My Favorites of Italy

This past September I was fortunate enough to visit Italy for 10 days, with my husband. Yes, Italy! The big, beautiful, once in a lifetime country everyone wants to see. We went to the Amalfi Coast and Rome while we were there and it’s an experience I’ll never forget. Here is some insider info into my trip that I hope you will find helpful when you get to visit.

We flew into Rome and rented a car to drive to our hotel near Vico Equense, which is about 15 minutes from Sorrento. Driving a car in a foreign country is always an experience. It’s totally doable in Italy, and everyone makes it sound more intimidating than it is. Maybe it’s that way in Rome but luckily we didn’t drive while visiting the Rome area. My advice is to make sure you know how to drive a manual, and have plenty of cash for tolls if you rent a car (min 20€ for one way).

My favorite town during our visit was Sorrento. Sorrento is a beautiful little town that is right on the coast. It’s picture perfect when you think “local” and “Italy”. We took the train and walked to the main square and just got lost. You can’t even help it. Once you go into one of the engaging, quaint little alleys with shops everywhere there isn’t a way to keep your direction, and you don’t care. Below is a picture of one of these alleys. Adorable right?! We found some hidden gems in these alleys that included gelato, a wine cellar, and a little hole in the wall beer shop. I bet now I have your attention ?

(Picture of my tobacco beer at the beer shop. The server talked me into this one, and it was so good!)

 (Picture of our favorite gelato! We ordered a ricotta fig gelato and it was delicious. This is another little gem we came upon. It is a coffee and gelato shop that has swings inside to swing on. It’s ridiculously cute.)

My next favorite town wasn’t quite a town, it was an area in Rome that’s called Trastevere. We went there our first evening in Rome on a food tour and loved it. Trastevere is a neighborhood across the river that is a nice escape from the hustle and bustle in Rome. It has shops and restaurants lining the streets and again, is the more local Italian experience you expect when going to Italy. We went back the following two nights because we were so drawn to it. The first night on our own we went to Tonnarello. We grabbed wine, an appetizer, and the best tiramisu I’ve ever had! You can gawk at it’s beauty in the below photo…. While we were here they had a singer, and I believe someone playing the mandolin, walk around the restaurant engaging everyone, and picking out a lady or two to dance with!

My third favorite place we visited isn’t exactly a “place”, but a tour. This would be our boat excursion to Capri. We visited all of the grottos, (yes there is more than just the blue grotto )and took the chair lift up to Monte Solaro. First, we spent about 2 hours on the boat going around the island seeing the grottos and swimming. Afterwards when we got off the boat, us and two other couples took a taxi up to the chairlift to Monte Solaro. THIS was an experience. The roads are totally narrow and you feel like the taxi is going to go off of a cliff the whole time you are driving up to the top of Capri. I found this thrilling, others in the group were a little nervous. We made it fine though, this is just something to prepare for if you choose to go this route Once we made it to the top we took the chairlift up to Monte Solaro. I cannot say enough that this is something you MUST DO! The views from the top are breathtaking, and during the ride up you get to view even more of the island. You won’t regret it.

(Swimming off the island of Capri)

(One of the grottos)

(The top of Capri)

This sums up some of my favorites while in Italy! I learned so much while I was there and am so thankful for this experience. I hope some of these tips and suggestions help you in your future adventure to Italy.

My name is Bailey; be sure to check out my contact information at: https://www.caretravel.net/caretraveldesigners

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