My Italy trip was split into two parts. I initially planned to spend a week in Italy with my friend Sam (we planned this trip together after meeting only once!) as she only had one week of fall break. However, after reading up on the various regions in Italy, I ended up just extending the trip to two weeks to get a strong taste of Italian culture and taste of the cuisine.
FLIGHT:
JFK to FCO (Roma)
1 stop layover (Istanbul)
Cost: $810.40 roundtrip
The first part consists of Rome, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Siena, and Venice. We broke out the week into the following segments:
- Rome (3 days)
- Pisa (1 day)
- Cinque Terre (1 day)
- Siena (1 day)
- Venice (2 days)
Sam and I met up in Rome (she lives in Amsterdam and I live in NYC) and we said our goodbyes in Venice before I headed off to Florence. One thing to note for Pisa, Cinque Terre, and Siena is that we stayed in Pisa and just went to Cinque Terre and Siena as day trips.
TIP:
In Italy, bread is not free! There will be an extra bread charge on the cheque if you eat it
From Venice, I took the evening train to Florence. I actually had a friend fly out to Florence from Basel, Switzerland just to go around for a few days before I flew my sister out (we were going to spend a week together in Italy since we never travelled together internationally). After meeting up with my sister in Florence, we spent roughly four days in Amalfi Coast before taking the train back to Rome to fly back home on our last day. The second half of the trip was broken down into the following:
- Florence (4 days)
- Amalfi Coast (4 days)
DOWNLOAD THE APP:
Trainline EU is a great app to have on your phone to purchase train tickets! You can get the best fares and they even do cancellations of up to 5 minutes before departure time with refunds of 95% of the ticket price
Also, we ended our trip back in Rome since it was easier to fly in and fly out of FCO. I actually reserved an airport transfer through Rome Shuttle Service since my sister had broken her shoulder prior to the trip and I wanted to make things easy for her. They charge a little more for early morning pickup (we had to leave by 6am so my sister could catch the 8am flight back to Los Angeles) but they are super accommodating and prompt.
ROME SHUTTLE SERVICE:
Airport Transfer to FCO: €50
Reservations required
Cash only
You can reserve an airport transfer at a great price here
alwayswanderlusting.com 