Italy Travel Tips: Everything You MUST Know Before Traveling to Italy

Last Updated on September 15, 2025 by Tori Pines

Planning a trip to Italy is exciting and SO much fun. You’re dreaming of pasta-filled dinners, strolling cobblestone streets, and soaking up all that history and beauty. But before you hop on the plane, there are a few Italy travel tips you’ll want to know to make your trip smoother and more enjoyable.

From navigating train travel to cultural etiquette (like when to order that cappuccino), these tips will help you avoid common mistakes and travel with confidence. Consider this your cheat sheet for making the most of your time in Italy, without having to do hours of research or learning the hard way!

1. How Long Do You Need in Italy?

There’s only one right answer here; as long as you possibly can. Seriously though, you should take as much time as you can afford to take for your vacation, because there is SO much to see here.

But for the average first trip to Italy I recommend at least 12-14 days. It allows you to visit several different towns and get a first taste of what the country has to offer. It by no means will allow you to see everything you want to see, but it’s a realistic start!  And don’t worry…you’ll be back!

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2. Where Should You Go in Italy?

There’s a million different ways that you could spend your time in Italy. What’s amazing about the country is how unique each city and village is, so there truly is something for everyone. So before you plan out your Italy Trip Itinerary, take into account what you enjoy and are looking for in a vacation. Ask yourself these questions:

Do I want to be busy every single day or do I want some time to relax?
Are there any sights that are a must-see, non-negotiable?
Do I want to spend most of my time in big cities or small towns?
What kind of Italian food do I want to try?
Would I like to visit places on the coast?
Do I want to go to lots of museums?

The best way to figure out the places that you want to visit most are by exploring blogs like this one and reading about each place and what it has to offer. I have a complete 2 weeks in Italy itinerary that details how I think people should spend 2 weeks there for their first visit.

One of my favorite Italy travel tips that I recommend to people is watching YouTube videos of people in Italy. I love the series Adam and Kathryn from Adventures of A+K filmed during their two week Italy trip itinerary! It really helps you get an idea of the different places and figure out where you should go!

3. What are some top destinations in Italy?

There’s endless beautiful cities and towns to see on your Italy trip itinerary, but here’s a few of the top destinations you might want to consider:

Rome
Florence
Tuscany
Venice
Amalfi Coast
Capri
Milan
Naples
Cinque Terre
Lake Como
Sicily
Sardinia
Matera
Dolomites
Genoa
Bologna
Parma
Verona

4. When should you visit Italy?

One of the most popular questions people ask is when is the best time to visit Italy? And my answer will forever be: whenever you have the most time to go. Are some seasons “better” than others? Absolutely. But if you only have 1 week versus 2 weeks based on work or school schedules, I will always encourage you to go whenever it makes the most sense for you and your group.

However, if you are flexible with when you can travel for your 2 week Italy trip itinerary, then the absolute best times to visit Italy will be in the shoulder seasons. These are the spring (April & May) and Fall (September & October). This is when the weather is the most beautiful, usually in the 70s, and when there are less tourists. Well, less tourists than the summer at least!

Summers in Italy are hot and crowded. There are SO many people visiting throughout the whole summer that everything is packed, sold out and expensive. That being said, if you only have the time off during the summer, then that’s OKAY! You should absolutely still visit, just make sure to set your expectations appropriately and be prepared. Book every single thing in advance, and start your days as early as possible to avoid crowds and heat. It will be an incredible vacation!

But, be sure to plan the destinations appropriately depending on the time you can visit. Don’t visit the coastal towns in the winter, they will be a ghost town and not in a good way. Meanwhile in the summer, try to hit up as many of the coastal towns as possible, like Positano or Capri, to enjoy the warm waters for swimming! In the winter, you might want to explore the towns in Northern Italy to see the Christmas markets! That’s one of the most important Italy travel tips I have!

5. How to Get to Italy

Getting to Italy is easy since there are several major cities to fly in and out of. Rome and Milan will definitely have the most options from the US, but Venice, Naples and other cities throughout the country offer flights to and from the States as well. Find the one that makes the most sense for your timing and budget for your 2 week Italy trip itinerary!

If you are doing a tour of Europe, then you’ll likely want to arrive via train instead! Getting around Europe via train is so incredibly easy and usually pretty inexpensive. But sometimes flying within Europe makes more sense as flights can be super cheap and fast!

Tori Tip: For those wanting to explore two areas in Europe and fly between them you may want to look into the United Excursionist Perk! Basically, if you fly from the US to Europe, then a flight within Europe and then back home, the flight in between is free (just pay the taxes and fees!) Now the only catch here is that you have to be using United points to book this trip. But if you save up enough credit card points, this could be an awesome deal! You can read more about the United Excursionist Perk here!

