🇬🇧 15 days Road Trip in Italy : Itinerary 🇬🇧

🇫🇷 Retrouve cet article en Français ici ! 🇫🇷

Why Italy ?

Italy, a very colourful country who made me dream for a long time. With its wonderful food, its monuments and incredible landscapes that we see on social medias...

This year we said to each other : "It's our time to discover Italy." Being thirsty for adventures and not knowing where to drop off our suitcases, we decided to leave on a Road Trip.

In this article I will show you our itinerary, created by us. It's probably not perfect, but it work perfectly for us. If you want to know more on what we did in every city, what we ate, where we slept... you can visit all of my other articles link in this page.

Means of transport :

For us the car was the most practical and cheap means of transport. Indeed taking the plane or the train would have prevented us from wandering wherever we wanted to and mostly at the time we wanted. Our car was a simple city-dweller car and it drove perfectly.

That being said, you can totally rent a car when you arrive in Italy. But I won't be able to help you on that part.

You must know that Italy isn't huge and that the distance between every city is between 1h and 5h drive. The longest distance we did was the one between our house in France and Milan : 6h.

Time of the year :

We did our road trip at the end of July and beginning of August. It's a period I don't really recommend, because you will be with all of the tourists in vacations... Unfortunately we didn't have any other choices than choose those dates. It's also summer time, and in Italy it is very hot, very very hot. I don't know if it's the case every year, but in 2022 the summer was scorching. We had between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius (84 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit) every day. It was very difficult. We probably didn't enjoy some places as much as we wanted to.

If you leave in summer, I suggest you to stay in a hotel or in an accommodation with a pool. I can assure you that diving in a pool after a long day under 40 degrees Celsius is amazing ! Unfortunately, we only had 1 pool and 2 swims in the sea during our trip... If you want to find our accommodations during our trip you can visit my articles on every city.

Budget to plan :

You must know that we are not big spendthrift. We only did a few activities and ate only a few times in restaurants. So our budget isn't very precise and it can increase or decrease according to your spending.

If you travel with a car like us, you have to prepare a pretty big budget for gas and tolls.

All of our accommodations where find on Airbnb and Booking. If you want to look at the places we stayed, I listed them on my articles on every city. It's the biggest budget you have to prepare. Even if we tried to rent accommodations around 50€ a night, the price goes up fast for 2 weeks... Of course it depends of your choices of accommodations too. We personally like our intimacy and we didn't choose youth hostel for example, that are very cheap.

Our spending :

• Accommodations : 1013€

• Gas + Tolls : 474€

• Food (Restaurants + Groceries) : 506€

• Activities, visits : 290€

• Transports (Bus, boats...) : 134€

2 417€ in total; 1 208,50€ per person.

Itinerary :

• Day 1 : France > Great St Bernard Pass > Milan

• Day 2 : Milan

• Day 3 : Milan > Venice

• Day 4 : Venice

• Day 5 : Venice

• Day 6 : Venice > Bologna

• Day 7 : Bologna > Florence

• Day 8 : Florence

• Day 9 : Florence > Rome

• Day 10 : Rome

• Day 11 : Rome

• Day 12 : Rome > Pisa > Cinque Terre

• Day 13 : Cinque Terre

• Day 14 : Cinque Terre > Turin

• Day 15 : Turin > Back to France

Day 1 :

Departure for Italy

The first day we left in the morning towards the border.

I suggest you to go through the border by the Great St Bernard Pass. First off all it saves you of going through the Mont Blanc tunnel and therefore save some money (Around 50€ one-way). Moreover, the pass is a gorgeous road in the mountain of Switzerland. And you will have a very charming view at the top.

However, this road adds 1 hour of travel time. But I personally find it worth it !

Then we drove through the Aoste Valley. An exclusively French speaking region. Everyone speaks Italian and French !

The Great St Bernard Pass

Day 1 to 3 :

Milan tour

After 7 hours of driving we finally arrived in Milan !

If you want to know the details of our stay in Milan, you can go check "this article".

We arrived in Milan Monday night and we left Wednesday afternoon.

Milan is a very beautiful city. Its architecture and its history is very impressive. Especially the Duomo di Milano (the huge cathedral) and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (a magnificent commercial gallery).

One day and a half is more than enough to visit the more popular and touristic places of the city, even more if you are fast like us ! Milan wasn't my favorite city of our trip but it's a very lively and beautiful city.

Duomo di Milano

Cimitero Monumentale di Milano

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Day 3 to 6 :

Venice tour

On Wednesday afternoon we left Milan for Venice.

After 3 and a half hours drive we arrived. We stayed next to Venice, in Mestre. In fact, the accommodations in Venice are very expensive. Mestre is the first city when you go out of Venice and it is available by tram. We were 30 minutes away from Venice by tram. Very convenient and economic ! No need to pay the parking for the car and the tram ticket were also valid for the bus and the boat/vaporetto, very convenient !

If you want to know the details of our stay in Venice, you can go check "this article".

We spent 2 full days in Venice and we were able to see everything. Venice was incredible for me ! I had this dream to go there for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. Its atypical charm with its beautiful canals and monuments. However summer time isn't the best time to go because there was so much people. It was sometimes very difficult to walk in the street (especially on famous places like St Mark's Square or Rialto bridge). We still managed to find some lost tiny streets as much as beautiful and with a lot less people. I suggest you to get lost in the streets of Venice, it's probably the best thing to do !

