Europe · Destination guide
Cities, lakes, islands and coastlines that combine beautifully when the transport is planned.
Where to go
Choose it if you would rather spend a slow week on ferries, lakeside promenades and mountain paths than tick off museums, ideally after a few nights in a city..
Lake views, towns with distinct personalities and easy links to Verona and Venice.
Explore Lake Garda
Choose it if you want a city with no cars at all, where early mornings, churches and quiet evenings after the day-trippers leave are the whole reason to go..
A city that works especially well as the first or final chapter of a longer Italian trip.
Explore VeniceIs it right for you?
A strong fit for
Couples, honeymoons, families and multi-centre travel.
We would think twice for
Travellers wanting one beach hotel and no decisions, because Italy is a country of regions with strong opinions, and it repays a planned route far more than a random pin.
What we would want you to know
Moving too often can turn an Italian trip into a luggage exercise.
We’ve been here
Our own travels in Italy taught us how different each region feels, and how fast a route with too many stops becomes a week of packing. The trip we arrange most often for clients is the Venice and Lake Garda multi-centre: two bases, one short train ride and very little time spent dragging cases.
Weather and seasons
Italy's year is shaped by heat and by the Italians' own holidays. Rome averages 33°C in July, which makes the afternoon hours in the Forum hard going, and Ferragosto on 15 August sends city families to the coast while some smaller restaurants close for a week or two. April, May and October are the comfortable months for sightseeing, although Easter fills Rome with pilgrims. Winter is quiet and mild enough for city breaks, with January nights in Rome around 3°C and autumn the wettest season, about 103mm in November. In the far south the sea stays warm enough for swimming well into October.
Worth timing a trip around
Holy Week processions fill towns across the south, with some of the most dramatic in Sicily. In Rome the Easter crowds at St Peter's push up hotel prices, so we plan around it unless the celebrations are the reason for the trip.
A bareback horse race three times round the Campo, fought out between the city's districts after days of pageantry. The square is packed from early afternoon and Siena's rooms fill months ahead.
The national summer holiday, when much of Italy heads for the beach. Coastal resorts are at their fullest and dearest, city businesses often close, and many towns finish the day with fireworks.
Piedmont's truffle town holds its market and food fair at weekends through the autumn, with the Barolo and Barbaresco vineyards in the hills all around.
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | 3°C | 30 mm |
| February | 15°C | 4°C | 39 mm |
| March | 16°C | 6°C | 47 mm |
| April | 20°C | 8°C | 37 mm |
| May | 24°C | 13°C | 17 mm |
| June | 30°C | 18°C | 13 mm |
| July | 33°C | 21°C | 2 mm |
| August | 33°C | 21°C | 19 mm |
| September | 28°C | 17°C | 58 mm |
| October | 23°C | 13°C | 73 mm |
| November | 18°C | 9°C | 103 mm |
| December | 14°C | 5°C | 69 mm |
Temperatures are 2015 to 2024 averages from NOAA records for Roma Ciampino, 15 km away at 105 m. Rainfall is from Fiumicino, 23 km away and shows the typical (median) month, so one freak storm does not skew it.
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8°C | 0°C | 40 mm |
| February | 11°C | 2°C | 42 mm |
| March | 15°C | 5°C | 19 mm |
| April | 20°C | 9°C | 68 mm |
| May | 24°C | 13°C | 96 mm |
| June | 29°C | 18°C | 48 mm |
| July | 32°C | 20°C | 48 mm |
| August | 31°C | 20°C | 20 mm |
| September | 26°C | 15°C | 50 mm |
| October | 20°C | 11°C | 76 mm |
| November | 13°C | 5°C | 90 mm |
| December | 8°C | 1°C | 35 mm |
Temperatures are 2015 to 2024 averages from NOAA records for Milano Linate, 7 km away at 108 m. Rainfall is from the same station and shows the typical (median) month, so one freak storm does not skew it.
| Month | High | Low | Sea | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15°C | 9°C | 15°C | 41 mm |
| February | 16°C | 9°C | 14°C | 31 mm |
| March | 17°C | 10°C | 15°C | 40 mm |
| April | 19°C | 12°C | 16°C | 20 mm |
| May | 23°C | 16°C | 19°C | 39 mm |
| June | 27°C | 20°C | 22°C | 3 mm |
| July | 30°C | 23°C | 26°C | 4 mm |
| August | 30°C | 24°C | 27°C | 7 mm |
| September | 28°C | 21°C | 25°C | 31 mm |
| October | 24°C | 18°C | 23°C | 70 mm |
| November | 20°C | 14°C | 20°C | 80 mm |
| December | 17°C | 11°C | 17°C | 57 mm |
Temperatures are 2015 to 2024 averages from NOAA records for Palermo, 24 km away at 20 m. Rainfall is from the same station and shows the typical (median) month, so one freak storm does not skew it. Sea temperatures: NOAA OISST, 1991 to 2020.
Things to do
One ticket covers the amphitheatre, the Forum and the Palatine Hill, with timed entry to the Colosseum that can sell out well ahead in spring and summer. There is little shade in the Forum, so go first thing and carry water.
Long corridors of galleries end beneath Michelangelo's ceiling, and the timed tickets are best booked before you fly. St Peter's Basilica next door needs shoulders and knees covered, and its security queue can be long by mid-morning.
Botticelli's Birth of Venus and a run of Renaissance rooms that deserve a whole morning. Book a timed slot, then climb Brunelleschi's dome at the cathedral nearby, which also needs a reservation and involves a long, narrow stair.
