Italy is a place that’s been written about for thousands of years and has millions of visitors annually. Preparation, and the right expectations, can make a world of difference.
Leigh and I just got back from Italy last week, and wow, was that an amazing trip. We actually chose Italy as our original honeymoon destination (we got married this time last year) – but ultimately decided on something completely different (more on that in another post). I’d always been told that Italy deserves its own trip, and that it shouldn’t be folded into the typical American 2 week jaunt through Europe. Boy is that advice right. We ended up with an 11 day trip, deciding to focus on only 2-3 places. This trip would also coincide with our one-year anniversary. What better place to be than eating great food, drinking fine wines, and looking at priceless art?!
I’ll also add a caveat that we normally don’t plan non-logistics-related trip details well in advance, but I’ll say that generally, Italy requires a lot of pre-planning. Hot restaurants fill-up, museums have queues like a Miami nightclub, and trains are much cheaper in advance. It’s worth the time and effort before you go because well…disappointment sucks.
Deciding where to go – hotel booking
Italy is about twice the size of Florida, meaning there are endless options of places to visit based on interests. Given that this is our first trip here, we started with the usual suspects: Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice. Reining it in can be hard when trip planning, but luckily there were some external factors that assisted in the what I call “hatchet-level planning”. We ultimately decided on Florence (with day trips), Venice, and Lake Como.
About the time we were planning our trip, Marriott was going to be rolling out category 8 hotels. Up until March 2019, Category 7 would be the highest category at 60,000 points a night. Category 8 would move the max amount to 85,000 points a night. Just introduced on September 14th: off and on-peak awards, meaning that Category 8’s could start going for as much as 100,000 points a night, which is an increase of 67% on some high-end properties! I’m digressing here, but the redemption increases Marriott communicated pushed me to look for iconic, aspirational hotels that might be tough to swing in the future. I ended up with three hotels that are routinely discussed as some of the top properties in the world: The St Regis Rome, St Regis Florence, and The Gritti Palace in Venice. I was able to take advantage of Marriott’s Points advance feature (which was also gutted on September 14th) and lock in the 60,000 points a night rate.
I was able to secure five nights at the St Regis in Florence for the price of four, because all Bonvoy members get the fifth night free, totaling 240,000 points (rack rate is normally around $750/night). I got 3 nights at the Gritti Palace for 180,000 points (normal rates are $1500+). This meant that for a total of 420,000 points, we spent 8 nights in two properties that we wold’ve never been able to afford otherwise.
As a Marriott Ambassador Elite, I was also able to apply Suite Night Awards to the reservations which cleared in on both reservations…score! My ambassador Alie – who is awesome – knew that our trip was for a special occasion, and let the hotels know as well. The total for our two stays – before suite upgrades – would’ve been close to $10,000, giving me a redemption value of about 2.4 cents per point. Considering most valuations peg Marriott points at around 0.7 cents each, this was an outstanding redemption!
I only dive into these details about hotel bookings because sometimes it can be helpful to have markers in the sand when figuring out where to travel. With so many options not only in the world, but Italy itself, narrowing it down with the help of specific hotel availability alleviates some of the decision making that I find can be difficult when deciding to visit places I’ve never been. I’ve traveled many places I might not have because of a great flight deal, award availability, or hotel availability. And you know what? I had a great time, even if I wasn’t sure about it prior to going.
Flights
As far as the flights are concerned, we were fortunate that we had decided where to go by the time British Airways was having a business class fare sale to Europe from several US gateways. We were able to get round-trip business class tickets from Houston to Milan for about $1600 each, which is a great fare by any measure.
Since flights to/from Houston are usually affordable, I knew it wouldn’t cost us much to get our positioning flights. In fact, Houston was on American’s reduced mileage awards for the month of August, so we were able to get to Houston for a cost of only 8,500 miles per person.
Since I have American Airlines Executive Platinum status, that means I’m oneworld emerald, which entitles me access to first class lounges and advance seating choices on BA flights. Further, because American awards partner miles based on distance flown, meaning that I would earning $2700 EQD and 32,400 redeemable miles. Using an average of point/mile calculations that other blogs have done, that’s a value of about $420. It’s also super helpful for status requalification.
Last but not least, as much as I’ve traveled, I’ve never flown on a 747 and it’s been on my “list” for quite sometime, especially as airlines look to retire them in favor of more fuel efficient planes like the 787 or A350. Fortunately, British Airways has one of the largest 747 fleets in the world, and our flight out of Houston happened to be operated by The Queen of the Skies. I know it’s not British Airways newest or nicest plane, but I was pretty damn excited about finally sitting on the upper deck of The Queen.
Trains
Italy is well-known to have an excellent train system, so flying into and out of Milan wouldn’t really be a problem, as we could get pretty much anywhere on our itinerary within a couple of hours. We decided to book in advance in order to get some great fares and frankly, I’m glad we did. Our fares were much cheaper than day-of, and by putting ourselves through our itinerary multiple times before the trip, we were able to make some educated guesses on when to schedule activities.
There are two train companies in Italy: Trenitalia, which is run by the Italian government, Italo, a private company. We ended up taking both companies and found each to be incredibly nice, even in coach.
As far as what fare class to book, economy is more than adequate for most people. I’m six feet tall with broad shoulders, and I felt like I had all the room I could need. There are two options for seating: two seats facing the same direction (think airplane), or four seats at a table.
Museums
Italy – particularly Florence and Rome – are renowned for their museums, palaces, or medieval construction projects, most of which are full of priceless Renaissance or ancient relics that set the course of the modern world. You can’t overstate how much those pieces mean to the world, and with that, the world wants to see them. In person.
Almost all of the main attractions – particularly museums – have the ability to make a reservations ahead of time. Florence’s Ufizi Gallery, which hosts more than 2 million visitors a year, is the most visited museum in Italy. In an effort to provide a better experience to each of those two million, the museum offers reservations in 15 minute windows. We booked our museum tickets about a month out, and we’re glad we did!
You might be thinking, “how am I supposed to figure out exactly what time I want to visit a museum a month out?” Well you’re not alone, and yours truly is one that likes to fly by the seat of my pants more than plan, however this part of Italy isn’t one of those places. One piece of advice I would offer when you’re trying to make these plans is to do the museums or main attractions early in your trip. I’ve been on trips where I put off something I really wanted to see towards the end, and it created a lot of stress as to how to fit it in before departing. Get it done and enjoy it early in the trip, after all experiencing the culture is a big reasons to visit Italy, but you can’t do that if you’re stuck in line at a museum because you didn’t make plans ahead of time.
Another museum tip: look for podcasts ahead of time that can help guide you. Many museums and buildings have so much history in them, it’s easy to get overwhelmed (and drained). We used Rick Steve’s free app, which had great guides (with pictures) for both the Ufizi in Florence, which made a world of difference. Leigh studied a lot of art history in school and even she commented on how much better our time was because of a guide. You really could spend a half day wandering the Ufizi, which for some might be a 4-5 hours well spent.
We also used Rick’s app for a Grand Canal Tour in Venice, which listened to while taking the water taxi to our hotel. A free tour with the €7.50 taxi fare…not bad!
In Conclusion
Italy is a fascinating place with an accurate reputation that precedes it more than any article or blog ever could do justice. Slow down and don’t try to do too much. Soak it in, and yes plan before you get there…you’ll be glad you did. After my first two weeks in Italy, I can say that the food is as delicious as you think, the wine insatiably good, and the culture is worth moving for. Ciao!
