Italy Travel Tips and Lodging Tips

Planning a vacation to Italy?  Here are some Italy travel tips so that you can get the most out of your Italian Holiday.

Travel tips in Italy accommodations:

Hotels, Italian word Albergo, are the most common of tourist accommodations.  Typically these are chain hotels such as Hilton, Radisson, Ramada, and Holiday Inn, etc.  If you would like to stay in a more country or rustic inn then you may want to make reservations to stay in a Locanda.  Locandas are especially popular around Venice.

A small hotel or boarding house is a pensione.  Historically it was common for guests to share a bathroom and eat all three meals a day with the family who owned the house.  These accommodations are still around but not as common as they used to be.

Motels located just off the interstate are becoming more common places to stay. 

Alberghi diurni or day hotels are normally located outside railway stations.  Available to guests are shower facilities, hair dressers, telephones and restrooms.  These facilities do not offer overnight accommodations.  They are good for people who want to rest up and shower during the day while traveling in between cities.

Non traditional accommodations include renting a Luxury Italian Villa. I would highly recommend renting a villa if you are looking for a more low-key, relaxed vacation, possibly in areas such as Tuscany, the Amalfi coast, or the Italian Lakes. Obviously, this is for those of us who have a little extra money to spend. ;)

Last but not least are bed and breakfasts.  These facilities are often quaint and give visitors a feel of country living.  This is a lot like renting a luxury Italian villa, but not nearly as expensive. 

The next question is how to travel around Italy once you arrive. Italy travel advice includes:

Taking a ferry, hydrofoil, or ship when traveling to the islands. Common ports include Naples, Palermo, and Genoa. To get to Sicily and Sardinia you can take a car ferry. If you have a car and prefer to travel by train to Sicily there are ferries that will load the train. Once you have arrived on the other side you will reboard the train. There is no bridge that connects Sicily and the mainland. Ferries are also the main way to travel in between the Italian Lakes.

Additional Italy travel tips include making use of the Italian train system. This system of transportation in Italy is very good and very reliable in terms being on time, especially in Northern Italy. The further South you travel or off main lines the less dependable the trains become. It is recommended that travel between cities in Italy be done by train. This is the best way for visitors to get the best view of the romantic ambiance Italy has to offer. If possible, try to avoid the trains during summer months because they are known for being over crowded during this time of the year.

It is also important to know what the different types of train titles mean:

Locale trains are the slowest of all the trains because they stop at all local stops. Faster than the locale with less stops is the Diretto. If you prefer to just stop at the main towns the Expresso is the train to take.

The Eurocity will connect you to all the Italian cities. Main lines such as Rome and Florence are connected by Eurostar. This train has very few stops.

An important Italian travel tip is to make sure you validate your train ticket by running it through the small yellow electronic machine found in every train station.  If you fail to validate your train ticket you could receive a fine.  Make sure you validate (stamp) your train ticket PRIOR to boarding the train.  There is a little electronic, yellow, machine in every station where you can validate your ticket.

There are many Italy travel tips and tricks for getting to and from the beautiful cities of Italy.  Within the cities it is easy to travel by bus, taxi, and subway.  If you are interested in driving yourself, you will have to get an International Driver's permit to drive around Italy.  Travel in between cities by car is fine, but be careful in the cities, where Italian people tend to drive a bit crazy!  Good luck on your trip to Italy!