Key facts
Italy at a glance
Highlights
The essentials of Italy
41.89° N · 12.48° E
Rome
Car-freeBy planeBackpackingLuxury
45.44° N · 12.34° E
Venice
By planeCar-free
43.77° N · 11.25° E
Florence
Car-freeBy plane
40.84° N · 14.25° E
Naples
By planeCar-free
44.49° N · 11.34° E
Bologna
By planeCar-free
43.08° N · 11.68° E
Val d'Orcia
By carBy plane
38.47° N · 14.95° E
Aeolian Islands
Car-freeOn footLuxuryBackpacking
40.56° N · 8.32° E
Alghero and Capo Caccia
By planeBy car
Areas and places
Italy area by area
Each area has its own page, with its own character, plans and map.
42.47° N · 13.57° E
Abruzzo
By carBy campervanCampingOn footBy bikeBy motorbike
45.61° N · 7.36° E
Aosta Valley
By carBy campervanCampingBackpackingOn foot
40.55° N · 17.75° E
Apulia
By carBy plane
40.73° N · 14.43° E
Campania
By planeCar-freeLuxuryOn foot
42.63° N · 12.11° E
Civita di Bagnoregio
46.62° N · 12.30° E
Dolomites
By carOn footCampingBy campervanLuxuryBy plane
44.49° N · 11.34° E
Emilia-Romagna
By planeCar-free
45.63° N · 10.67° E
Lake Garda
By planeBy car
41.89° N · 12.48° E
Lazio
By carBy planeBackpackingCar-freeLuxury
44.13° N · 9.68° E
Liguria
By planeCar-free
46.00° N · 9.27° E
Lombardy
Car-free
40.67° N · 16.61° E
Matera
44.70° N · 8.03° E
Piedmont
By carBy plane
40.28° N · 9.63° E
Sardinia
By carBy planeBy campervanCampingOn footBy motorbike
37.70° N · 15.01° E
Sicily
By carBy planeBackpackingCar-freeLuxuryOn foot
43.43° N · 11.47° E
Tuscany
By carBy planeCar-free
43.07° N · 12.62° E
Umbria
By carBy planeCar-free
45.44° N · 12.34° E
Veneto
By planeCar-free
Destinations
All the destinations in Italy
Filter by how you travel, who you're with, what you're after and which month.
38.47° N · 14.95° E
Aeolian Islands
Car-freeOn footLuxuryBackpacking
40.56° N · 8.32° E
Alghero and Capo Caccia
By planeBy car
40.63° N · 14.60° E
Amalfi Coast
By planeCar-freeLuxuryOn foot
43.07° N · 12.62° E
Assisi
Car-freeBy carBy plane
40.20° N · 9.35° E
Barbagia
By planeBy car
44.49° N · 11.34° E
Bologna
By planeCar-free
40.30° N · 8.50° E
Bosa and the Planargia
By planeBy car
39.22° N · 9.11° E
Cagliari and Sardinia's South Coast
By planeBy car
42.21° N · 12.40° E
Calcata and the Treja Valley
42.41° N · 12.24° E
Caprarola and Bomarzo
By planeBy car
41.75° N · 12.66° E
Castelli Romani
Car-freeBy carBy plane
42.13° N · 11.93° E
Cerveteri and Tarquinia
By carBy plane
44.13° N · 9.68° E
Cinque Terre
Car-freeBy plane
37.76° N · 15.00° E
Etna
By plane
43.77° N · 11.25° E
Florence
Car-freeBy plane
41.57° N · 12.97° E
Garden of Ninfa and Sermoneta
By carBy plane
45.61° N · 7.36° E
Gran Paradiso
By carBy campervanCampingOn footBackpacking
42.47° N · 13.57° E
Gran Sasso
By carBy campervanCampingOn footBy motorbikeBy bike
40.28° N · 9.63° E
Gulf of Orosei
By carBy campervanCampingOn footBy motorbike
40.76° N · 17.33° E
Itria Valley
By planeBy car
41.21° N · 9.41° E
La Maddalena Archipelago
By planeBy car
42.56° N · 11.93° E
Lake Bolsena and Tuscania
By planeBy car
42.12° N · 12.23° E
Lake Bracciano
By planeBy car
46.00° N · 9.27° E
Lake Como
Car-free
44.70° N · 8.03° E
Langhe
By carBy plane
40.84° N · 14.25° E
Naples
By planeCar-free
41.10° N · 9.53° E
Olbia and the Costa Smeralda
By planeBy car
42.72° N · 12.11° E
Orvieto
Car-freeBy carBy plane
41.76° N · 12.29° E
Ostia Antica
41.89° N · 12.48° E
Rome
Car-freeBy planeBackpackingLuxury
