The Perfect Italy Vacation (14 - 21 Day Itinerary)

No one is talking about the Dolomites! 😊 I’m a self proclaimed beach-lover, but I loved the Dolomites and can’t wait to go back. We stayed in Val Gardena and would highly recommended it.

I was in Venice for two nights back in April, my hot tip: stay just off the island in Mestre within walking distance from the train station. Then get yourself a vaporetto pass for however many days you are there. You can take any bus in the area including the one that goes directly to Venice, then hop on the water taxi to wherever you want to go including the outlying islands where it's a hell of a lot less touristy. 😎🥃

My wife and I did a northern Italy trip in 2017. Everything you recommended I will second as a good itinerary. I would add something though if you are in reasonably good shape (not an athlete by any means though). Go to Lucca and take a bike ride to Pisa. It was relatively cheap and best of all, it was nearly all flat or downhill. You didn't have to worry about bringing the bikes back either! We rode there, left the bikes, and hopped a train back to Lucca. One of my favorite parts of our trip to Italy!

“The wine in Tuscany tastes better than wine from Tuscany because you’re in Tuscany”. Nothing truer was ever said.

Thanks for the video. You are great travellers and generous in explaining everything and showing what's possible for us budget travellers. May I suggest if you are making more suggested itinerary videos that you focus on economical, slow travel, which is more your brand. Milan, Florence, Rome and Venice are crazy expensive stereotypical itineraries for first timers. I'd expect many of your viewers have already been once and would have preferred experienced traveller itinerary hacks. Tips like stay in Padua a fully underrated and great value gem of a city and catch the first train 20 min to Venice before the crowds arrive. Also, give Sicily a miss until the White Lotus effect subsides. Minimise nights in Rome and Florence in favour of Bologna, where tourists are actually made to feel welcome. Stay in one of the less famous villages on lake Como such as Menaggio. Also, don't make the whole itinerary a whistle-stop tour, stay in one place in an apartment for a full week, self cater using the awesome Italian grocery stores - Ortisei in the Dolomites is my recommendation. These are just what comes to my mind.

We did a 15 day trip in September 2023. Our itinerary was fly into Milan, day in Como, train to Venice. We loved Venice! Then Florence, Cinque Terre, ending in Rome. Did all travel by train and it was great! A once in a lifetime experience!

In Venice, wild woman Peggy Guggenheim spotted leading edge modernist paintings during WW II & picked them up in exchange for monthly allowances to help poor unknowns: Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, etc. Her simple Venice villa is her home museum. WOW.

Great vlog, guys. I've bookmarked it for friends in case they're considering going back to Italy. Personally, I'm a big fan of Milan, Treviso, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast. As for Venice, one can stay in Treviso and take the train. Plus, Treviso is very chilled and not with crowds of people. The regular train only takes 25 minutes to Venice and the faster train around 15 minutes. I went to Venice, two days in a row, but from Treviso where I was staying. And after the crowds in Venice, I was always happy to get back to Treviso. I've been to Treviso more than once. Greetings from Los Angeles

Great itinerary. Please do this with other locations. Extremely helpful.

I had changed my Greece trip to Italy and had 9 days planned, flying in and out of Rome. My priority was going to be Renaissance art, so the Vatican and Florence were going to be the focus, but I was going to see a lot more. For various reasons, not the least of which was a lack of faith in the ability of my knees to handle what would be involved but not only that, my plans changed to Hawaii. I would still love to make the Italy trip someday. My first memories in life, admittedly possibly manufactured from family stories, are of Venice when I was 3 when my family made a trip to Venice from Germany. Great suggested itineraries.

I agree with all your recommendations. Other options too are Bergamo (1 day from Milan), Verona (1 day from Venice), Perugia (1 day) and Assisi (1 day)(in between Rome and Florence), Bologna (2 days) between Milan and Venice

Carrie, your hair and makeup look fantastic! Thanks for the great ideas.❤

This was great. I was fortunate to spend over 2 months traveling through Italy in 2001. Hopefully I will make it back and I appreciate the recommendations of places to visit that I did not visit before. I loved Venice and would just get on the vaporetto, water taxi, and ride up and down during the day and at night versus the gondola. I don't remember the price of the ticket but maybe a dollar or so and it certainly wasn't timed like I see they are now. But the day pass would certainly be much much cheaper than the gondola ride. I also highly recommend going in to see the original statue of David at the accademia. A very different experience than seeing the replica in the town square. One of the most thrilling moments of my trip if not my life.

Hi Brain and Carrie, love your videos. May I have one suggestion ? That is to refer back to the overall map at the end so people get a better idea of the locations of the itinerary. Thank you ❤

Florence was really amazing and TONS to see, amalfi coast was so good that you can spend 2 weeks just there. Naples/ Napoli had the famous pizza that we LOVE. We found out Genoa was really a hidden gem and doesn't get a lot of attention it deserves. Great vlog as always. Love & respect from Bangladesh

It cost less than €100 for all four of us to take a gondola ride in Venice. We enjoyed it and the gondolier took a family photo for us. Totally different view of the city. You can just walk up to a gondolier and ask to ride. Going through a quiet side canal was magical. We splurged on a private taxi back to the train station. We asked the driver to go down the Grand Canal. That was amazing!!! We didn’t regret skipping Lake Como but we have kids and didn’t think there’d be much to interest them there.

Hello guys, Again great video guys. We are currently in Italy for 3 months and 2 suggestions: 1. Lucca is extremely worth it and Pisa not so much. 2. We were at the Venezia Carnaval last week and Carrie is absolutely right, the gondola is very expensive. I would recommend crossing the grand canal in a gondola « taxi » called vaporetto and it will cost you 2€/ per person. It is a short crossing but at least you will have gone on the grand canal in a gondola. Ciao from Palermo and on our way to Trapani in a few days!

So helpful! Please do more itineraries!

Another lovely video. DH and I have six years to start our slow travel journey. Thank you for all the great information. Safe travels😊

REALLY helpful video, thank you so much for sharing!!