6. How to Get Around Italy

Getting around Italy tends to be one of the most daunting tasks for first time visitors, but I promise you, it is SO easy! There are a few main ways to get around; train, rental car and private driver.

Train

You will want to get around Italy by train most often. Trains run between every major town and city and it makes getting around Italy super easy, convenient and fairly inexpensive!

Figuring out train travel is one of the most important and slightly confusing Italy travel tips. There’s many different places online that you can look at and buy train tickets. However I highly recommend you use Trenitalia. They are the best, most trustworthy, easy to use and inexpensive option for buying train tickets. Download the Trenitalia app and do everything from there.

The major plus of using the app is that you don’t have to get your tickets validated if you are on any of the fast trains between large cities. All of the train rides recommended in this 2 week Italy trip itinerary uses those trains. If you book any of the slow regional trains, you validate your ticket by selecting “check-in” on the app.

If you buy any physical train tickets, you MUST get them validated or you could get in big trouble and slapped with a fine. This means you go up to the machine in the train station that’s located right before the tracks and you stamp your ticket.

I highly recommend that you book your train tickets in advance. Lots of people argue that they don’t want to buy them in advance because their plans might change, however if you want to follow my 2 week Italy itinerary at all, then you know you’ll have to plan every detail out in advance.

Rental Car

Renting a car can be a great option any time you want to visit smaller towns. When you’re in the big cities, or going directly from city to city, a train is the best choice. However, if you want to explore areas like Tuscany, Umbria, Sicily and other areas like that, then a car could be a good option.

I will tell you, booking a rental car that has an automatic transmission was pretty expensive. It was something like 4 times the cost as a manual. If you know how to drive a stick, then you’re in luck!

In Italy they drive on the right hand side of the road and basically everything looks the same as in the States. Obviously all of the street signs are in Italian, but you can read the speed sign and I would argue that’s probably the most important.

If you do plan to drive in Italy, make sure you get an international driving permit. Head to your local AAA office to do so, and pay $20. It’s very easy, and legally required if you drive in Italy!

Private Driver

The place that makes the most sense for a private driver is on the Amalfi Coast. There’s no train to get you there and there’s basically no space for parking. So hiring a driver in advance is the perfect (and pretty much only) option! I highly recommend using Joe Banana Limos as they were incredible to work with!

There could definitely be other times where you would want to hire a private driver, like to or from an airport, or to and from a smaller town that doesn’t have a train station. In this case, use Get Your Guide or Viator to find a trustworthy company to pick you up!

Taxi

And last but not least, the taxi cab! Honestly, we loved using taxis while in Italy. We only used them in Rome and Florence, and they were awesome! There are taxi stands located all around both cities where the taxis line up and are waiting for customers. This makes it super convenient!

If you are not sure where the closest taxi stand is, then you can also call a taxi if you’d rather. Download the FREENOW App on your smartphone. The app works just like Uber or Lyft, you set your location, where you want to go and it will tell you the exact cost and how long to get there. It was SO easy!

The drivers almost always spoke great English and they were always so kind and respectful. We used them quite a bit, especially when we were hauling around our luggage!

7. Eating in Italy Travel Tips

Restaurants

Feel free to find other restaurants that fit your taste if you don’t want to visit any of the ones I recommend. However, whatever you do, do NOT visit any restaurants super close to tourist sites, ones with photos on the menu or ones that have people outside begging you to come in and eat. These are all signs that the food is awful!

Also, please please make reservations in advance for every single dinner. You do not have to keep all of them though! I understand that cravings can change, you might be too tired to go out, you might not feel like you could possibly eat even one more piece of pasta (yep it happens) or something that will change where you want to eat. And that is okay! Just cancel your reservation day-of and do something different. But at least this way you have something reserved and available for you should you want it.

My other reason that I recommend everyone has a reservation each night is that then the decision is made for you. I don’t know about you, but if we don’t have reservations one night after a long tiring vacation, my husband and I will 100% sit there and say “I don’t know, what do you want to eat?” back and forth and end up eating crappy hotel food. So avoid the stress and decision making and let “past you” make the decisions!

Gelato

Believe it or not, Italy is filled with bad gelato. It’s true! Tourist shops will cut corners and have stopped making the authentic, delicious, creamy gelato that you should be eating. You can trust that the places I recommend serve amazing gelato, but you can also find good gelato on your own with these tips.