40.35° N · 18.17° E
Salento
By planeBy car
41.24° N · 13.50° E
Sperlonga and Gaeta
By planeCar-freeBy car
40.94° N · 8.23° E
Stintino and Asinara Island
By planeBy car
41.93° N · 13.09° E
Subiaco
By carBy plane
41.96° N · 12.80° E
Tivoli
Car-freeBy plane
43.08° N · 11.68° E
Val d'Orcia
By carBy plane
36.89° N · 15.07° E
Val di Noto
By carBy plane
45.44° N · 12.34° E
Venice
By planeCar-free
42.42° N · 12.11° E
Viterbo and Villa Lante
By carBy plane
Itineraries
Itineraries that pass through
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Italy, step by step
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
When to go to Italy
April, May, June, September and October: good light, warm sea in the south from June and fewer people than in summer. In July and August the art cities scorch and the coast is full; August is the Italians' holiday month. The Alps and the Dolomites have their hiking season from mid-June to September.
How you travel
Italy your way
The ways of travelling that suit Italy. We are writing a guide to each one: where to stay, how to get around and which services you will need.
By carBy planeBy campervanCampingBackpackingCar-freeLuxuryOn footBy bikeBy motorbike
Tips
Worth knowing first
- 1Book the big museums before you fly
The Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, the Galleria Borghese and Florence's Vasari Corridor sell out or require a reservation. Buy on the official websites.
- 2Buy high-speed train tickets in advance
Frecciarossa and Italo tickets get cheaper the earlier you buy them. Regional trains have a fixed price and don't need booking.
- 3Combine train and car
See the cities by train and hire a car only for the countryside days. Pick it up on the edge of the city, not in the centre.
- 4Ask about the coperto
In many restaurants the bill includes a fixed charge per person for bread and table service. It is on the menu and it is legal.
- 5Eat where they eat
A trattoria with a handwritten set menu near a market is usually better and cheaper than a terrace on the main square.
Distances are deceptive: from Venice to Naples is more than five hours by train. Better two regions properly seen than five in passing.
Which Italy should you choose?
Italy isn't something you see in one trip: you see it region by region, and each one calls for a different plan. Before looking at flights, decide what you are after, because that decides the region, the season and whether you need a car.
If it's your first time and you're going for the art, the classic triangle is Rome, Florence and Venice. All three are linked by high-speed train, need no car and make a week or ten days. Rome needs at least three days; Florence and Venice, two or three each.
If you want countryside, villages and wine, head for the Tuscany of the Val d'Orcia, the hills of the Langhe in Piedmont or the Umbria of Assisi. Here you do need a car, and the beauty lies between the villages, not inside any single one.
If the coast is your thing, choose by the kind of sea. The Cinque Terre, in Liguria, are colourful villages linked by train and footpaths, more for walking than for lying on a beach. The Amalfi Coast, in Campania, is a vertical coastline, explored by boat and on foot. For a proper beach, the south: Puglia with the Salento, Sardinia with the Gulf of Orosei and Sicily with the Aeolian Islands.
