young girl in 20s travelling to Itally for first time alone
 

Hey Guys,

im super excited as im planning a trip to italy. Its been somewhere i always wanted to go.

I want to go to Rome but iv came across the inter railing tickets you can get to travel to afew places.

if any one has any advise on places to visit and experience going alone as a female would be great

thank you :)

In order for anyone to give you helpful advice we need to know how long your trip will be, what are your interests, what is your budget?

My first advice to inexperienced travelers is to get a guidebook. When I first began solo traveling, I bought a copy of Rick Steves "Europe Through the Back Door." I think Steves' books are good for first time travelers.

You are not a young girl. You are an adult woman.

" want to go to Rome but iv came across the inter railing tickets you can get to travel to afew places."

I am not sure what this sentence means but if it is about rail passes, it is generally less expensive to just buy point to point tickets than rail passes. You can find schedules at www.trenitalia.com but you can not look very far ahead for prices and schedules. This also might be helpful to you:

http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/trains/

Agree on a couple of points:

A "young girl would be 11 or less", after that you are a tween a teen or a woman (IMHO at 16 or 18 depending).

You need to get a guide book and do some research so you have a clue where you want to go. If you are actually young - 22 or 23 - you might want to look at the student info (Let's Go Guides and Thorn Tree section of Lonely Planet web site). if you are older than that - Steeves does specialize in info for beginners - but I find him patronizing.

For any one to give specific advice you need to tell us 1) how long you have, 2) when you will be going, 3) some idea of your interests (art, history, fine dining, hiking, clog dancing?????) and and idea of your budget.

Searching 4 Adventure, I can appreciate your enthusiasm, and you can safely ignore the comments about “not calling yourself a young girl”. It does help to know that you are aged 20-something.

Guide books are good, and you will find heaps in your local library. Read lots, and try to figure out the things that you would like to see. Italy is amazingly “dense” in terms of destinations, and your choice of destinations will be driven by what you want to see and experience. You can’t see everything, unless you’ve got years to travel, and so you have to be a bit selective.

Italy is easy to get around, and the train system is very good. The train schedules at www.trenitalia.com are easy to use, and will give you a good idea of costs, and how long it takes to get from place to place. In some respects, a rail pass is a good idea, and maybe saves money – but even with a rail pass, you still have to make seat reservations on all but the slowest regional trains. I think that the reservation fee is something like ten euro.

It helps a lot to think in terms of Euro rather than dollars for costs, and one Euro is worth about US$1.25, so multiply the Euro price by 1.25 to figure what things would cost in dollars.

Download a map of Italy, print it and stick pins into it for your destinations. That makes it easy to work out a route without backtracking., and that saves both time and money. A spreads heet works well for planning, and remember that each time you move from city to city, it takes at least half a day, maybe more. I think that staying three nights at least in each place makes sense – otherwise the trip becomes a blur of railway stations.

Think about where you fly in and out. Many people fly into Venice, and fly out of Rome. Venice gives a very gentle introduction to Italy, a good place to recover from jet lag. Tickets like this are called “Open Jaw” or “Multi Destinations” tickets, and are different to buying two, one-way tickets.

Planning is fun - go for it!

Thanks for all your help ..and o course im aware im not a child im a women im 24. I love Art and History, and scenery. i also like to dine out. im quite laid back but love adventures.

Il be going for about 8 days really and trying to keep my budget low. Im travelling from ireland so money will be in euros. My Budget will be 350/ 400 for spending

Im definately going to get a book that will help.

I am unsure of the correct flight as Ryanair flights say Rome Campino or something and i dont want to fly to an area out of the way. can any one help

Is that 35/400 euros for everything (accommodations, food, museums, transport...) for 8 days? That's at most 50 euros a day. Not sure how you could make that work, even with bare bones accommodations.

There are two aiports in Rome, the major international one being Fiumicino and the other Ciampino. Ryanair apparently flies into Ciampino.

350 euros for 8 days won't even pay for a bed in a hostel - never mind food, transport and sightseeing.

Have a look at the student guides and Thorn Tree website. These are for people that are traveling rock bottom and will help you put together the most basic budget possible (bed in dorm room in hostel, walking most everyplace, eating picnics meals with food from markets and sticking to sights that are free - or which you may be able to get a student discount.

However, I still think that simply isn't enough to cover even the most basic expenses - unless you get free room with couchsurfing - not something I would reco for a woman alone.