Italy

First trip to Italy: 2017

Milan, Italy

Hostel: QUO Milano (fun hostel, would recommend!)

Turin, Italy

Hostel: Attic Hostel torino (Simple, nice, quiet, good location)

Bologna, Italy

Hostel: Bologna Old Town (Nothing special, nothing horrible)

Things to do: get lost in the winding streets. Get a meat and cheese platter. 

Venice, Italy

Stayed in an Airbnb above the Rialto bridge. 

Venice is all walkable. Super tousity. Honestly was not as impressed as I was expecting. Do I dare say it was a little overrated?

Sienna, Italy (right outside Florence)

Sienna was a super cute quaint town in the middle of wine country. The town is surronded by a wall and no cars are allowed in. Everything is super walkable.

Obviously while in Tuscany you have to take a wine tour! This was amazing. We did a provate tour that stopped at three beautiful wineries (To be continued..)

Pisa, Italy

Honestly we only stopped in Pisa for literally 30 mins to see the leaning tower of Pisa, it was cool after years and years of seeing all the toursity photos, but basically just a quick picture opportunity. 

Cinque Terra

We stopped in Cinque Terra for just a few hours on our way from Sienna to Rome. GORGEOUS!! Wish we had stayed a few nights here. Talk about picture perfect coast line! I do think the Amalfi coast was a bit better (however I spent much more time there so I am bias, read on to my Italy 2022 trip)

Rome, Italy (Round 1)

Stayed in Airbnb the first time around.

What we did: Roman Forum, Colosseum, The Vatican, Trevi fountain, Pizza Della Rotonda

All are a must do. Book the colosseum and the Vatican ahead of time. We booked a tour that included the Roman Forum, Colosseum and the Vatican!

Spend time just walking around! I have a lot more info on Rome in my second time around. Sorry, I did not take many notes the first time.

Taormino, Sicily, Italy

Super beautiful town up a hill from the ocean. Incredible views. Honestly we spent the majority of our time here getting scuba licensed with PADI. (great place to get licensed because it was super cheap compared to other part of the world)