and you will have a great time.
There is a good reason why these are big tourist sites, so don't feel bad about visiting them. People have been doing it since before the American Revolution.
In each of these cities, there will be neighborhoods where there are no tourists. Get on a bus or tram (street car) ride to the end of the line, and walk. But there will be other areas where you can meet other people your own age and trade information and hang out.
Getting into the country is best done by regional train or bus, since driving will be a real issue, as Jean points out. If you pack very lightly, public transportation is easy and cheap. The only problem is that the further you get from cities, the fewer people speak English.
The other issue for younger travelers is that you will not be able to use your smartphone the way people do at home. Texting your friends, downloading music, even leaving the phone on to use for GPS or location services will be prohibitively expensive if you use an unmodified US phone. There are dozens of posts on here about options for phones in Italy.
Travel light, be street smart, be flexible, and you will have a great time.
Feb 12th, 2014, 05:14 AM
#4
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Personal faves (without a car): Turin, San Remo, Camogli (kind of full, but mostly Italians), Sta. Margherita Ligure, Padua, Vicenza, Ferrara, Lucca (does have tourists but in a narrow path), Tarquinia. Not many tourists go to Bologna. I hear Ascoli Piceno is nice and nobody goes there; same with Trieste. Ferrara and Lucca are great if you rent a bike too.
Feb 12th, 2014, 09:20 AM
#5
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 1,086
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
So you are going to the tourist places but want to add ONE place that is not as touristy? At least that is what I understand you to be asking.
The answer of course is to go to any little village in Italy that you've never heard of. It's hardly rocket science.
My question would be WHY do you want to go to such a place? I mean, what do you hope to gain/experience by doing so? What would interest you and make you glad you went there? What are your expectations for this 'off the beaten path' addition to your trip?
Without knowing the answers to those questions, suggesting any specific place really doesn't make much sense.
The answer of course is to go to any little village in Italy that you've never heard of. It's hardly rocket science.
My question would be WHY do you want to go to such a place? I mean, what do you hope to gain/experience by doing so? What would interest you and make you glad you went there? What are your expectations for this 'off the beaten path' addition to your trip?
Without knowing the answers to those questions, suggesting any specific place really doesn't make much sense.
Feb 13th, 2014, 08:35 AM
#6
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 7,959
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
All five of the places you mention will be heaving with foreign tourists in the summer, and I agree that if you're staying only three weeks, you won't have time to get off the beaten path. The less-traveled roads also have scanty bus and train services. You might want to substitute at least one of those places with a less well-known place. The Cinque Terre is absolutely sinking under the weight of the tourists in the summer, and it doesn't sound to me like the kind of destination you're looking for. Those amazing photos you see must have been taken in mid-February, or at 6 AM, or else they just photo-shopped out the people. Instead of the Cinque Terre, you might consider going to the island of Elba, or to one of the great lakes of Italy, for example, Lago Maggiore, which is probably the least frequented by foreign tourists.
Or you might consider staying in Siena or Fiesole rather than Florence. I consider Florence to be unbearably crowded in summer, and it's also one of the hottest places in central Italy, as it's in a natural bowl that hardly gets a breeze. You can easily visit Florence from Siena by bus; Fiesole is even more easily reached, by city bus.
These slight modifications will already get you a bit off the tourist track. Then, I assume you're looking for a destination to add to those above. From Rome, you could easily visit one of the towns in the Castelli Romani area, which are favorite weekend getaways of Romans, but not particularly overrun with foreign tourists. Several of the towns are accessible by bus or train.
If you're looking for a place to spend a few days, you can get a bus from Rome to the beautiful little town of Sulmona in Abruzzo. From there you can get buses to even smaller towns, like Scanno, where some of the residents still wear traditional costume. (A man in a neighboring town told us that the town pays them to wear these costumes, but he might have been biased.) Abruzzo is a beautiful area, with lots of little hill towns. It's a favorite summer holiday region for Italians, but they descend en masse in August, and you may not even notice them in June or July. Anyway, most foreign tourists don't seem to object to Italian tourists crowding up their vacation spots.
You can also reach Le Marche by train from Rome, a very beautiful and largely undiscovered region. Someone has already mentioned Ascoli Piceno, which is a very nice marchigiano city. You can get there from Rome by bus, or by a much longer and convoluted train ride. From Ascoli, you can visit some smaller towns, such as Offida, by bus.
An even smaller destination in Le Marche, in a pretty area, is Cagli. There is a bus from Rome to Cagli; it also goes on to Urbino and Fano on the Adriatic coast; both are very nice places to stay. Urbino is a lovely Renaissance hill town, with an ancient university and one of Italy's most beautiful ducal palaces. Urbino gets a fair number of tourists, but nowhere near as many as Lucca; still, it may not be what you're looking for. Fano is a seaside town, and, like all those in Italy, will be a bit busy in the summer, but nothing like the Cinque Terre. If you stay in Cagli (or Fano), you could easily make a day trip to Urbino. Another beautiful spot you can visit from Cagli is the Gola di Furlo, a scenic river gorge where the ancient Via Flaminia passes through a tunnel carved in the rock face in Roman times. (There's an even smaller pre-Roman tunnel next to it, but it usually can't be visited.) There's a bus from Cagli to Furlo, but I'm not sure how close it stops to the gorge.
Ferrara is a very pleasant small city, one of my favorites, and it's easily reached from Venice. It can be unpleasantly hot in the summer, though, as can most of the places in the Val Padana (Padana vallery).
Lucca is also very nice, and easily reached from Florence, but maybe a bit too touristy for your definition of "off the beaten path". North of Lucca, the Alpi Apuane are attractive and relatively undiscovered, but I don't know how easy it is to get around there without a car.