If you're looking for mountains, the Dolomites are the best-known network of mountain huts and rock towers; the Gran Paradiso, in the Aosta Valley, is high mountain with ibex; the Gran Sasso, in Abruzzo, is the highest of the Apennines and much quieter. Between mountain and plain lie the lakes: Lake Como, of villas and boats, and Lake Garda, more sporty.
If you travel to eat, Bologna and Emilia-Romagna are Italy's larder, and Naples is the pizza city. And if you are drawn to unusual places, Matera, the city of caves, and Civita di Bagnoregio, the village on a crag, are worth a detour.
How do you get there from Spain?
By plane is the most convenient. There are direct flights from Madrid and Barcelona to the main airports: Rome Fiumicino, Milan (Malpensa and Bergamo), Venice, Naples, Bologna, Pisa, Turin, Bari, Catania and Palermo, among others. From Valencia, Seville, Málaga, Alicante and Palma there are also routes to several of them, some only in summer. Choose the airport by region, not by price: flying to Milan to get to Naples costs you a day.
By boat, Grimaldi Lines links Barcelona with Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, on a crossing of around twenty hours, and with Porto Torres, in northern Sardinia. GNV links Barcelona with Genoa. It is the option if you want to take your own car or motorhome without crossing France.
By car, from Barcelona you cross the south of France by motorway and enter Italy at Ventimiglia, on the Ligurian coast. Towards Piedmont and the Aosta Valley you can also enter through the Fréjus and Mont Blanc Alpine tunnels, which are toll tunnels. Allow for tolls in France and in Italy.
How do you get around Italy?
By train, between cities. Trenitalia's Frecciarossa and Italo's trains link Turin, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples on high-speed lines: Milan to Rome takes about three hours, Milan to Venice two and a half, and Rome to Naples a little over an hour. Regional trains reach almost every village with a station, are cheap and can't be reserved. If you buy a paper regional ticket, validate it at the machine on the platform before boarding.
By car, for the countryside and the south. Rural Tuscany, Umbria, Puglia, Sicily and Sardinia are far more enjoyable with a car. Motorways are almost all toll roads: you take a ticket on entry and pay on exit. The limit is 130 km/h on motorways, 110 on expressways, 90 on minor roads and 50 in built-up areas. Don't drive into historic centres: almost every city has a ZTL, a limited-traffic zone with cameras, and the fine reaches your home months later through the hire company.
When to go and what it costs
Spring and early autumn are the best time for almost the whole country. In summer, the northern mountains are at their best and the south at its hottest. August is the Italians' holiday month: the 15th is Ferragosto, a national holiday, and the coast fills up. In winter, the art cities are quiet and the Alps have skiing, but many coastal hotels and restaurants close.
Budget-wise, Italy is similar to Spain inland and in the south, and goes up in Venice, Florence, the Amalfi Coast, the Cinque Terre, Lake Como and the Sardinian coast in summer. Many town councils charge a tourist tax per person per night, paid at your accommodation.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a passport to travel to Italy?
No. Italy and Spain are in the Schengen area and the European Union: a valid national ID card is enough. The currency is the euro.
Which region should I choose for a first trip?
For art and cities, Rome, Florence and Venice by train. For countryside and villages, Tuscany. For the sea, the Amalfi Coast or Sicily in spring.
Do I need a car in Italy?
For the cities, no: the train is faster and you won't have to park. For rural Tuscany, Umbria, Puglia, Sicily and Sardinia, yes.
What is a ZTL?
A limited-traffic zone in a city centre, monitored by cameras. If you enter without a permit you get fined, even if it's only to drop a suitcase at the hotel. Ask the hotel before you arrive.
Can you go to Italy by boat from Spain?
Yes. Ferries leave Barcelona for Civitavecchia (Rome), Porto Torres (Sardinia) and Genoa. They take cars and motorhomes.
How many days do I need?
A week for two cities or one region. Ten days for the Rome, Florence and Venice triangle at an easy pace. Two weeks to combine cities with a coastal or mountain region.