14 Day Italy Trip for Under $4k

Andrew Fear
Jul 28, 2017 · 8 min read
Ristorante Belforte in Vernazza (Cinque Terra)

This was our best international trip to date. Yes, Ireland was cool, and yes New Zealand was breathtaking (figuratively and literally…bungee jumping is intense), but Italy crushed them both.

So why was it so much better than other trips? The food, views, and experiences. But this isn’t a “you should go to Italy” post, this is a “here’s how we did it” post.

So let’s get started.

The Flight

My super hyped up travel companion

We used American Airlines points to fly from Austin to Rome. In retrospect I would have flown in to one city and out of another…it would have been easier to see more of the county. If you’re interested in learning how to acquire points quickly and save thousands on flights and hotels, start here.

Transportation

The Amalfi Coast

We chose to rent a car. Why? Flexibility and control. We still used public transportation and Uber in a few places, but the car was just nice to have in case we wanted to adjust our schedule a bit. Word to the wise…don’t drive in Rome (or any big city). Our AirBnB folks hooked us up with a ride to and from the airport so when we were done in Rome we went back to the airport to grab our rental car. The last thing you want to do after traveling for 24 hours is jump into intense traffic.

Car Rental

Rent a small car (parking is a nightmare with a larger vehicle) and prepay for the insurance (waaaaay cheaper). We used these folks to find the best deal.

Public Transportation

We used trains, busses, and ferries. Pretty simple to figure out, and really helpful in some of the more densely populated places like large cities and coastal areas. Your concierge or AirBnB host can be an invaluable source of info here.

Lodging

We used AirBnB almost exclusively and we looked for places that offered breakfast as part of the deal. This was an AMAZING benefit. Not having to worry about breakfast was great as it helped with decision fatigue and gave us the ability to pick our host’s brain about what to do locally. Oh, and it saved us a bunch of money too. Our average cost per night for lodging was under $100.

Food & Drink

At Antinori Winery

For breakfast you can usually get a breakfast sandwich of some type and espresso. For lunch, pasta or pizza and Peroni. For dinner we usually ate at a nicer restaurant and ordered some pasta, a bottle of red wine, and would split a meat plate.

Carla’s first taste of gelato…she enjoyed it immensely.

And then there’s gelato. We ate so much gelato. But if you’re walking 10+ miles a day…you can justify it, right? Our recommendation is to forget your diet, and just enjoy yourself. If something looks/smells delicious, try it. You won’t have any regrets. If you’re lactose intolerant or have issues with gluten you should totally live it up. Neither of us had any issues with the bread or dairy.

The Trip

I’m going to break the trip up by location, and include some resources used to research the location and some handy tips and tricks whilst at said location.

Rome (2 days)

Don’t go here.

Just kidding. Rome is crazy busy, packed, hectic, and will eat you up and spit you out if you’re not prepared. But don’t take my word for it, watch this video by Rick Steves (the first 30 minutes or so).

Here’s what we did:

Rome was beautiful, had great food, but was super crowded and would be pretty miserable in the summer. One of our fondest memories from Rome is sitting at a cafe talking to an older Welsh couple about life, travel, and politics. If I went back to Rome I would take a week and just walk around, eat, drink, talk to people, and soak up the ancient ambiance. I’d also spend more time in Trastevere.

Speaking of Trastevere…

We went to Spirito DiVino one evening and got to see their wine cellar that is over 1000 years old. The owner and his family were lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed our experience.

The Amalfi Coast (3 days)

Amalfi

So beautiful it should be illegal.

Amalfi is where jet lag hit us. It sucked. We thought we had avoided it but I think it was just the crazy schedule we kept in Rome that kept us from crashing. Once we were in a more relaxed environment our bodies started rebelling. In spite of that, our trip to the Amalfi coast was freaking awesome.

Here’s what we did:

  • Drove along the coast and almost died
  • Stayed here
  • Hiked The Path of the Gods from Bomerano to Positano
  • Spent a day in Positano and Amalfi
  • Rode the ferry from Amalfi to Positano
The view from Path of the Gods

That moment when we rounded the corner and saw the entire Amlafi coast stretched out below us…that was what I remember the most from this part of the trip. It was epic.

Positano (Amalfi Coast)

If we ever go back I would definitely find a place in Positano to stay and just use public transportation to get around. Between the ferries and busses, you can get to where you want to go without a problem. We stayed in Bomerano because it was 100 yard from the trailhead to the Path of the Gods but I wouldn’t stay there again because it was a pain to get down to the coast on public transportation.

Montevarchi/Florence (3 days)

View from a little village we visited whilst driving about

The drive from Amalfi to Montevarchi was spectacular (once we got past Rome). We stayed in a beautiful little B&B outside of the quant little town of Montevarchi.

This is probably the least researched part of our trip…which is unfortunate because it is a beautiful area with amazing food and wine, and spectacular architecture and history.

Here’s what we did:

At Daniele e Riccardo Ristorante

Our AirBnB host hooked us up with reservations at a local restaurant that proved to be one of the best meals of the trip. Our host said to eat what they gave us and let them pick the wine. We did, and it was amazing.

The Domo

Florence was beautiful but hot, and since we didn’t have any reservations we ended up just walking around the main attractions and then spent the rest of our time in the gardens (where there were less people).

Antanori Winery

The one winery we visited (Antinori) was amazing and I would highly recommend it. Their wine is delicious and their facility and grounds are truly spectacular.

Cinque Terra (3 days)

Riamaggiore (Cinque Terra)

Gorgeous coastline, quant little towns, and amazing public transportation.

Even the train stations have epic views

To get to Cinque Terra, we took a train from La Spezia (where we parked our car) to Riomaggiore (where our AirBnB was located). Super simple to get there, and the train made each of the five towns so accessible. We were able to hit all of them in less than a day.

Here’s what we did:

This area is so beautiful, has such amazing food/wine, and really pleasant people. I can’t stress enough how easy it was to get around.

Monterosso al Mare (Cinque Terra)

The little towns do get crowded but if you get moving early and actually stay in one of the towns you will be able to avoid the crowds and enjoy the ambiance. If we had gone at a warmer time of year we would have spent time in/on the water.

Como (3 days)

Boat trip on Lake Como

Last stop on our whirlwind tour.

The drive from La Spezia to Como was uneventful until we got on the other side of Milan…then things got interesting. The scenery started to change and we started seeing the mountains. There was a beautiful view around every curve.

View of Lake Como from our room

When we got to our B&B and saw our view…we were both pretty pumped. And then saw that there was a boat rental place next-door. Perfect!

Here’s what we did:

At this point of the trip we were pretty exhausted. Como was a great place just to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery and weather.

The one adventurous thing we did was to rent a boat and spend the day on the lake looking at the epic houses and gorgeous views. I did take a quick plunge in the lake and can confirm that it is indeed very cold.

Como at sunset

After Como, we drove back to Rome and spent the night in a boring hotel close to the airport, and then flew out the next morning.

Watching our church’s Easter service in the super boring hotel room by the airport. Do we look tired?

And that’s it. If you made it down this far, I commend you for your patience. I think you’re ready to plan a trip to Italy.

Andrew Fear

Written by

Digital marketer, travel hacker, wannabe mountain biker, red wine enthusiast, and Director of Digital Marketing @lumeritedu

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