Or you might consider staying in Siena or Fiesole rather than Florence. I consider Florence to be unbearably crowded in summer, and it's also one of the hottest places in central Italy, as it's in a natural bowl that hardly gets a breeze. You can easily visit Florence from Siena by bus; Fiesole is even more easily reached, by city bus.
These slight modifications will already get you a bit off the tourist track. Then, I assume you're looking for a destination to add to those above. From Rome, you could easily visit one of the towns in the Castelli Romani area, which are favorite weekend getaways of Romans, but not particularly overrun with foreign tourists. Several of the towns are accessible by bus or train.
If you're looking for a place to spend a few days, you can get a bus from Rome to the beautiful little town of Sulmona in Abruzzo. From there you can get buses to even smaller towns, like Scanno, where some of the residents still wear traditional costume. (A man in a neighboring town told us that the town pays them to wear these costumes, but he might have been biased.) Abruzzo is a beautiful area, with lots of little hill towns. It's a favorite summer holiday region for Italians, but they descend en masse in August, and you may not even notice them in June or July. Anyway, most foreign tourists don't seem to object to Italian tourists crowding up their vacation spots.
You can also reach Le Marche by train from Rome, a very beautiful and largely undiscovered region. Someone has already mentioned Ascoli Piceno, which is a very nice marchigiano city. You can get there from Rome by bus, or by a much longer and convoluted train ride. From Ascoli, you can visit some smaller towns, such as Offida, by bus.
An even smaller destination in Le Marche, in a pretty area, is Cagli. There is a bus from Rome to Cagli; it also goes on to Urbino and Fano on the Adriatic coast; both are very nice places to stay. Urbino is a lovely Renaissance hill town, with an ancient university and one of Italy's most beautiful ducal palaces. Urbino gets a fair number of tourists, but nowhere near as many as Lucca; still, it may not be what you're looking for. Fano is a seaside town, and, like all those in Italy, will be a bit busy in the summer, but nothing like the Cinque Terre. If you stay in Cagli (or Fano), you could easily make a day trip to Urbino. Another beautiful spot you can visit from Cagli is the Gola di Furlo, a scenic river gorge where the ancient Via Flaminia passes through a tunnel carved in the rock face in Roman times. (There's an even smaller pre-Roman tunnel next to it, but it usually can't be visited.) There's a bus from Cagli to Furlo, but I'm not sure how close it stops to the gorge.
Ferrara is a very pleasant small city, one of my favorites, and it's easily reached from Venice. It can be unpleasantly hot in the summer, though, as can most of the places in the Val Padana (Padana vallery).
Lucca is also very nice, and easily reached from Florence, but maybe a bit too touristy for your definition of "off the beaten path". North of Lucca, the Alpi Apuane are attractive and relatively undiscovered, but I don't know how easy it is to get around there without a car.
Feb 13th, 2014, 10:01 AM
#8
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wonderful info and superb detail by bvienci! To follow up on Lucca, I did a three-city trip last summer. The piccies are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglas...7637640291643/
Bologna was deadsville as tourists go - - in fact it was way livelier the previous November when all the students made it super vivid: http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglas...7632060233870/
Lucca, if you look at the pix, is more than half empty tooling all over the town by bike - - but there is a standard ant-lane route for tourists which can be jammed.
But Florence was a horrorshow: a teeming swamp of tourists, generally wearing exceedingly bad clothing. Here's a street scene: http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglas...7634874102329/
Bologna was deadsville as tourists go - - in fact it was way livelier the previous November when all the students made it super vivid: http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglas...7632060233870/
Lucca, if you look at the pix, is more than half empty tooling all over the town by bike - - but there is a standard ant-lane route for tourists which can be jammed.
But Florence was a horrorshow: a teeming swamp of tourists, generally wearing exceedingly bad clothing. Here's a street scene: http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglas...7634874102329/
Feb 13th, 2014, 10:09 AM
#9
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,321
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Great ideas here!!
You can also see our photos of our trip to Lucca here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7637218522244/
And Le Marche our fav place in Italy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7634528008046/
You can also see our photos of our trip to Lucca here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7637218522244/
And Le Marche our fav place in Italy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7634528008046/
Feb 13th, 2014, 10:30 AM
#10
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ooooops. Wrong photo link above.
Bologna / Lucca / Florence here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglas...7634874102329/
Bologna / Lucca / Florence here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglas...7634874102329/
Aug 29th, 2014, 09:52 AM
#13
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I'm also planning a trip for 2015 to many of these places. I've done it before and hitting these places in three weeks is busy but you should have plenty of time to squeeze in some smaller towns along the way. For instance, you can take day trips from Florence to many smaller Tuscan towns, like Bologna, Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra, Montelcino and Montapulcino. You can take buses and some trains to these places, all of which you can reach under 2 hours.
If you're staying in Cinque Terre for a few days, check out Genoa - it's supposed to be a fabulous port town fairly close via train. Also, Lucca and Pisa are nearby as well.
I've never been to Naples but I have family that's been and it's big, a bit dirty and can be quite sketchy in places. I'd opt for the town of Sorrento instead and take a day trip to Naples or Capri via bus or ferry.
There are tons of smaller towns to explore if you're using the bigger cities as a base. Do your research and you'll be in fine shape! Enjoy!!
If you're staying in Cinque Terre for a few days, check out Genoa - it's supposed to be a fabulous port town fairly close via train. Also, Lucca and Pisa are nearby as well.
I've never been to Naples but I have family that's been and it's big, a bit dirty and can be quite sketchy in places. I'd opt for the town of Sorrento instead and take a day trip to Naples or Capri via bus or ferry.
There are tons of smaller towns to explore if you're using the bigger cities as a base. Do your research and you'll be in fine shape! Enjoy!!