The Roman town buried by Vesuvius in AD 79 is far bigger than most people expect. Allow at least half a day, wear trainers for the rutted Roman paving, and reach it by train from Naples or Sorrento.
In season, ferries link Positano, Amalfi and Salerno, and they beat the crowded buses and hairpin traffic of the coast road. Positano is steps from top to bottom, which suits the nimble far better than anyone who struggles with stairs.
Five cliff villages on the Ligurian coast, joined by a railway and a web of footpaths. The coastal path needs a park card, and sections shut after storms and landslides, so check which stretches are open before planning a walk.
Siena's shell-shaped Campo and striped cathedral pair well with the towers of San Gimignano and the cypress-lined lanes of the Val d'Orcia. This is the one corner of Italy where a hire car beats the train.
Europe's highest active volcano rises above eastern Sicily. A cable car and off-road buses climb the south side, but the summit craters are open only with an authorised guide, and access changes with the volcano's mood.
Cone-roofed stone houses in Puglia's Itria Valley, a UNESCO site you can wander in a morning. Stay nearby in a restored trullo or a masseria farmhouse and the south's slower pace soon makes sense.
Food and drink
Born in Naples: a soft, blistered crust from a wood-fired oven, eaten with a knife and fork. The margherita is the test of any pizzeria, and one each is normal.
Ask for un caffè and you get an espresso, drunk standing at the counter, where it costs less than at a table. Cappuccino is a morning drink, and ordering one after dinner marks you out.
Look for flavours kept in covered metal tubs and pistachio that is a dull olive green. Towering, brightly coloured mounds in the window usually mean more air and less flavour.
Rome's four classics are carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana and gricia. A real carbonara uses guanciale, egg yolk and pecorino, and no cream at all.
Florence's thick T-bone steak, cooked over coals and served rare. It is priced by weight and meant for sharing, so ask the size before it goes on the grill.
The lemon liqueur of Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, served ice cold in small glasses at the end of a meal, often on the house in family-run places.
Shape of the trip
Nights 1 to 3
Arrive by water, drop the bags and give Venice three nights, so you have its lanes almost to yourselves early in the morning and late in the evening.
Day 4
A short train ride west. Stop in Verona for the Roman Arena, the market square of Piazza delle Erbe and a walk along the Adige, then carry on to the lake the same afternoon.
Nights 4 to 7
Four nights in one lakeside town, with ferries for the sightseeing, long lunches and the mountains close by, then an easy journey home.
An idea to react to, not a fixed package. We shape the real thing around your dates, your pace and what the flights are doing that season.
Money
Region and season decide an Italian bill far more than star ratings. The Amalfi Coast in summer sits at the top, while Puglia, Sicily and the cities in the quiet months give much more for the money. High-speed train fares rise as departure day nears, so we book those early; regional trains cost the same whichever day you buy. City hotels add a nightly tourist tax at check-in. The extra spend we rate most is a hotel inside a historic centre, because it turns taxi rides into evening walks.
Flights and transfers
Direct flights connect Leeds Bradford and Manchester with Venice, Verona, Rome, Naples and Milan on seasonal and year-round patterns, which makes open-jaw routes easy: into one city, home from another, no backtracking. Italy's trains then join the dots better than any hire car in the north.
Flights from UK airports
Route check September 2026. Some routes are seasonal and schedules change, so we confirm the live options when we quote.
Practical details
1 hour ahead of the UK
Euro (€)
Italian
Type C, F and L, 230V
On the right
Safe to drink, and Rome's street fountains run with drinking water
Not expected; bills often include a cover charge, and rounding up for good service is appreciated
Entry for British passport holders
Visa. No visa needed for tourist stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen area.
Passport. Issued less than 10 years before you arrive, and valid for at least 3 months after the day you leave the Schengen area.
The EU Entry/Exit System is now in use, so you may be asked to register your fingerprints and photo at the border on your first visit. It is free.
Summarised from the FCDO travel advice on gov.uk, checked 29 September 2026. Rules change: read the current entry requirements and the full travel advice before you go.
Questions we get asked
Two, or three at most. Every move costs half a day of packing, checking out and travelling, and Italy rewards staying put long enough to find a favourite bar. For a first trip, a city paired with a lake or a stretch of coast gives you contrast without the luggage fatigue.
By train between cities: the high-speed lines link Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples quickly and deliver you to the centre. A car makes sense in Tuscany, Puglia and Sicily. Historic centres have camera-controlled limited traffic zones, known as ZTL, and driving into one by mistake brings a fine through the post months later.
Cover shoulders and knees. St Peter's in Rome, Florence's cathedral and plenty of village churches turn people away in vest tops or short shorts, so a light scarf or linen trousers in the day bag solves it.
A cover charge per person for bread and the table, and it is legal as long as the menu shows it. Some places in tourist areas add a service charge as well. Neither means you must tip on top, although rounding up for good service is always welcome.
Yes, and violent crime against visitors is rare. The real risk is pickpockets on crowded buses and metro lines in Rome, around Termini station and at the busiest sights. Keep bags zipped and in front, phones out of back pockets, and be wary of unasked help at ticket machines.
For art and history, Rome with Florence. For an easier pace, Venice and Lake Garda, which join by train and suit couples and families alike. For sun and food over sights, Puglia or Sicily in May, June or September. The mistake is trying to squeeze all three into one week.
Photographs
Also worth a look
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