1

You already bought all those things? Then why do you need us?

We could have saved you money or short cuts.
Kinda closing the gatre after the horse is gone, eh?

Have fun.

Get a Rick Steves Money belt ! God won't allow it" is naiˆve bs. Not everybody gets pickpocketed but the bad guys can always tell a greenhorn.

2

Hi and welcome to Thorn Tree,

Was just wondering if there is anything we may not know that we need to be aware of
Not to be flippant, but what information do you already have? It's kind of time-consuming and possibly a waste of our time to write down anything related to accommodation, tickets etc without knowing if it is of any use to you.

You'll get much more out of this forum if you ask for specific information.

3

Sorry I wasn't more specific.

I have heard that some countries have arrival/ departure taxes.
I really can't think of specifics. Just the finer details I may not taken into account I guess :-p

4

Arrival/departure taxes only apply to your air ticket and are already included in the price of it.

The problem is that we don't know what country you are from, which places you plan to visit and how long, what you're expecting in terms of accommodation, food and sights etc. etc. If you're from the US, you will probably find even expensive hotel rooms quite smallish and need to know that most rental cars have stick shift, if you're from Australia you may need to get used to driving on the other side of the road, depending on where you're from you may need to get an International Drivers Permit, you may need a visa (probably not) and so on.
Car hire is a great option when you want to explore the countryside, but driving inside cities isn't much fun - lots of one-way/pedestrian-only streets, limited and expensive parking, poorly indicated no-parking zones etc.

That's just a few things from the top of my head. But with all due respect, if you don't know what sort of "finer details" you may not have taken into account, how should we know?

5

Don't know if want north or south. Art or machinery musems. Pub crawl or library.

Please help us help you.

You could go any direction in Europe and it would all be new and exciting to you.

Some of us untraveled yanks think the Alhambra is right of passage. We've only heard of the most tourested famous places.

6

Quite off topic, but why do you think the Alhambra is a right of passage (yes, I've been there)? Just curious!

On topic: me and my girlfriend are going to Italy for 10 days. We booked our flights already and our hotel at our first stop (Rome), but the rest is still open. The hotel I booked has free cancellation policy. We will go beginning of August and fly from Amsterdam (we're from Holland) to Rome and fly back from Milan to Amsterdam 10 days later. Everything in between is, as I wrote, still completely open. We were thinking of taking the train towards Milan and stop in cities like Pisa and Florence along the way, but we might also consider renting a car.

This is what we're thinking of:

Day 1-4: Rome
Day 4-7: Sienna (bigger part of the day), Pisa (few hours), Lucca (few hours), Florence (full day). In between we might (if we rent a car) drive into the hills and just drive through the small towns and stop somewhere spontaneously.
Day 7-10: Milan (day 10 we only have half a day as we fly back around 8 pm at night)

Suggestions I've heard are San Marino, Venice (although I'm afraid it will be too far off route, too expensive and too crowded in August) and Cinque Terre.

Can I ask this question in this topic or should I open a new one?

Thanks!

Edited by: Remco81

7

as pointed out, the query is too broad for us to give any meaningful advice.

Just a note on car rental- where are you going in Italy? Trains may be a better option than a car.
Personally, i would never lock in all accommodation in advance- it kills all flexibility and spontaneity.

8

Watch your bags/phone/purse/wallet etc. at all times. Don't wear anything expensive, especially if you'll be in or near Napoli.

Siena is beautiful. Maybe consider Umbria/Assisi?

9

7 I'm totally against booking beds ahead.

Unless its high season or fiesta locally, where I'm headed next.

We can't know now, what we'll know by then.

Have you ever even made a locked in plan, for a day? Then had it work out to the letter de plano?

10

Hey guys, OP is traveling to Italy for the first time, and doesn't seem to be a seasoned traveler, so there's no point in saying "I'm against booking hotels ahead of time".

We were all beginners once upon a time, and next time OP may not book everything ahead. But this time he/she is asking for any ideas, although not specific. So please try to be kind.

Money comes to my mind. Make sure you have an ATM card that will work abroad, and use the one that has the lowest fees (withdrawal and exchange rates abroad). It's also a good idea to call your bank (for the credit/debit cards you plan to use) and let them know that you're going to Italy. Sometimes they will put a freeze on your card if they think it's been stolen.

Have fun! Try not to follow your itinerary to a tee. Be spontaneous. If you like a place, stay longer and just pay for a cheap hotel, even though you have another one booked. Try all the weird foods - that's part of the fun (although in Italy, how many weird foods are there?). Definitely try to eat at non-touristy restaurants, and converse with the local people, even if it's just with smiles and sign language.

Good luck!

11

Excuse me? Presumably OP comes here to learn from those with more experience. Are we not supposed to share this experience? Ia hve never booked hotels for a whole trip in advance, not even on my first trip, many, many years ago...

Really? how many people are going to do that when they have all their hotels booked?