I can speak from experience. I followed these tips during our entire trip and had only amazing gelato. Until one late night in Venice and everything seemed to be closed except this one spot on the main square. It screamed bad gelato, but it was our only option. And I actually threw the second half of my cone away. It was THAT bad!!!

Location doesn’t usually matter here. Good and bad gelato can be near top sights. What’s important is to look inside the shop at the gelato itself.

First, if the gelato is super bright and fake looking colors, it’s bad gelato! The pistachio should be a muted brownish green, not neon green! The exception here is the fruit sorbets, those can sometimes be super bright from the fruits themselves!

Secondly, the easiest thing to spot, and most important, you’ll see lots of gelato shops with the gelato piled high in big mounds. This always means the gelato is bad. Look for shops that have very flat, creamier looking gelato. Even better is if the gelato is covered with metal lids, that’s the best sign! It means they are controlling the temperature perfectly for the best gelato texture.

And finally, do your research. There is soooo much good gelato, so look up blogs writing about the best gelatos in each city you visit. Don’t trust Tripadvisor on this because the tourists (who usually don’t know any better) are the ones writing the reviews!

Coffee

Coffee in Italy is not just a drink, it’s an art and part of the culture! First thing to know is that a coffee shop is called a bar in Italy, so look for signs that say bar when hunting for your morning brew. They’re all basically the same, serving exquisite cups of espresso and super fresh pastries.

Once you find a bar to grab some coffee, you’ll likely notice there will be locals standing up at the counter chatting and enjoying their drink. This is the way they do it. And there’s good reason why, if you sit down at a table, they will charge you way more as a fee for service. So either drink quick at the counter, or take it to-go and be on your way exploring the rest of Italy.

Another important thing to note is that they don’t typically serve drip coffee here, only espresso. I highly recommend a cappuccino as they’re delicious and the most popular drink in Italy. BUT they don’t typically drink them after noon, since it’s seen as too much milk on your stomach for the afternoon. So you definitely might get a weird look, but don’t worry, if you want one in the afternoon, then just order it, who cares!?

And to go with your coffee, always, always get a delicious, soft pastry! They’re outstanding at any bar in Italy. During our 2 weeks in Italy I enjoyed a chocolate or Nutella filled croissant every single morning. Don’t worry, you’ll walk off all those calories in no time.

8. Italy Packing List

For a full article about packing for Italy read my Italy packing guide, and what to wear in Italy!

But here’s some of the top things I recommend you pack for your 2 week Italy trip and why!

Portable Battery Pack – You’ll be out all day long using your phone for everything from sunrise to long after sunset. You’ll need it fully charged to take photos, call taxis, check your 2 week Italy trip itinerary and more! Bring this in your purse to recharge throughout the day!

Outlet Converter – In Italy the outlets are a different shape than in the US. Now you could bring an outlet adapter to change the shape, but that doesn’t affect the voltage. Italy’s voltage is different from ours and can fry certain items like a hair dryer/straightener/curler, and things like laptop chargers and more. Get the converter to make sure all of your electronics can safely be plugged in.

Reusable Water Bottle – You’ll need to stay hydrated throughout your very active 2 week Italy trip and will be drinking water constantly. Buying water bottles is expensive and bad for the environment, so I highly recommend you bring along a water bottle to fill up along the way. I used a collapsible one so that you can stow it in your bag easily when it’s empty!

Tori Tip: Rome is filled with water fountains to drink from or refill your bottle. The water is ice cold and completely safe to drink!

Teema Towel – I bring this towel with me everywhere! It is obviously great for using on the beach in Positano, on the boat to Capri and drying off at the hot springs in Saturnia. But it’s also perfect for a picnic in the Boboli Gardens, or keeping warm on the train to Venice. I use this thing constantly while traveling. It is the first thing in my suitcase!

Samsonite Suitcase – On that note, a high quality suitcase in Italy is an absolute necessity (we learned this one the hard way!!). The cobblestone streets (and sidewalks) are so hard on suitcase wheels and ours broke on like the third day! And while I’d love to be a backpack only kinda gal, that just ain’t me!

Shawl – Any time you enter a church in Italy you must have your shoulders and knees covered. Covering your knees is usually easy, a long dress or pants is cute and comfy. But the shoulders can be more difficult especially in the summertime. So I highly recommend you bring a lightweight shawl in your purse to throw over your shoulders whenever you happen upon a church you want to pop in. This will be especially important for the Vatican and the Duomo in Florence!

Euros – I highly recommend you get Euros from your bank before you leave! While most places take cards there are still many that require cash if you spend less than a certain amount. This happened a lot for coffee, snacks, waters, etc. How much you need will totally depend on each person, but I think we took about 500 euros and it was about the right amount!