In the streets of Venice

Burano

Burano

Rialto bridge

Dorsoduro

Dorsoduro

In the streets of Venice

In the streets of Venice

Day 6 to 7 :

Bologna tour

After our stay in Venice we went back on the road Saturday morning. We drove 2 hours and we arrived in Bologna !

We decided to stay only 1 night there, because there were less places to visit in Bologna than in other cities. But I loved this city, very atypical with its large arches, its tours and orange/red walls.

If you want to know the details of our stay in Bologna, you can go check "this article".

Piazza Maggiore

Asinelli Tower

Sanctuary Madonna di San Luca

Finestrella

Day 7 to 9 :

Florence tour

On Sunday we drove to Florence. We arrived after a 1h30min drive.

If you want to know the details of our stay in Florence, you can go check "this article".

Florence was not my favorite city of our trip. I heard so much of it that when I arrived I was very disappointed. It's not a very big city and we can see all of the monuments pretty fast. Sure there is the Duomo with the biggest dome in Europe, who's very beautiful and impressive, but I was a little disappointed by the rest... I also found that the city wasn't very clean. But I leave it up to you to make your own opinion !

We spent 2 nights and 1 full day there, and it was more than enough to go around the city and see everything.

The Duomo

Ponte Vecchio

Palazzo Vecchio

Piazzale Michelangelo

Day 9 to 12 :

Rome tour

On Tuesday we finally arrived in Rome after a 3 hours drive !

I was so excited for this city and I wasn't disappointed at all.

If you want to know the details of our stay in Rome, you can go check "this article".

You should know that Rome is HUGE (it is said that Rome is 12 times bigger than Paris), and every move is very long. We had the unpleasant surprise to find our Airbnb 1 hour away by bus of the historical monuments of the city. I explain everything to you in my special article on Rome.

We spent 2 days and a half and 3 nights in Rome, and we managed to do everything we wanted. However 1 more day would not have been refused !

I loved this city, it is magnificent. Its history and its historical monuments like the Colosseum, the Pantheon or the Vatican City are impressive. It's definitely something you have to see once in your life.

The Pantheon

The Colosseum

The Colosseum

The Trevi Fountain

The Roman Forum

The Vatican

The Sistine Chapel

St. Peter's Basilica

In the streets of Rome

The Tiber

Day 12 :

A stop in Pisa

On Friday we left for Cinque Terre, but we decided to make a stop in Pisa, who was on our way.

We had to go see this famous Pisa tower ! And I can tell you that it is a very surprising tower ! Indeed it is completely leaning over and it defies the laws of gravity. I found it really funny and curious. It's definitely something you have to see once in your life, especially to take this famous picture everyone does...

However the little town of Pisa isn't very interesting... A few shops and houses, but all of the attraction come from the tower and its little cathedral.

If you want to know the details of our stop in Pisa, you can go check "this article".

Day 12 to 14 :

Cinque Terre tour

After Pisa, we went back on the road and after a 5 hours drive we arrived in Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre is a national park which consists of 5 villages : Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

It is pretty difficult to access by car. You can park your car in La Spezia (the first village before the Cinque Terre when you arrive from the south) or you can pay the parking inside the Cinque Terre. Then you can move by train between every villages very easily. For our part, we were able to park our car on the side of the road and we slept in Manarola.

If you want to know the details of our stay in Cinque Terre, you can go check "this article".

I loved Cinque Terre. It's a very colourful place who made me dream for a long time. With its bright blue sea and colourful houses. Prepare yourself to walk a lot but also to be amazed.

We spent 1 day and a half and 2 nights there, and we were able to visit all 5 villages.

Manarola

Hiking inside the Cinque Terre

Riomaggiore

Hiking inside the Cinque Terre

Manarola

Manarola

Day 14 to 15 :

Turin Tour

Finally on Sunday we drove to our last city of our trip : Turin.

We drove for 3 hours and we arrived in a very charming and lively city.

I knew nothing about Turin so I din't know what to expect. We decided to make a stop in Turin because it was on our way to go back to France and we needed to make a stop before the last hours of driving. So we spent our Sunday afternoon and evening walking the streets of Turin. And I was pleasantly surprised. Like I said above, it is a very charming, historical and lively city. There were a lot of people and animations in the streets.

If you want to know the details of our stay in Turin, you can go check "this article".

We spent 1 night there before going back on the road for France.

Mount of the Capucins

In the streets of Turin

Piazza San Carlo

Palatine Gate

Day 15 :

Back to France

On our way back to France we decided to go through the Frejus tunnel. Because it was the fastest road. We didn't want to do more kilometers and we were exhausted from our trip !

The tunnel cost around 48€ one-way in a city-dweller car.

The best would have been to go through the Great St Bernard pass again, but we were so tired and we decided to go faster...

In conclusion :

We had an amazing trip in Italy.

Sure we were very very hot, but we came back with thousand of souvenirs and amazed eyes by so much beautiful landscapes and monuments.

I know that this is not the perfect route for a road trip, because we didn't visit the south of Italy or the Dolomites. But we visited the most famous cities. If it is something that you would like to do, I can only suggest you my itinerary, it was really practical and we didn't do extra kilometers.

I hope you liked this article. Do not hesitate to ask me any questions and to subscribe to my Newsletter.

Laura :)